If the Shoe Fits (24 page)

“Ohh,” he groaned. “I told you how I hate those things.”

“I know, I know. And we’re not dating anymore, so you don’t have to worry about that so much, right?” He didn’t answer, aside from the subtle sniff she heard on the other end of the line. “The thing is, Paul … this one is kind of special. I’ve been nominated for Person of the Year by the Bar Association. I have a pretty good shot at winning, too.”

“Congratulations, Julianne.”

“Thanks. The thing is … you’re the only man I’ve dated for a while now, and I really hate the idea of going unescorted on my big night. I mean, you can understand that, right?”

Slow to respond, he finally inched it out. “I … guess.”

“Paul, I would be so embarrassed to go alone. Would you consider one last date with me to save me from complete humiliation?”

The long pause told her that he needed further incentive.

“Look, I know this kind of evening is way out of your comfort zone. I get that, I really do. But I would be willing to pay for your tux rental, and even pay you for your time if—”

“What, like a paid escort!?” he exclaimed. “Are you kidding me?”

“Please don’t be offended,” she countered. “I just really—”

“Oh, I’m not offended, exactly,” he replied.

“You’re … not?”

“No. Just surprised. Really, really surprised.”

Julianne felt pretty certain that her humiliation trumped his surprise, times ten.

“I would think someone like you could get any one of those uppity types you know to take you, for free.”

Running her ringed thumb around the rim of her cup of tea, Julianne realized that the heat rising over her neck and face put the temperature of her tea to shame.

“I wouldn’t ask you if I wasn’t really …”

“Desperate?” he finished for her.

“Well. Yeah. Desperate for an escort, but also not just any escort, Paul.”

His laughter caught her off guard. “You mean you’re willing to pay for someone you can feel good about showing off to your hoity-toity friends.”

Julianne shrugged. “Kinda.”

“How much would an escort as pretty as me be worth out there on the social market?”

She cringed. “Let’s say … five hundred dollars?”

After a long silence, Paul asked, “Can I think about it?”

“Of course. But you’ll want to get measured for a tux really soon. There’s only two weeks before the gala.”

“The gala,” he repeated. “It even sounds like something unbearable.”

Biting her tongue, she forced a friendly smile to her voice. “But I’ll try to make it more fun for you than the usual.”

“How
much
more fun?”

She narrowed her eyes and frowned. “Not
that
much more fun … but it is just one night, after all.”

“I’ll call you at the end of the week,” he conceded.

“Great.” With a sigh, she added, “I really would appreciate this, Paul.”

“Yeah. I sense the desperation. I’ll call you in a couple of days.”

She grabbed her tea and headed inside to find Phoebe curled up in the corner of the sofa clutching her cup with both hands. Julianne sank into the other corner and groaned.

“It’s finally happened.”

“What did?” Phoebe asked.

“I have sunk lower than I thought possible.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Oh
, you can believe it,” she assured her. “I just offered to pay someone to take me out.”

Phoebe’s eyes rounded wide. “No.”

“Oh yeah. I did.”

“The guy with the toolbox?”

“Yep.”

“It didn’t work out like you planned?”

“It did not.”

“I am … so … sorry.”

“Not as sorry as me. I’m as sorry as they come.”

Julianne replayed that moment when she’d first seen Paul coming toward her. The events of just one random rainy morning had brought her to this; she’d gone from thinking Paul Weaver was the manifestation of that happy ending she’d been dreaming about since the dawn of time—all the while ignoring the fact, of course, that they had nothing at all in common—to actually offering to pay him to take her out and
fake it
.

Suzanne’s words sang back to her:
“You want a long-lasting relationship out of that one minute in time? Then go adopt the dog.”

“Do you like dogs, Phoebe?”

“Love them. Why?”

“What would you think about a third roommate?”

Will set the plate of scrambled eggs in front of his father while taking a sip of coffee.

“Pop, can I get you anything else before I hit the road?”

“Go on, be on your way,” Davis replied. “I can still eat some eggs on my own.”

Will smiled at his dad and ruffled his full head of wavy silver hair. “I’ve got a meeting with a potential client this morning.” He drained the last of the coffee and set the cup into the stainless steel sink. “Keep a positive thought, huh? Jules and I could really use a few monthly retainers to lean on.”

“Especially if you’re going to take care of all the strays that keep on turning up on your door,” his father quipped.

Will chuckled as he tucked his iPhone into the breast pocket of his suit. “Oh, you heard about our administrative genius’s criminal arrest, did you?”

“Mandy says Julianne has taken the girl in. She’s going to live with her.”

“Is she?”

He knew about the deal Julianne had negotiated for Phoebe, but he had no idea she’d taken her in as well. Wondering how much they still didn’t know about their assistant, he grabbed his briefcase.

“It’s not really surprising, is it?” Davis said with a shrug. “She’s been rescuing cats and dogs and birds and squirrels ever since she came out of the womb. Remember that little fawn she tried to drag into her bedroom with her?”

Will guffawed at the memory. The fawn had an injured leg and Julianne’s father had agreed to move the car out into the snow and let her nurse it for a few days in the garage. But rather than leave it out there alone on such a cold night, twelve-year-old Julianne had put a collar and leash on the thing and tried to bring it up to her bedroom with the promise of a block of cheese and a dish of milk. The animal had broken every lamp and knickknack between the front door and the stairs before her father came to the rescue of the rest of the Bartlett home.

“She’s just moved on to humans, that’s all,” his father added.

Will considered his dad’s words as he drove to the office. Was Phoebe just an extension of that charitable heart of Julianne’s? He tried to imagine what had led to opening her door to the girl. Didn’t she have a home of her own?

“Good morning,” he said when he walked in and found Phoebe hard at work in front of the computer. “Good to see you.”

“Good morning,” she returned, and then she stood up and looked at him tentatively. “I just want to tell you how thankful I am that you’ve let me keep my job. I promise I won’t make you regret it.”

“I know you won’t,” he told her. “I’m happy Julianne could work things out for you. Is she in?”

“Yes.”

Will gave her a smile as he crossed to Julianne’s office and poked his head through the door to find her sprinkling fish food into Jonah’s bowl. “Got a minute?”

“Sure,” she said, returning his smile with a sparkling one of her own. “Come on in.”

He closed the door behind him and sat down across from her. A metallic rattling drew his attention to the wall beneath the window where a large yellow dog wearing a massive plastic cone around its head struggled to its feet atop a padded green cushion. The dog limped toward him and sniffed his leg, resting the plastic cone on his knee as it stared up at him with soulful brown eyes.

“Uh. Jules? Who’s this?”

“Will, meet Charming.”

“Charming?” he repeated.

“As in Prince Charming. I have decided that this is the happily ever after God intended that day that I saw Paul.”

“This is the dog he saved?”

“The very one.”

“What’s he doing here?”

“Well, he can’t stay home alone until he’s much stronger,” she said, as if it were some sort of explanation.

“Ooo-kay …”

“Charming is my dog now.”

Will leaned back into the chair with a sigh. “Of course he is.” After giving the dog a cursory scratch under the chin, he shook his head and regrouped. “I’ve got an hour before Reynolds arrives. I think I may have him in the bag to put us on retainer for his publishing firm.”

“Do you want me in on the meeting?”

“We’ll see how it goes.”

“Okay. Just give me a shout if you want me to come in.”

“Will do,” he replied. “What’s this about you moving Phoebe into your house, Jules?”

“My mother has a very big mouth.” Shaking her head, she sighed. “Will, she’s been living in her car all this time.”

This revelation stopped him cold for a moment. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. Six nights a week, she sleeps there. And on Sundays, she rents a cheap room down in St. Bernard so she can get a shower and iron her clothes for the week,” she explained. “It just about broke my heart.”

Will shook his head. “She’s lucky she sees Monday mornings in that neighborhood.”

“I know it. So she’s going to stay in my guest room until she gets the restitution paid off and can afford a place of her own.”

“Julianne—”

“Don’t even say it, Will!” she interrupted. “I’m not negotiable on this. It’s a done deal.”

He stood up slowly and rounded the corner of her desk, and the dog followed. Standing before her, he nodded. “Come here.”

She rose from her chair tentatively and stared at him with wide and questioning eyes. Before she could assume anything else, Will pulled her to him and squeezed her in a full embrace while Charming pressed against his leg and nuzzled it.

“What’s that for?” she asked, chuckling.

He drew back and placed his hands on both of her shoulders. Looking squarely into her crystal blue eyes, he said, “You’ve done a really good thing, Julianne.”

She crumpled a little and grinned. “Really?”

“Really. I’m proud of you.”

“You are?”

Will felt that old familiar warmth move through him as he looked at her. He longed to keep the cork on his emotions.
I must stay guarded and remember my resolve: My days as your consolation prize are over. O.V.E.R. Over
. His heart wanted to tell her how he felt, how he had always felt. But there in the office, with a potential client due at any time? Instead of opening the confession window and flying through it, Will simply smiled.

A rather unusual electricity seemed to spark as Julianne gazed back at him.

“Every now and then,” he told her, “your heart just … bowls me over.” Pushing her hair back from her face with his index finger and thumb, he smiled down at her. “Sometimes I forget how really … phenomenal you are, Jules. So filled up with love, and so kindhearted.”

A nervous little giggle bubbled out of her as she pushed back from him suddenly. She clumsily collided with the corner of the desk before she straightened and made it back to her chair, folded in half, and dropped down into it. Twisting a lock of hair around her finger, she fidgeted with a pen and giggled again.

“Go on,” she said, her brow furrowed and her little nose slightly wrinkled as she nodded toward the door. “Go get ready for that meeting and snag us a client before Phoebe and I have to start eating tuna and Ramen noodles every night.”

“No, no, no, no, no.”

Julianne didn’t know how many times she’d uttered the same desperate syllable, but it didn’t stop the train. Her arms folded across her chest, rocking back and forth in her desk chair, she continued to berate her own treasonous imagination in hushed, jaw-clenched objections as Charming stood next to her chair and stared up at her with an expression that told her he wanted to help.

“No. No, no … NO!”

On more than a few occasions over the years since she’d known him, Julianne had been surprised by that same sudden spark of attraction to Will that nearly claimed her good sense and clear thinking. This day was one of those times. As he’d hovered over her, looking at her with those exquisite brown eyes, touching her face and brushing away a stray lock of hair, telling her how special she was, how “phenomenal” … something had happened. Something magnetic and stirring. Something … so …