Clarissa sat in the coffee shop, thumbing through a magazine, pretending her lunchtime wasn’t long over. So what? Let Perky Paige handle the crowd for a while. After yesterday’s condescending tirade, she deserved it.
The magazine jerked from her hand. “Hello there.” Tony waved it in the air. “What are you reading?” He flipped through a couple of pages of Vogue before tossing it back on the table. “Very highbrow.”
“Tony! What are you doing here?” She jumped to her feet and threw her arms around him.
“I used the excuse that I needed to check the progress upstairs, but the truth is, I came to see my favorite niece.”
She swatted his arm. “I’m your only niece.”
“Even if there were a dozen, you’d still be my favorite.”
“Good answer. A lie, but still a good answer.”
“I’ll buy you lunch, what do you say?”
She pointed to the mostly untouched salad on the table. “Just ate. How about dinner?” At least something good would come from this day.
He rubbed his chin. “I’ll buy dinner if we can order pizza.”
“You eat entirely too much junk food. There’s a decent steak house just outside the city limits. It’s actually a pretty nice place, considering it’s in this dump of a town.”
“You’ve soaked me for one too many expensive dinners lately. I say pizza.”
She laughed and stood. “Well, come on, I have to get to work.
We can argue about it while I show you the latest upgrades in the pharmacy.”
When they walked in, the place was empty of customers, and no one seemed to be in the dispensing area, either. “Come on back.” Clarissa opened the door, wondering if Paige had tired of waiting for her and left for lunch. No, she would have seen her go by, and besides, Paige was too perfect to do anything like that. “Anybody home?”
“Dawn’s still at lunch. I’m back here.” Paige’s voice came from the back.
“What are you doing back there?” This was one of those times that Clarissa was glad for the Richardson gift of being able to carry on a perfectly normal sounding conversation in a perfectly normal tone, even when there was enough tension in the air to suffocate the average mortal. She’d talked to Tony on the phone about the situation but never let on how fully she was beginning to dislike Paige. Hopefully he’d see how unfair everything was on his own.
“Wiping down the shelves.” Paige, too, seemed to possess the gift for falsely light conversational tone. She emerged from behind the shelves, carrying a wad of paper towels in her hand. “Oh, sorry. Didn’t know we had company.”
“Paige, this is my uncle. Tony, this is Paige.”
Tony went perfectly still and simply stared at Paige. Finally, he took a step forward and offered his hand. “Uh . . . hello.”
Tony at a loss for words? Clarissa had never seen it before—and she didn’t like it now. She looked at Paige to see her reaction.
“Uh . . . just a second.” Her cheeks flared pink as she dropped the towels in the trash and went to the sink to wash her hands. She came back, smiled at Tony, and shook his hand. “Sorry about that.” Her cheeks were still pink.
Tony looked from Paige to Clarissa and something sparked in his eyes. “I was just telling Clarissa I’m planning to stay for the rest of the day, thought I might grab some dinner before I leave. You want to join us? I hear there’s a nice steak place on the edge of town.”
Clarissa almost snorted. “Steak house, really? I wish I’d thought of that.”
He had the most charming smile when he chose to use it, as he did now. “How often do I get the chance to take my favorite niece and her co-worker out for a special dinner?”
Clarissa was going to kill him. What did he think he was doing?
Paige toyed with a bottle on the counter and didn’t look up. “I don’t want to take you away from your time together. Thanks for the offer, though.”
Tony walked right up beside her and nudged her with his shoulder. “Oh, come now. You two should spend time together outside of work, and besides, it’s a free meal. It’s hard to argue with that.” He looked back toward Clarissa. “Clarissa sure never does. Do you, Sweet Pea?”
“Even if you do have to put up with the likes of Tony to get it.” Her fingernails dug into her palms.
“It’s all settled then. I’ll meet you ladies here at closing time.”
“But I—” Paige’s expression looked so genuine as she started another fake protest.
“No more arguments, my decision is final. I’ll be back at closing.” He flashed that charming smile once again and Paige dropped her eyes. But she couldn’t hide a grin.
“Come on, Tony, I’ll walk with you to the door.” Clarissa grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away from the blushing Paige.
“What, you afraid I’ll get mugged on the way?” He grinned back over his shoulder. “What’s this world coming to?”
Paige’s answering giggle seemed to follow them down the aisle of the store. Clarissa waited until they were at the front door before whispering through clenched teeth, “So, what made you invite her to dinner, the blond hair or the blue eyes?”
He waved and smiled toward Paige in the back, then pushed through the door into the lobby. When the door swung closed behind them, he put his hands on Clarissa’s shoulders. “Neither, actually. It was the repeated phone calls from my favorite niece, who thinks her co-worker is out to get her, that she’s gunning for brownie points with my father, and possibly even out to conquer the free world with her evil schemes. I came down to check it out, and the best way to check it out is to spend some time actually talking to this person.”
She studied his face, from the firm set of his jaw to the earnest slant of his eyes. “Really?”
“Of course. Why do you think I’m here today? I’m not really involved at all in running this job. I told Dad I wanted to come see it, made up some vague excuse, and came down here to see what’s going on.”
“So, this whole ‘I’ll take you both to dinner,’ it’s . . .”
“Just my way of checking things out—incognito like, you know what I’m saying?” He wiggled his eyebrows up and down for maximum effect.
Clarissa giggled and hugged him. “You’re the best.”
“Of course I am.” He nodded toward the pharmacy door. “I have to say, she looks harmless enough to me.”
“Yeah, well, that’s the kind you’ve got to watch out for.” Clarissa went back into the pharmacy determined that Tony would see the real Paige tonight. The only way to do that was to make certain that Paige relaxed and let her guard down, which probably meant eating some crow about the argument yesterday.
Paige thought through the list of excuses she could give for backing out of dinner tonight. There were plenty of choices; all she had to do was pick one. Given the way Clarissa had charged down the aisle after her uncle, she had no doubt given him an earful of how wrong the invitation had been in the first place. They would be relieved with whatever reason she chose.
She was typing a prescription into the computer when the squeak of the door told her Clarissa had returned. She didn’t even look up. “You know, I really should go home after work. I need to walk the dog, all that. You two go on without me.”
“Oh, please come with us.”
This made Paige stop what she was doing and look up.
Clarissa walked up beside her and stared out across the pharmacy, the fingers of her right hand tapping against the fingers of her left. “You know, you were right about what you said yesterday. I shouldn’t leave Dawn here alone, I know that I shouldn’t.” She dropped her hands to the counter and leaned. “I’m sorry I got so defensive about it.”
“Uh . . . no problem.”
“Good.” Clarissa’s expression immediately brightened. “Since that’s settled, of course you’re coming to dinner. Like Tony said, we need to spend some time together outside of work. I mean, after all, we hardly know each other.”
This amazing transformation in Clarissa’s attitude was more than a little unsettling, but Paige couldn’t afford to ignore the gift that it was. Whether or not she wanted to go, she needed to make this effort.
Clarissa hummed all afternoon long, happier than Paige ever remembered seeing her. Could it be this easy? Maybe this dinner out was just the thing they had needed all along. A tiny shaft of hope seemed to light somewhere inside her.
The rest of the afternoon passed almost pleasantly, and when they locked the door for the evening, Clarissa took off her lab coat and hung it on the hook. “So, you’re not seeing anyone, right?”
Her voice sounded so casual—a little too casual.
Paige finished wiping down the counter. “No, I’m not. Why do you ask?”
“What do you think of my uncle Tony?”
“Seems nice enough.”
“Nice enough? Is that all?”
“Since he’s married, I’d say nice enough is plenty.” Paige threw the paper towel in the trash. Subject closed.
“Is not.”
Paige looked at her. “Then what’s the gold ring on his left hand?”
“Oh, that.” Clarissa waved her hand dismissively. “Ancient history. He’s been divorced a while now. His ex left him for some fat old partner in her law firm. What an idiot.”
Paige wondered at the woman who would leave those broad shoulders and that stubbled face with the boyish smile for anyone, much less a fat old law partner. Of course, what did she know about it?
The thought of tonight’s dinner began to grow increasingly uncomfortable. Tony was handsome, magnetic in his charm, and most of all he was Clarissa’s uncle. What was on that list of excuses again? Time to pull one out and get out of here. Lean Cuisine at home sounded just right, and a whole lot less complicated than the alternative.
“I’ll go out front and wait for Tony.” Clarissa disappeared out the door before Paige had a chance to spout out a reason why she suddenly couldn’t go. Well, she’d just have to say it to both of them now.
When she walked out the door, she saw Clarissa and Tony across the lobby—her dark elegance next to his roguish charm, her willowy frame next to his athletic build. They were too busy talking to see Paige come out the door, but their voices carried across the room.
“Oh, she’s just finishing up a few things. She’ll be right out.”
“Ever heard of a place nearby called Frederick’s? Some of the guys upstairs were telling me about it.”
“Oh yeah, it’s supposed to be really nice. Romantic, you know?”
That’s it. Time to get out of this one and head for home.
“Hi, Paige.”
Paige jumped at the sound of Cory’s voice so close behind her. She turned to see him leaning against the wall beside the pharmacy door. “You scared me to death.”
“Sorry.” He pushed off the wall. “Hey, I was about to go get some dinner. You want to come?”
Paige knew she couldn’t very well make an excuse to Clarissa and then go to dinner with Cory. “Oh, thanks. I can’t tonight. . . .” Her excuses died without voice. She locked the pharmacy door, then pulled on it once to double check.
“Paige, there you are. Will you hurry up? Tony’s about to starve.” Clarissa’s voice came through even louder this time.
Cory sized up Tony and then glanced back at Paige. “You’ve got plans, huh?”
“Cory, I—”
“Forget it.” He stalked off, walking right past Clarissa and Tony without acknowledging that he’d seen them.
Clarissa glanced over her shoulder toward Cory. She turned back so quickly Paige thought maybe she’d imagined it.
She walked over to join them. “Sorry it took me so long.”
Tony smiled at her. “So, I was just telling Sweet Pea that I heard about this place, Frederick’s. What do you think?”
This was the chance she’d been waiting for. “You two go ahead.
Frederick’s is a little out of my price range.”
“Nonsense. I would never invite a lady to dinner and then allow her to pay. Dinner’s on me.”
Paige shook her head. “I wouldn’t feel right. You’ve come to visit your niece, and somehow ended up with me in the bargain.
That’s not fair to you.”
Tony offered her his free arm. “Unfair in a totally fabulous way, I assure you. You are simply the icing on the cake.”
Paige took a step back. “I don’t think . . .”
Clarissa let go of her uncle and grabbed Paige by the arm. “Stop thinking and let’s get moving. Come on, we’re wasting time and I’m hungry.”
“Well said.” Tony took Paige’s other arm, and the duo made a show of pulling her through the lobby.
“Okay, okay, I give.” It might be fun. Maybe tonight would be just what she needed to finally break through with Clarissa. Thanks, God, sorry I doubted You. She looked at Clarissa and smiled. “Sweet Pea?”
“What can I say? Tony is one of the few people who appreciate my finer qualities.”
Tony jingled the keys in his hand. “I’ll bring the horse from the barn. You ladies stay right here.”
Less than a minute later, a midnight blue Porsche pulled up to the curb. Tony hopped out of the still-running car, walked around to the passenger side, and opened the door. “Allow me, ladies.”
Paige climbed into the back. Clarissa sat in the passenger seat and turned. “Sorry about that. Tony’s car is built for two people— and their really short friends.”
Paige smiled. “I’m good.”
Tony drove through the square, and soon they were following the ribbon of Highway 43 into northern Alabama. “So Paige, tell me about yourself.” He glanced at her in the rearview mirror, his amber eyes almost glowing with intensity.
She shivered and looked out the window. “I grew up just down the road from Shoal Creek in a little town called Sledge. That’s where I live now, in fact.”
“Okay, born and raised in a small town. Got it. Where’d you go to pharmacy school?”
“Samford.”
“Ah yes, Birmingham, we’re moving on to the bigger cities now. Got that. Where’d you work after that? Before here, I mean.”
“Maybe you should have told me there was an application process for this dinner.” Paige hoped that her tone sounded light, but in truth, she wanted to stop the questions before they dug any deeper. She looked in the mirror and found him staring at her, surprise playing out across his face.
He threw his head back and laughed. “All right, Clarissa. This is the kind of woman you need to be working with. Someone that won’t take all the usual Richardson guff.” He laughed again. “Sorry about that, being overly inquisitive and overly direct tends to be a family trait, I’m afraid.”
Paige said, “Then tell me about Tony Richardson.”
Clarissa groaned and slouched down in her seat. “Oh no. You’ve done it now. Neither one of us will get in another word for the rest of the evening.”
Tony nudged Clarissa with his elbow. “That’s likely true. But she asked for it. And I am fascinating.”
“Fascinating? Since when?” Clarissa leaned her chin on her elbow and grinned at him.
“Since now. I make a decree that from this moment on, I shall be nothing less than fascinating, captivating, and charming.”
Paige didn’t doubt for a moment that he could pull off all three.