Eli scrubbed his face. “Michelle, you’re being careless. Lawsuits still happen in small towns. Ask Jameson if you don’t believe me.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh! I have an idea. Let’s ask Jameson to draft a contract.”
He sighed loudly and stood. “Okay, this conversation needs to end.”
“Oh, come on, Eli. It’s a brilliant idea. Then we can’t get sued.”
“What do you think she gains from this?”
Michelle gestured around before frowning, but it didn’t last long before she smiled again. “We can pay her extra to pretend. A bonus of sorts.”
Eli dropped his head. “Oh, good Lord. She’s not anescort.”
“I didn’t say she had to have sex with you,” Michelle said just as the office door opened.
Katie’s eyebrows raised as she looked between her siblings. “Um. Do I want to know?”
“Nope, probably not,” Eli said at the same time Michelle said, “Yep!”
“Okay,” Katie frowned. Then she looked at Eli. “There are customers who need help.”
He hurried to the door. He didn’t need to be told twice. Anything to get out of this awkward conversation.
4
Molly glanced curiously toward the office door. The Miller siblings were all behaving oddly. First, she had walked in on Eli and Michelle having a conversation that then caused Michelle to act weird. Then Katie disappeared into the office. When Eli emerged, he had a hard-to-read expression on his face, but she caught him glancing her way far more than he usually did.
The office door finally opened, and Katie emerged. Her eyebrows were furrowed as if she were deep in thought. She walked behind the counter and leaned against it. There was a reprieve in customers after the lunch rush, so Molly had been getting a head start on cleaning.
“Good conversation?” Molly asked.
Katie shrugged. “Weird really. Michelle has big ideas, and she’s trying to talk everyone else into following along, per usual.”
“Oh, yeah?” The curiosity was pricking at her mind. There was something she didn’t know, but she had a strange feeling it involved her.
Katie ran a rag over the countertops before stopping and turning to face Molly. “Okay, I need to know.”
Molly turned off the water at the sink where she was washing dishes and dried her hands on a towel before turning to face Katie. “Yes?”
“Michelle has this wild idea that if Eli has a pretend girlfriend that he could scare Lauren off from stalking him constantly.”
Molly nodded. “Makes sense. It worked the other day when he pretended he was seeing me.”
Katie’s lips lifted into a smile as she stared expectantly at her. Molly looked back in confusion until…
Oh…Oh.
“Me?”
Katie shrugged. “I know it’s a weird thing to mention. Especially since you’re an employee, but it kind of makes sense. You’re here most of the time when he’s here…allthe time when Lauren is here, so it’s convenient. But Eli is worried he’ll be sued for sexual harassment. Michelle is convinced that it doesn’t happen in small towns.” Katie rolled her eyes. “Then Michelle suggested having Jameson draft up an agreement, but Eli said it wouldn’t benefit you at all. So Michelle said we should give you a bonus check for helping him out, but then Eli said he doesn’t want it to sound like you’re an escort.”
Molly stared at her with wide eyes as Katie word-vomited an entire conversation that had happened in the back office. “Wait, what? An escort?”
Katie sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Is that the only part you heard?”
“No.” Molly shook her head. “Let me get this straight. You guys were just discussing getting Eli a fake girlfriend to scare Lauren off, and you were hoping I would be said fake girlfriend?”
“Yep.”
