The Official Guide to Marrying Your Boss

by Doyle, Mae

  And if they couldn’t…well, I’d just have to keep an eye on cowboy boots. He was the weak link, for sure.

  “I’d just really hoped that she would come, and she didn’t say anything about not making it when we texted this morning,” he told me, like it was news to me.

  Oh, I knew it, though. My poor burner phone didn’t do a great job holding a charge, so I’d had to go out to buy a longer cord for it so that I didn’t have to get off of the sofa every single time the phone beeped.

  “Maybe she came,” I said, with a little shrug.

  Just then, the two guys walked back into the room carrying the sweet tea. I kept an eye on Nick’s face, wanting to see his reaction to the fact that Marie had made what he wanted to drink.

  He smiled and cowboy boots walked right up to me. “Okay, boss, where do you want the sweet tea?”

  There was an table with cups on it next to the one that was groaning with food, and I pointed at it, trying to make my smile reach my eyes. That was something that my grandmother had always warned me about — smiling with my eyes makes you look more legit. “Over there would be great, thanks,” I told him.

  Nick reached out his hand to stop the guy with the orthopedic shoes from walking by. “I’m sorry, but where’s Marie? I thought that she was going to make it.”

  Cowboy boots stopped dead in his tracks and turned to look at me, but orthopedic shoes looked calm. “She said that she’s sorry but something came up,” he repeated, giving Nick a little nod and then pushing past him.

  Cowboy boots was still staring, his mouth hanging open. While Nick had his back to us, I grabbed the guy’s arm and yanked him over to the drink table.

  “What in the world is your problem?” I hissed. “Haven’t you ever told a lie in your life?”

  “I’m a boy scout!” He yell whispered back at me. “I’m not supposed to tell untruths, ever.”

  I took a step back. Was this guy for real? “A boy scout with a naked woman dancing on his arm? Your priorities are all messed up, dude.” He had to be in his early twenties, and although I didn’t know much about the Boy Scouts, I had a feeling that they were for younger kids. Campfires, s’mores, hiking…all of those were boy scout things.

  Not getting chastised because you told a little lie to help someone who hired you keep her job or having a crazy tattoo on your arm that you can’t cover up.

  I had a very good feeling that if he didn’t out me as lying about Tasty Foods that he’d make one of Nick’s guests pass out in her casserole.

  Granted, Nick was a doctor, and I didn’t hate the thought of him leaping into action to help someone, but being an expert in facial surgery didn’t mean that he would be the best option to help someone with a heart attack. Best not to put that much pressure on him.

  “Then don’t say anything,” I told him, trying to sound a lot nicer than I felt. “You don’t have to lie, but just make sure that you don’t say anything that could get me in trouble, okay? And don’t flex your arm at anyone.”

  “That’s a lie of omission,” he whispered, and I grabbed the sweet tea from him, setting it down on the table with a hard thud.

  “Listen, cowboy boots,” I told him, leaning closer to him to try to make my point. “My job is on the line here, so I don’t need you getting an attack of the conscience, got it? Either you buck up, keep quiet, and don’t ruin this for me, or there’s the door.”

  I jutted my thumb back over my shoulder at the open door, hoping against hope that Nick wasn’t going to see what I was doing.

  Cowboy boots hesitated for a moment, looking at me. “Those are really our only two options? Stay and sacrifice my morals and values or leave?”

  “What morals? You have tits tattooed on your arm! You know what? You can just leave without pay.” There. I’d make it hurt him a little to leave me hanging.

  “People are allowed to make mistakes in the past,” he said, untying his apron and lifting it off over his head. “And Samantha has always been there for me. You can serve them.”

  Samantha? He named the naked chick on his arm Samantha? This was my fault for trusting the internet for an important job. I brought this on myself.

  My jaw dropped open. “I don’t believe you,” I hissed, but he tossed the apron at me. I grabbed it when it hit my chest and just stared at him as he walked away, his cowboy boots loud on the tile floor.

  Nick watched him go, one eyebrow raised, then turned to me. “You want to explain what that was?”

  “Creative differences.” I looked at orthopedic shoes, who was carefully pouring tea into the glasses. “But I’ll help serve again to make sure that there aren’t any problems, okay?”

  Nick’s face darkened. “Come talk to me,” he said, walking out of the door. I shot a glance at orthopedic shoes, who shrugged, then followed my boss.

  He stopped outside the room, thankfully far enough away from Linda’s desk that I didn’t think she’d be able to hear us talking. “You want to tell me what’s going on in there, Katie?”

  I froze.

  Was it possible that he knew that Tasty Foods was a sham? That I’d hired these two guys just to serve the meal and leave? That there wasn’t any way I’d ever be able to move out of Tiffany’s place if I didn’t stop spending money on this lie?

  I shook my head. “What are you talking about?”

  He sighed. “I’ve never seen you not be able to get along with someone like that before,” he said. “It was a little disappointing, if I’m honest, and it felt like there was something personal there.” He paused, and my mind started racing to fill in the blank of what he was going to say.

  Finally, he exhaled. “Was that your ex?”

  What?

  “My…ex?”

  “I know that it’s none of my business, but it would explain why the two of you didn’t get along. I could tell that there was an issue between you two right away, and that’s what made sense. I’m sorry if I overstepped.”

  Now. Now was the perfect time to look Nick in the eyes, stop lying, and tell him the truth.

  I had no idea what I was going to do.

  Chapter 20

  I had to get back to my office and text Nick from the burner phone, but he was still looking at me with so much compassion and concern because he thought that cowboy boots was my ex that I didn’t know what to say.

  I kept reminding myself of the fact that I wanted to stop lying to him.

  I wanted him to know me, not the fact that I was such a liar, but it was almost impossible for me to breathe, let alone figure out how I was going to claw my way out of the pit of lies that I’d dug myself.

  “He’s not my ex,” I said finally, exhaling hard. “He just wasn’t…doing what I needed him to do and I wanted this luncheon to go well for you, that’s all.” It felt really, really good not to lie to Nick, but what happened next negated the good feeling.

  “I’m disappointed, Katie. Knowing how to get along with everyone is an important skill that I thought you had.”

  My heart sank, but he wasn’t done.

  “Please make sure that the rest of the luncheon goes smoothly. This is a Thanksgiving celebration for some of my biggest donors and closest friends, and I don’t want this interaction you just had to color it poorly, you understand?”

  Why was there a rock in my throat? I swallowed hard, tyring to get it to move. Nick was still looking at me like I had really let him down, and the feeling was terrible.

  “I’ll take care of it, I promise,” I told him, and he gave me a stiff nod before turning and walking to his office. As soon as he was gone, I dashed off to my office to grab my burner phone from my desk.

  I’m so sorry I can’t make it, Nick! I’d hoped to be there but something came up.

  There. That should do it.

  I opened my drawer to put the phone away, but it buzzed in my hand, so I flipped it open to see a text from Nick.

  Sorry to hear it, Marie. Maybe we can chat later.

  The guy could not take
a hint.

  I paused, debating how to handle the issue, then fired off a text before I could stop myself.

  Sounds good. Hey, will you or Katie let me know if the staff doesn’t work out? I hired someone new and he can be…touchy. Hate to spring it on you, but I want to be on top of it.

  My hands felt cold after I sent the text and I waited for a response.

  Nothing right away.

  “Okay, Katie, you got this,” I said, throwing the phone back into the drawer and slamming it shut before running down the hall, into the main office, and then into the room where orthopedic shoes had been setting up.

  I should probably learn his name.

  “This looks great,” I told him. “What was your name?”

  “Brett,” he said, giving me a grin and looking at the table. “And thanks. This is a little different than the other jobs I’ve had, but it’s nicer than working outside in this weather.”

  He wasn’t joking. Even though I didn’t have a window in my office, I could tell that the heat was running harder than normal to try to keep the place a nice temperature. “Well, I appreciate you, Brett,” I told him. “We’re going to be just fine.”

  That statement was more for me to remember than for him, but he gave me a smile and a nod. “You got it.”

  Just then, Nick strolled in, followed closely by his seven guests. They were all chatting and laughing, and my eyes flitted over each of them, not really paying attention to any of them, until I saw the last women walking in the door.

  It was the leggy blonde.

  Susan? Stephanie? No, Sara.

  She looked like a Sara with no H. All leggy and laughing, completely impervious to the crap weather outside in her little mini skirt and tight top. I could see the hint of a tattoo peeking out from her shoulder, but I was sure it wasn’t a naked lady.

  Probably a butterfly.

  Hummingbird.

  Angel wings.

  Ugh.

  Wait, Nick had said that this lunch was for his biggest donors and closest friends, so which one was she? She sat down next to him, leaning towards him and laughing. Donor or friend?

  Either way, I didn’t like how she was leaning towards him. He was magnetic, sure, so I got it, but I wanted to be the only one looking at him like that.

  My stomach twisted.

  Instead of fleeing from the room and hiding under my desk, which was what I really wanted to do, I put a grin on my face and helped Brett start to serve the iced tea. Sara moved her perfectly tanned and toned arm out of the way for me before looking up at my face and gasping.

  “You’re the girl from the bodega,” she said, reaching out and grabbing me. “Are you okay? You fell so hard the other day.”

  Everyone around the table stopped talking. “I’m great, thanks,” I lied. I hadn’t just left some skin on the pavement outside of the bodega, but also all of my pride, and now she was bringing it up for everyone to know about.

  “This poor girl here hit the ground so hard that I thought she’d knock herself out,” she explained to everyone at the table. Everyone around the table was looking at me with concern so I dropped my gaze to her napkin so I wouldn’t have to see the way they looked at me.

  “I offered to bring her here to get a doctor’s opinion, but she said she was fine. You’re a trooper,” Sara continued, squeezing my arm.

  “Thank you,” I told her, pulling away from her.

  If she was for real, then she was easily the nicest person I’d ever met. I didn’t want her to be for real, though. I didn’t want her sitting next to Nick.

  “But enough about me,” I said, and a few of the people chuckled. “Tasty Foods has made a delicious chicken casserole, fresh homemade rolls, and bacon green beans that I’m sure you will all love.” I’d put some butter onto little plates and scattered them around the table as well as put out more sugar in case the sweet tea wasn’t sweet enough for anyone.

  But, honestly? That was about as far as my cooking went. Even though I’d pulled off the other luncheon without a problem, I didn’t think that I had the skills to do this one from scratch. If nothing else, I didn’t really know what to buy, and without Alexis getting all of the ingredients for me and handing them to me with the recipes, I was kinda up the creek.

  The chicken in the casserole was canned, the fresh homemade rolls had been frozen up until I chucked them in the oven this morning and were a little dark on top thanks to me getting sucked in to scrolling through Instagram, and the bacon green beans I’d bought from a local restaurant.

  Of course, they only sold side dishes in servings for twenty people, and they weren’t cheap, so I was going to be eating a lot of green beans over the next week.

  I just hoped they didn’t make my pee green or anything.

  Nick smiled at me and I felt my heart leap in my chest before Sara leaned over and lightly rested her hand on his arm. At the sight of that, I felt my heart squeeze and I knew I needed to get out of the room.

  I practically ran to my office, ignoring the look that Linda gave me and grabbed my burner, slamming my door behind me before firing off a text to Nick.

  Enjoy the meal!

  There. It definitely wasn’t my most eloquent text I’d ever sent, and I skittered back through the office just in time to see Nick pull his phone from his pocket, smile at the screen, then put it away again.

  Sara, for her part, had removed her hand from his arm.

  Mission accomplished.

  The group ate without complaining, and nobody died, so I considered that a win. Brett and I stood silently to the side, and I tried my best to pretend that I was invisible. In a little bit, they were finishing, Nick even wiping the last of the casserole from his plate with a roll.

  The sight made me feel really good about myself, even though I couldn’t tell him that I was the one who cooked it.

  As if he was reading my mind, Nick popped the last of the roll in his mouth and washed it down with some sweet tea. “You’ll have to pass on our complements to the chef,” Nick said in a little bit, locking eyes with Brett. “This is delicious.”

  “Oh, thanks,” he said, giving him a nod. I waited for him to do something stupid, like confess that he didn’t have anything to do with the food and didn’t even work for Tasty Foods because it didn’t exist, but he kept a slight smile on his face and stared straight ahead at Nick.

  “They did do a good job, didn’t they?” I asked, then nudged Brett. “Will you please go get the cookie tray?”

  This was something I was proud of because I actually made them myself. Well, Martha Stewart and I did last night with a big glass of wine and only one burn on the back of my hand.

  Say what you want about her, but she is not only the queen of decorating for the holidays, but also of making really good recipes that apparently even I can follow.

  Brett left the room and came right back carrying a tray with three different kinds of cookies. I’d only baked a few batches of each and then rolled the rest of the dough into balls and put it in the freeze for emergency treats later.

  Cookies and bacon green bean casserole. It was going to be the food of champions for me for a little while.

  “Okay, we have…” he paused, looking down at the different cookies, and I couldn’t help myself from jumping in to help.

  “Ooh, looks like snickerdoodles,” I said, pointing while trying to make it look like I was really thinking about what types of cookies were on the tray. “Something with chocolate chips and a double chocolate cherry cookie.”

  Those I was particularly proud of, as I had not not only make the dough, but also top each with a cherry and a homemade chocolate sauce. They were tricky and stupidly messy, but I had a feeling that they would impress.

  “How did you know those were double chocolate cherry cookies?” Sara asked me, hovering her hand right over the one on top with extra chocolate on it.

  “I’m sorry?”

  “You didn’t make them, right? Or are you the caterer? Nick said to
pass on his complements to the chef, so that can’t be you. I guess I don’t really know who you are.”

  I chuckled for a moment. “Just a good guess,” I lied. “Pretty sure I’ve had something similar before. And I’m Katie, I work here with Nick.”

  Her head swiveled around faster than I’d ever seen anyone move. “She works here with you? She’s not the caterer?”

  Nick shook his head slowly, but instead of looking at her, he was staring at me. “She’s not the caterer, no.”

  He sounded…sad? That didn’t make any sense though.

  “Okay, Katie, who works with Nick, I’ll try one of these chocolate cherry ones.” Her words were all clipped and she sounded a little upset about what she had just learned. After she reached out and carefully pulled a cookie off of the top of the stack, I gave her a smile and walked over to Nick.

  He took a snickerdoodle, just like I knew he would.

  “Those are your favorite, right?” I said, without thinking about it.

  “What?” He frowned a little, his forehead creasing.

  “Uh, Marie told me they’re your favorite,” I said, tripping over myself to lie to him. Again. “So that’s why she made them.”

  “She’s sweet,” he said, and for just a moment, it felt like it was just the two of us in the room, but then he took a bite of his cookie and turned back to his friends. “Enjoy, everyone. Tomorrow I fly out for a week and I won’t see you guys until after Thanksgiving.”

  “We’ll all miss you,” Sara purred at him, and I felt my stomach twist.

  “Where are you going?” I asked, before I could help myself, and he turned to me, a little smile on his lips.

  “Italy. Going to be working with a doctor there on a new technique. I hate that it’s right around the holidays, but I didn’t have much of a choice on when he had time to see me.”

  “I’ve always wanted to see Italy,” I said automatically. It was like I’d forgotten that everyone else was around the table and I only had eyes for him. “Eat some pizza for me while you’re there, okay?”

  He grinned, but then Sara tugged his arm to get his attention, and he turned away from me to look at her.