A merry tone sounded on her cell phone.
“Hey, Charlie.”
“Hey, Sister. How was your first day?”
“I’m pooped, but everything went pretty well. Mom only embarrassed me a little bit, and I managed to talk her out of introducing me to the entire office.”
“You’d sit in your cubicle and never meet a soul if you had your way about it. I’m glad Mom’s there to do my job for me.”
“I’m quite happy without either of you interfering in my personal life. I’ve got enough trouble already.”
“What? What happened?”
“You won’t believe my bad luck. Spencer Marshall is working a few cubicles down from me.”
“That’s awesome. I didn’t know he worked at Gherring Inc.”
“It’s not awesome—he’s pushy and overbearing. He’s an intern for the summer, so I only have to make it for three months or so. Then he’ll be gone, and I can have my quiet, private life back.”
“He’s not going to mess up your life by working next to you. Think of it as a bonus. He’s improving the scenery at the office. You have to admit, he’s pretty hot.”
“He is messing up my life. He invited himself over here tonight to help me unpack and stock up on groceries. The problem is I’ve already done all of that. I told a little white lie about it as an excuse for why we couldn’t get together.” Emily rubbed her forehead. “Now what am I going to do?”
The sound of Charlie’s giggles echoed over the phone.
“Stop it—it’s not funny.”
“You’ve always been so good at telling those little lies, and you always got away with it. But not this time… And Spencer’s coming to your apartment. He really does like you, doesn’t he? You’ve been denying it all this time, so now you’ve been caught in another little lie.”
Emily had been skirting the truth about Spencer’s relentless pursuit since their meeting in the fall. Both her mom and her sister had quizzed her about him repeatedly. But Emily didn’t want the complication of a relationship right now. And she certainly didn’t want the complication of a meddling family.
“Stop it. You’re my sister—you have to be on my side. You have to help me. What am I going to do?”
“Well, you could always tell the truth and admit you lied to keep him from coming over.”
“I can’t do that. It would hurt his feelings. Although... Maybe he deserves it. Do you know he made a date with another girl on the phone while he was making this date with me?”
“So we’re calling this a date?”
“No, it’s not a date. It’s a friend coming over to help a friend. It’s only a date if they spend money on you or kiss you. You know the dating rules. He’s not spending any money, and he’s definitely not gonna kiss me.”
“Whatever you say…”
“Charlie, help me.”
“Okay, okay... Knowing you, you’ve already completely unpacked and thrown away your boxes and decorated the entire space, right?”
“Of course. I did that the night I got here.”
“So, go get your suitcases out and take stuff off your shelves and put it in the suitcases.”
“What about the groceries?”
“Just tell him you were really hungry, so you went by the grocery store on the way home from work. Honestly, he’s a boy, so all you really need to do is feed him. If he smells food cooking when he gets there, he won’t ask any questions or be suspicious at all.”
“Right. Good idea.” Emily relaxed a little. “How is it you know so much about boys, but you don’t have one of your own?”
“There’s plenty of them hanging around all the time. I can ski and climb and raft and hike and bike with them without having one guy tied to me. They’re so needy. All the girls I know with boyfriends can’t ever do anything fun because they have to be with their guys all the time.”
“Awesome, Sis. Thanks for your advice. I hate to take my stuff off the shelves. But maybe if I’m really organized about it, it won’t be so bad.”
Emily scurried to follow Charlie’s advice before Spencer’s arrival. She decided to make spaghetti because the aroma would be really strong. She chopped up half an onion and bell pepper and sautéed it, before adding ground turkey. The smell was working on her as well—she noticed her stomach gurgling.
Spencer knocked on the door at six thirty on the dot. “Wow—what smells so good?” He waltzed in the door and proceeded straight to the kitchen. “I thought you didn’t have groceries yet?”
“I stopped on the way home from work. I didn’t want to wait for a late dinner.”
“Awesome. Spaghetti? Want me to make garlic cheese bread? Let’s see what you’ve got.” He perused her totally stocked and well-organized kitchen and raised his eyebrows. “Wow, you’ve got everything, even the spices. I can’t believe you did all this after work.”
She cringed, but his face split in a sincere smile. “I just love a girl who’s smart and efficient.” He found the supplies needed for his bread and started working.
As relief flooded her body, she hurried to finish preparing dinner. Spencer chatted about his excitement at getting the internship at Gherring Inc. He expressed admiration for her accomplishments, never suggesting Steven Gherring had given her a job she didn’t deserve.
His manner was friendly and platonic. She began to wonder if she’d only imagined his forwardness. Maybe he was simply an extremely amicable person. Maybe he only wanted to be good friends. After all, he’d never actually
