“Yes, Rex, we shouldn’t monopolize your time,” Sam said, glancing back at the line of guests who were waiting to enter Mary Elaine’s doors. “We’ll let you go.”
“I’m so happy for you, young man,” Rex said, pumping his arm.
“And I’m happy for you, Rex.”
With a hand under Patricia’s elbow, he guided her to the bar. The bartender asked what they were drinking.
“I’ll have a soda, please,” Patricia said. She leaned close to Sam and whispered, “I don’t want to get tripped up here. This is harder than I thought. Early wedding, late wedding. Why didn’t we think about what to say when he asked about weddings?”
“Two sodas,” Sam told the bartender. “Because we never thought it would go any further than just an introduction”
“He knows the truth,” Patricia said miserably.
“He does not,” Sam said. “Although Mildred looks a little suspicious. Please, Patricia, don’t worry. I don’t think that was too bad. And we proably won’t run into them again this evening. Rex is going to be so busy, he won’t remember anything except that I have the most beautiful, charming fiancée in the world. Now let’s mingle. There’s a few people we should say hi to.”
Patricia would have followed him anywhere at that point. Beautiful. Charming. Beautiful. Charming. He was noticing her.
They exchanged greetings with several other couples. Sam had kind words for everyone, accepted thanks from several department heads for his help and guidance, and complimented others for work well done. Patricia glowed when so many people told them that they were a perfect couple.
Not just a few confided that they had always suspected a romance—because of the way they got along so well and spent so much time together.
“I’m a lucky man,” Sam said in reply to the many congratulations on his engagement. He said it so often that Patricia wondered if he, like she, lost track of the fact that this wasn’t a real engagement, that this wasn’t a real romance and that their relationship wasn’t going any further than it would this night.
As the room grew more crowded, a manager from Dallas asked if Sam would give him some advice on a “sensitive matter.” Although Sam encouraged Patricia to stay, and reminded the manager that she was the assistant personnel director for the company, Patricia still read the manager’s reluctance even as he apologized for seeming rude.
It was okay with Patricia—there were plenty of women in the company who confided problems to her that they wouldn’t dream of talking about in front of Sam. When she said that she really must use the ladies’ room, the manager could barely contain his relief.
In the ladies’ room, she found her friends from the lunchroom.
“You look so radiant!” Olivia cried out. Clearly uncomfortable at the end of her pregnancy, she sat on a chaise and held out her arms for a hug. “I can’t believe you’re engaged!”
“Yeah, it’s just like a fairy tale,” Rachel said, turning from the mirror where she was touching up her lipstick. “I’m so happy for you.”
“We’ve all been living a fairy tale,” Cindy said. “I’ve got my boss, Kyle. Olivia’s married to Lucas.”
“He wasn’t who she thought she was in love with,” Molly pointed out “Remember Stanley Whitcomb? Olivia was certain that he was the man of her dreams.”
“I still think he’s a nice man,” Olivia insisted. “And Lucas gets along with him very well.”
“Still, Molly.” Rachel hushed her friend. “You’ve ended up with Jack, who was your boss. Even if you had to get hit on the head doing it”
Molly had been injured in a fight at the advertising department party and had woken up convinced she was Jack’s wife. When the dust settled. Jack realized that she was the perfect woman for him.
“And I’ve married Nick.” Rachel continued. “So with Patricia engaged to Sam, there’s only one of us still on the marriage market”
All eyes landed on Sophia who was at the mirror, trying her best to tame her curly blond hair.
“Hey, Patricia, is the Third going to make a surprise appearance at the party?” she asked.
“I don’t think so,” Patricia said. “He’s scheduled to be in France today.”
Trying not to look too disappointed, Sophia put her lipstick away.
“I’m going to be his bride, you know,” she said. “Or, at least, I want to. Do you think he’ll notice me?”
“It’d be hard not to if you’re his assistant,” Patricia said.
“What about Mike the mailman?” Olivia teased.
“Look, I might lust after him,” Sophia said. “But lust isn’t enough for me.”
“The Third could be a jerk,” Rachel warned.
“I’m sure he’s not,” Sophia said. “Just from the memos I’ve gotten from him, I know he’s a nice, sweet, sensitive...”
“Okay, okay.” Olivia made peace. “Sophia’s right. She should get a chance to marry her boss if that’s what she wants to do. By the way, did you see how Mike was talking with Rex? They seemed awfully chummy.”
“What would Rex have to say to the mail room guy?” Rachel asked.
“I wonder what his story is—maybe there’s a real mystery,” Cindy speculated. “Nobody really knows anything about Mike. He’s strong and has a commanding presence. Doesn’t look like he should be in the mail room. Looks like he belongs in the executive suite. But where’d he come from? What kind of job did he have before he started here? And where’d he get those muscles?”
“Come on, ’fess up,” Sophia said, putting an arm around Patricia. “At least tell me about Mike if you can’t tell me anything more about the Third.”
“I don’t know anything,” Patricia said, feeling bad that she couldn’t help more. “Mike was Sam’s personal hire.”
“Let me get this straight,” Sophia said, disbelief etched in her face. “The vice president of personnel for the whole company, national and international departments included, hires the mail room guy on his own?”
Patricia nodded.
“That sounds weird,” Olivia said. “Sam’s too important to be dealing with the mail room.”
“But he takes a real interest in his people,” Patricia said, and then she quieted. “You’re right. Vice presidents don’t hire the mail room help.”
“Ask him Mike’s story,” Sophia said.
“Mike’s personnel files would be confidential, and as the assistant personnel director, I have to respect that confidentiality.”
“But you’re Sam’s fiancée,” Sophia pointed out. “That’s got to count for something.”
“Right, you’re his fiancée,” Rachel said.
“You guys look great together,” Olivia said, her tone making clear that the subject of Mike the mailman was closed. “And it was all so sudden. You just had to tell him how you felt, and the magical thing was that he felt the same way.”
“Yeah,” Rachel chimed in. “Just this last weekend, you were so sad, thinking that you’d never get the courage to ask him out. Tell us how it happened again.”
In the corner, Sophia pleaded silently and Patricia nodded.
She’d see what she could do about finding out more about Mike—even as she knew that Sophia would appreciate information about the Third more.
“Patricia, are you listening to us?” Olivia asked.
“What? Oh, yeah, you were asking how it happened?”
“Yes, start to finish.”
“But it’s so boring.”
Rachel put her hands on her hip.
“You call seducing Sam Wainwright in his office and getting an engagement ring on your finger, all before lunch, boring?” she demanded.
“When you went into his office and when he asked you to marry him,” Olivia said. “We want to hear the whole story again. With the details. Just not the X-rated ones.”
“There aren’t any X-rated ones.”
The door opened and Mildred Van Hess came in.
“Good evening, girls,” she said.
“You can’t have the whole party in the ladies’ room. It’s unfair to the men. Although I have to admit that I’ve appreciated all the attention that’s come my way.”
Everyone laughed.
“We were just talking about Patricia and Sam and their whirlwind courtship,” Olivia said. “It was all so sudden. You know, last weekend at my baby shower....”
Patricia stared, panic rising in her throat. She would be caught if Mildred Van Hess found out that the “engagement” was thought by her friends to be this week’s news, while Rex thought she had been Sam’s girlfriend for a while!
“We’ve all heard enough about these two lovebirds.” Mildred shushed Olivia. “I want to know how your pregnancy is going.”
Olivia was delighted to give Mildred every little detail and when all the women left the ladies’ lounge, Patricia was so caught up in the details of Olivia’s life that she had nearly forgotten that her own was such a web of deception.
“Would you take a look at Rex and Sam?” Mildred asked, putting her arm through Patricia’s. “Sam has always been Rex’s favorite hire. And he’s so happy that Sam has found the stability of marriage. You’re so good for him. He deserves every happiness that life has to offer. I don’t know you too well, but I’d suspect the same is true about you.”
Patricia had never heard Mildred Van Hess make such a personal evaluation about anyone, and it got her to thinking about the valued assistant to the boss.
“Mildred, what are you going to be doing when Rex retires?”
“I got a great pension,” Mildred said. “I suppose I’ll take up a hobby. Gardening, maybe. Or postage stamps. Or ballroom dancing.”
She briskly guided Patricia to the two men, who appeared to have been in the middle of an intense conversation. Patricia felt her heart begin to gallop. Sam had thought that the conversation at the beginning of the party would be their only contact with Rex. But now...
“Ah, Patricia, glad you’re back,” Sam said, an oddly strained look on his face that was at odds with his easy words. “Rex has just made us the most astoundingly generous offer.”
“Really?” Patricia asked, trying to look casual as Sam kissed her cheek and whispered, “it’s okay, we’ll get through this.”
“Oh, I hope you don’t mind an old man’s meddling,” Rex said. “But I was telling Sam here that I don’t want to miss your wedding because I’m on my world tour. Likewise, I don’t want to have to miss the Great Wall of China or the pyramids at Cheops to watch you two tie the knot when you can do it right now.”
“Right now?” Patricia said, squelching the pure terror that she was experiencing.
“Well, not this very moment,” Rex clarified. “Although it’s tempting, isn’t it? I’m talking about sometime in the next two weeks. Before I leave. Do it at my home. It would give me the greatest pleasure you can imagine. And then I will take my cruise knowing that my company and my employees and my friend Sam are in the best hands.”
Sam looked at Patricia helplessly.
“We can’t,” Patricia said softly. “Uh, Sam’s always wanted a very...large wedding. And those take so much planning.”
“Actually, he said it was you that wanted the big wedding but that he’ll go either way.” Rex chuckled. “Just so long as it’s legal.”
“Then there’s another problem.” Sam scrambled for an excuse. “Her mom is in the diplomatic corps. Very remote part of the world. Jungles and mountainous terrain. Can’t get a flight out in two weeks. Where is she again, darling?”
“France.”
“They do have transportation difficulties,” Mildred said dryly.
Sam hung his head.
“Okay, I should confess to you the truth. Rex, I love you dearly,” Sam said. “You gave me a chance when no one else would. I owe my life to you. I’d never have made it out of the barrio without your help.”
“Oh, Sam, you have so much ambition, sometimes I feel Barrington Corporation’s held you back from even greater things.”
“No, Rex, I’m happy here. Very happy. Perhaps you won’t be so happy with me when I tell you the truth.”
The pain in his face moved Patricia, so much so that she swallowed all her qualms and put her fingers to his lips.
“What Sam’s saying is that we’d honestly be so... grateful and honored if you would host our wedding. But we didn’t want you to feel obligated.”
“Obligated? I’d be honored!”
“You would?” Sam asked.
“Yes, I would!” Rex beamed. “So you’ll let me throw you a wedding?”
Patricia looked up at Sam. She nodded encouragingly. The gratitude in his face was so great that Patricia knew it would be worth it.
Even if he never learned to love her, it would be worth it to do this one thing for the man she loved.
He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple throbbing.
“We’d be thrilled,” Sam said to Rex. And he squeezed Patricia’s hand. “Doesn’t a wedding at his home sound great, darling?”
“It sure does,” Patricia said.
“I’ll help with setting it up,” Mildred said. “It’ll be fun. Rex, what a way to set off to see the world—a wedding and a bon voyage party all rolled into one!”
Chapter Ten
“Why’d you do it?”
Patricia waved at Rex and Mildred standing on the high-ceilinged portico of the Phoenician’s western entrance. Rex had his arm around Mildred and she had dropped her head to his shoulder.
“Do what?” Patricia asked.
“Say you’d marry me at Rex’s house.”
“I did it because I didn’t want to see a grown man cry.”
Sam chuckled and guided his car onto the street.
“I wasn’t going to cry,” he said. “But I was sweating.”
“You were going to tell him the truth,” Patricia observed. “You were going to tell him that this was a made-up engagement.”
“Yeah, I was. I figured it was the right thing to do when he asked to have the wedding at his home—maybe the only thing.”
“The only other thing is to wait and see,” Patricia said. “Maybe he had too much to drink.”
Sam glanced at her.
“No,” they both said. Rex wasn’t much of a drinker.
“Maybe he’ll forget about it,” Sam said.
Patricia glanced at him.
“No,” they both said. Rex was a follow-through kind of guy. How else could he have started with nothing and created the Barrington corporate empire?
“Maybe he’ll get distracted by all the last-minute preparations for his trip,” Patricia suggested.
“Right And maybe he’ll be abducted by aliens,” Sam said. “So why’d you do it? You want Tahiti, right?”
Patricia did a double take.
“Tahiti?”
“Yeah, every person I’ve ever worked with at Barrington has asked for managing the Tahiti facility. It’s yours, Patricia, if you want it Beaches, clear ocean water, mimosas by the...”
“I’d get a sunburn. See these freckles? They’d turn fuchsia.”
“Switzerland’s everybody’s second choice.”
“I’ve been there. Done that”
“Okay, you want more money.”
“I don’t need money,” Patricia said, starting to get irritated.
“We all need money. Count on getting the max on your bonus—but you would get that anyway because you do good work.”
Patricia fumed. She wasn’t doing this for a payback. And yet he seemed determined to reduce their relationship to favors given and received.
Tell him, she thought, tell him exactly why you’re doing this. You’re doing this so he’ll take a longer look. So that he’ll see you as the woman he deserves, needs...
“I know,” Sam said triumphantly, slapping his hands on the steering wheel. “It’s my job. You want my job. Well, sister, you can’t have it...until I get promoted. And then I’ll be happy to move your desk into my office myself.”
> “That’s not it at all.”
“Then there’s only one other possibility and it makes me very sad. You want to leave.”
“Leave?”
“You want to leave and you want a good reference. Patricia, I don’t want you to go—I think we work well together, and you’re a great friend and I’d miss you. And you’re the only woman I know who would agree to go to a fake wedding at Rex’s house and know that I couldn’t be...”
“Couldn’t be what?”
Sam parked the car in her lot.
“Patricia, have you ever thought you might not be the kind of person who could marry?”
Actually, she had been giving that question a lot of thought. Until she met Sam she had assumed that she could be a good wife...to the right man. And the right man was simply running late on making his appearance.
When she fell for Sam, and fell hard, she slowly realized that she couldn’t be a good wife—to any other man. And if Sam didn’t love her, she was doomed to the single life, because it was unfair to marry when she’d always measure another man by Sam’s standard.
“I guess I’ve worried about it,” she answered cautiously. “Is it something you’ve thought about yourself?”
“Yes, it is. I’ve thought about it a lot lately and I know I can’t marry,” he said. “Not for real, anyway. That’s what I learned from Melissa.”
“Not all woman are like Melissa.”
“All women need to be loved. I can’t love a woman. Oh, I can go through the motions—and I did with Melissa. I was attentive, remembered birthdays and major holidays, was faithful out of habit, but something was always missing. Me. I was missing.”
“Sam, you’re too hard on yourself. You won’t be missing...when you’re with the right woman. It’ll happen. You’re a good man and you’ll have it.”
“Patricia, you’re a real good friend,” he said. “You’re the only friend I’ve got that I can talk about this kind of stuff with.”
He held out his hand and she touched the fingers in a melancholy facsimile of a high five.
“It’s two weeks before Rex leaves,” Sam said. “I can’t imagine that this wedding stuff can’t be put off. But thank you for agreeing to it And remember, whatever you want—it’s yours. You really are the greatest friend.”
The Marriage Merger Page 8
