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“That’s right,” Martha said. “I also give you something to strive for by showing off the latest acquisitions to my ever-expanding man-harem.” She grinned, delighted and predatory. “Have I shown you pictures of the latest one? He’s an actual honest-to-God underwear model. I thought they were a myth!”
“Another time,” I said. “But seriously, Martha, you’ve been invaluable. Offering feedback on the designs, organizing the paperwork, making calls, fielding messages for me—you’re a lifesaver. Have you considered ever going into advertising?”
Martha raised an eyebrow. “Is that a job offer?”
I sighed. “Oh, I wish it were. As it is, all I can offer you is a good word with an internship, and even that might count against you, the way the feeling is at work lately. But one of these days I’m going to strike out on my own, and believe me, there will be a job reserved just for you.”
Martha smiled, scrubbing at her eyes as if something had got in them. “You’re sweet, Ally. I can’t tell you how tempting that is…but I’d have to move up to D.C., right? Not sure how I’d feel about leaving home. I really love it here.”
“All the resources are in D.C.,” I confirmed. “As soon as this job’s done, I’ll be heading back.”
And how will this affect Hunter and our…whatever we have? Will he still want to be with me? How would we even make that work?
I pushed those troubling thoughts aside. There’d be plenty of time to worry about that later. Hell, right now there was plenty more to worry about.
My phone rang, and as I looked at the caller ID, I groaned.
Another thing to worry about: family dinner.
Martha saw it too. After fielding a few dozen messages from my mother, she knew exactly how I was feeling. She gave me a sympathetic smile and a pat on the shoulder.
“Stay strong, Ally girl. I’ll stick around here and make sure these files don’t sneak off on you.”
#
“And his investment portfolio was just…just…perfect!”
My mother was very nearly sobbing into her mashed potatoes. Paige rolled her eyes behind her back as she patted her hand, and I tried not to giggle.
“I thought you liked him,” Mom moaned. “You said you liked him, you said he was a gentleman!”
“I did, and he was,” Paige said evenly. “There just wasn’t a spark.”
She met my eyes again and we both smiled secret smiles, thinking of Sergei and art shows and Paige having an apartment of her very own. I’d never felt closer to her.
My mother’s head snapped up just in time to see Paige smiling her unconcerned smile. “Paige! How can you sit there making juvenile faces when you’ve let the best prospect you’ve seen in years slip through your fingers, my goodness, that man’s stock options alone—”
Paige looked me, her face asking permission to tell.
I didn’t really relish the thought of Mom knowing, but Paige had pulled my bacon out of the fire many a time before. I could take the heat this time to get her off Paige’s back. I nodded.
Paige gave Mom’s hand another pat before withdrawing with a mischievous smile. “Don’t worry so much, Mom—”
“Don’t worry! She asks me not to worry when I sweat and bleed to get them both married off, but are they grateful, are they—”
“After all, he might still be your son-in-law. I’m not your only daughter.”
Silence fell as the words worked their way through Mom’s skull.
Then the tears shut off like a faucet, and she turned to me with the biggest smile she had ever directed toward me. And that included college graduation.
“Oh, Allison! Who ever would have thought you had it in you? I told you that job of yours was the perfect way to meet eligible men!”
Yep, there went the Mom Express, rewriting history as fast as the speed of sound.
“Well, now this means I simply must meet his parents, that will help cement things, we can’t have him trying to slip out of this one! And with your complexion we’ll have to completely change the color scheme of the bridesmaid’s dresses, and the house I was eyeing down the block is all wrong, you’ll have to knock out the back wing and redo the floors completely, thankfully I’ll be right here to offer advice—”
Whoa whoa whoa. Rescuing Paige’s bacon was one thing, but I sure as hell had not signed up for this roller coaster.
I held out my hand like a traffic cop. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. We’re…seeing each other, but it’s not official, and we’re definitely not at the stage of discussing marriage plans, okay?”
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