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Glancing down, he saw Beth Jennings, his HR manager. “Thanks,” he said, grateful to find someone he could relax around. Beth knew him well enough by now not to expect inane rambling. His eyes slid again to Sophie, whose hand was settled on Jeff’s forearm, and his fist clenched around his plastic utensils.
It’s your own fault, he told himself. The “friends” routine had been his idea.
He just hadn’t expected her to embrace it quite so damn readily. She’d moved easily into the role of platonic, helpful friend and bidding assistant. It was annoying, really.
The only hint that there had ever been any tension between them happened in the office elevator on Monday. The elevator became more full than usual, and Sophie, in making room for more passengers, had become pressed against him. His body had tensed immediately at the brief contact, and from the hitch in her breath, he had a feeling she wasn’t exactly immune either.
But the moment was over before he had a chance to smell her nearness, and in the moments that followed she’d chatted happily about a date she had planned for later that night. He’d told himself the knot in his stomach had everything to do with annoyance at her rambling, and nothing to do with jealousy.
His life was back to the way he wanted it.
No more stressing about saying the wrong thing, and no more constant worrying about what she thought of him.
“Earth to Mr. Wyatt,” Beth was saying. “You got a little preoccupied with the beans there.”
She nodded toward the pot of baked beans that he’d been stirring with angry stabbing motions. “Sorry,” he said, dropping the spoon.
“Oh, it’s no problem. I know you have a lot on your mind trying to make a good impression on all of these employees after the legacy left by Mr. Brayburn. But I have to tell you, as much as we loved the man, he never put on anything like this. Major brownie points.”
“It was all Sophie,” he said truthfully. He’d agreed to the event and shown up, but he couldn’t rightfully claim any part of its success.
“She’s great, isn’t she?” Beth said fondly, glancing over to where Jeff was now feeding Sophie a piece of pie. “You know, I never thought her and Jeff…well, I mean…I hadn’t realized that they were so close until recently.”
Gray grunted, willing Beth to talk about something else. Someone else.
“You know, I always thought…well…I guess you never can tell.”
“You always thought what?” he asked sharply.
Her smile slipped slightly and she began to look nervous.
Great, Gray. Very smooth. He tried again. “What did you think?” he asked with a strained smile.
“Well,” she said nervously, licking her lips and fiddling with her hamburger bun. “After the weird dynamic I saw between you and Sophie that first day, and the way you were always getting under each other’s skin, well, I guess I maybe thought…”
“Yes?”
She let out a nervous laugh. “Oh, it’s just a little gossip. But for those first few days, I thought that maybe you and Sophie had a…well, a thing. Crazy how misperceptions start, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Crazy,” he said quietly. “Ms. Jennings, if you’ll excuse me, I really should be making my rounds.”
“Of course,” she said with a wave of her hand.
His plate full of food he didn’t want, Gray searched around for somewhere to sit. The handful of picnic tables were half-full with chattering families and coworkers who knew each other. Despite his title, or perhaps because of it, he knew nobody beyond their name, face, and job description. He didn’t know their hobbies, their children, or their favorite sports teams.
But he knew Sophie.
Although, he wasn’t even sure he knew her anymore. In the past two weeks, she’d been her usual chatty self with him. Perhaps more so. But it felt superficial. He was now seeing the same Sophie that she presented to everyone else. She was still sarcastic, but nothing like the gutsy spitfire he’d met in the Las Vegas elevator and who’d gone toe to toe with a brand-new boss who’d openly disdained her.
He didn’t like it.
He wanted the old Sophie back. The one who breathed fire but also lit him on fire. But he knew he couldn’t have that.
Abandoning the idea of eating, much less finding somewhere to sit, he surreptitiously dumped his paper plate in the garbage. After he shook hands with a few more people he barely knew, he began making his way toward the activity tent.
Not because
that was where Sophie and Jeff continued to laugh like an old married couple, he told himself. He merely wanted to determine if there were employees over there whom he hadn’t greeted yet.
