The Sweetheart Hoax (20 page)

“Jesus, you scared me. What are you doing here? I thought you were at the hospital with Kate.”

“I was.
Margot’s with her now.
She insisted I go home and get some sleep.”

“Then what are you doing here?” Phil asked. “I told you I would bring the stuff to you.”

“I knew you’d screw it up.”

Danny’s words were said in jest without any bluster. His friend and business partner was exhausted. “How is she?”

“Kate? She’s…” He leaned against the doorframe and rubbed his hands over his face. “She’s trying hard to stay strong, but she’s worried. Hell, I’m worried. We’ve been trucking along like nothing could ever go wrong and then BAM, out of nowhere she starts having contractions.” He pulled his hands away from his face and balled them into fists at his side. “I can’t stand to see her in the hospital. I can’t let anything happen to her or the baby.”

Phil dropped the ball and walked to stand in front of Danny. He put a hand on his shoulder and patted a few times before dropping his arm. “Sounds like it’s out of your hands, Dan. Margot’s right, you need some sleep.”

“I know. I’m just going to grab the stuff I need and get out of here.”

Phil trailed Danny to his office. “Is there anything I can do?”

“No. I don’t know.”

“What else has to be done?”

Danny gathered some files from a stack on his messy desk. It was probably a good thing Danny came in. Phil would have had a hell of a time locating the files he’d asked for. “I’ve got to get Teddy from Ricky and Shannon. Apparently he’s been using the kids’ stuffed animals as chew toys and he did a number on Shannon’s flowerbed.”

“What are you going to do with him?”

“Margot offered to watch him this week while she’s off.”

“Margot did?”

“Yeah, she said she’s got a fenced yard. The dog is probably going nuts around all those kids and without Kate—he adores her.”

“Look,” Phil said as an idea popped into his head. “Why don’t you go home and get some sleep? I can run over to Ricky’s and get Teddy.”

Danny’s head jerked up in surprise. “In your Mercedes?”

“Hell no, not in my Mercedes. I’ll take the work truck.”

Danny rubbed his temple. “I appreciate the offer, Phil, but I’ve still got to go home and get his stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“His dog bed, his leash, his food.”

Phil shrugged. “I can buy all that at the pet store. There’s one on the way.”

“Are you sure?” Danny asked.

“Would I offer if I wasn’t?”

Danny put his hands on his hips and dropped his head. Phil feared his friend was on the edge of a breakdown. “Everybody’s being so great. I just wish there was something I could do…”

“There is,” Phil said. “Go get some rest.
Kate needs you strong
,
bud
. We’ll handle the rest.”

Danny nodded, picked up the files, and walked out the door. “Thanks, man.”

“No problem. Tell Kate I’ll be in to see her soon.” As soon as Danny was gone, Phil retrieved the truck’s keys from Margot’s desk. “Okay,” he said to himself. “Let’s go get my excuse to see Margot.”

Chapter 21

When the doorbell rang at seven-thirty Sunday night, Margot looked down at her Snoopy pajamas and cringed. Why, on a night when she planned to go to bed as soon as the sun went down, did someone have to stop by?

She set her cookie on the coffee table next to her mug of tea and tiptoed to the door. She stretched on her tippy toes and peeked through the beveled glass window at the top of the door. Phil’s shiny dark hair gleamed in her porch light. Oh no.

“What do you want?” she shouted through the wood.

“I’ve got something for you,” Phil said.

“I’m busy. Just slide it under the door.”

“It won’t fit under the door. C’mon, Margot. Open up.”

“Just leave it on the porch, then. I’ll get it later.” No way was she going to let him see her and Snoopy.
Or anyone else.

His answer was drowned out by a booming bark. “What is that?” she asked.

“It’s Teddy. Danny said you’d watch him.”

Margot leaned against the door. “Let him out in the back. There’s a gate to your left.”

She felt the knock at her back like stakes to her bruised and battered heart. “He comes with accessories, Margot. You’re going to have to open up. And if you care at all about these pansies you’ve got on the porch, you’ll do it now.”

She jerked the door open and gaped at the massive black and white dog with a petal in his mouth. “Bad dog,” she said and shooed him away from the pot with her arms. When she looked up at Phil, he had a stupid grin on his face. Did the idiot have to look more handsome than ever?

“Snoopy, huh? Nice.”

She yanked the leash from his hand. “Thanks, I can take it from here.”

Teddy followed her into the house. She unhooked the leash and watched as he made a beeline for her cookie. She hopped around him and managed to stop her mug from overturning as he grabbed the cookie. “I guess he overstayed his welcome at the Brewster’s?”

“They were more than happy to see him go.” Phil stepped inside, closed the door, and looked around. At least he had the decency to look uncomfortable after dumping her on Randall at the airport. “You studying?”

“Trying to,” she said. When Teddy took off down the hall toward her bedroom, she chased after him, closing doors as she went. She cornered him in her bathroom, grabbed his collar, and shooed him outside through her door to the patio. When she turned around, Phil was standing in her bedroom, looking bigger and more masculine than ever in her pretty master suite. The knowing look in his eye told her he’d like to use the bed that stood between them in the very near future.

“Your room smells like you.”

She couldn’t stand in her own home and be seduced by the man who’d dropped her like a hotcake as soon as the opportunity presented itself. She wouldn’t allow herself to get burned by him again. Hadn’t she spent all afternoon with Kate, relaying the details of the weekend, strengthening her resolve to forget what happened and move on?

“I’ve got a lot of work to do, Phil, and I’m tired.”

“I know,” he said, but made no attempt to leave. He stuffed his hands in the back pockets of his jeans and continued to stare at her.

Here it comes, she thought. The apology.
The
I
’m sorry I took advantage of you
speech. The
let’s just be
friends
number she’d steeled herself all day to hear. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of saying it first.

“Look,” she said. “Don’t get all weird on me, okay? We had a good time, we scratched an itch, and now we’re home. I’m not going to get all
psycho
on you, Phil. You don’t have to stand here and try to dance around what happened. We’re both adults, we shared a mutually satisfying experience, and now its over. I’m fine with it and it’s only going to piss me off if you apologize.”

He raised his brows and opened his mouth, but nothing came out. “Okay…” he finally managed after clearing his throat. “Is this because of
McBain
?”

Was it because of Randall? Of course it was because of Randall! He couldn’t have dumped her on the good doctor any faster! “No, of course not. He needed to get to the hospital and so did I. You simply suggested that we ride together. Efficient as always.”

“No, that’s not—”

A yelping howl sounded from the backyard. Margot flicked on the porch light and dashed out the door, Phil on her heels. “Where is he?” she asked.

“I don’t see him,” Phil said.

Teddy gave another howl that led Margot and Phil to the corner of her half-acre lot where he’d wedged himself between a hole she hadn’t known she had in her fence and had gotten stuck. His head was in the neighbor’s yard while his body remained in hers. “Oh no. How are we going to get him out?”

Phil hopped over the fence in one impressive leap and began soothing the dog. “I’ll push the fence apart while you pull his head back through.
On the count of three.
Ready?” he asked.

Margot nodded and they both counted aloud. Phil yanked the fence apart and Margot wedged his head back through. Teddy gave a whole body shake, what sounded like a thank you bark, and began dashing around the yard like a mad-dog.

Phil jumped back over and put his hands on his hips. “Do you have any wire or twine? If we don’t close that gap, he’s liable to get stuck again. I don’t think he’s the smartest dog on the planet.”

“I’m sure there’s something in the garage,” Margot said. “I’ll go get it.”

When she came back with a few scraps of nylon string, she found Phil tossing a tennis ball to Teddy. “Where’d you get the ball?”

“Pet store,” he said. “Danny said he’d retrieve until your arm falls off.”

Margot watched Teddy race after the ball and return it to Phil’s feet every time, eagerly waiting for the next toss. “Let’s hope it wears him out.” She handed him the twine and took his place throwing balls to Teddy. By the time Phil took over throwing the ball, Margot’s arm ached. “I’m going to be sore tomorrow.”

“You’ve got a pretty good arm,” Phil said. “For a girl.”

“I am a girl.”

Phil threw the ball into a tangle of trees along the fence line where Margot knew Teddy wouldn’t find it for awhile, especially in the dark. He turned to face her. “Yes,” he said. “You are most definitely a girl.”

Uh-oh. A deaf man would have recognized the meaning of his words. She wasn’t doing this again. “Thanks for fixing the fence.”

Teddy ran back with the ball between his teeth. She plied it loose and held tight. “It’s getting late. You should probably go.”

She couldn’t see his face and had no way of knowing what he thought in the pause that followed. But she did see a shadow move in her house and the fall of a curtain from the back bedroom. She had to get Phil to leave. Fast.

She turned her back to him and walked to the gate, scanning the house as she went. He followed her to the driveway and to the tailgate of the Flannery & Williams truck. “Thanks for bringing him over,” she said.

He pulled the food and a dog bed from the truck bed. “I’ll carry these inside.”

“No!” She stopped him by placing her hands on his chest. “Just put them on the porch. I’ll bring them in later.”

In the glow from the porch light, she could see his eyes narrow. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said and pushed past her. “This bag weighs forty pounds.” She quickly grabbed the other bags from the back and followed him to where he dropped Teddy’s things in the foyer where she’d instructed him to leave them.

“Thanks again,” she said with her hand on the open door. She couldn’t wait for him to leave.

He stared down at her with a scowl on his face. “He’s pretty strong. Make sure you keep a tight grip on his leash. Danny said he behaves best when he gets lots of exercise.”

Why wouldn’t he just go? Didn’t he know that every second he stayed in her house was torture? “There are plenty of squirrels to chase in the backyard and I can take him down to the beach and wear him out.”

“Margot,” Phil reached his hand out to stop her from closing the door in his face. “I want to talk to you. About what happened,” he said when she stared at him blankly.

She closed her eyes, more weary than she’d ever been in her life. “There’s nothing to talk about, Phil.”

 
“You don’t think we should talk about it?” he asked.

“You don’t have anything to feel guilty about, Phil. I absolve you.”

“I’m not looking for absolution.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I’m not sure what I’m looking for, but I don’t feel guilty.”

Well, she thought. There you have it. Of course he didn’t feel guilty. Hadn’t she heard about his love ‘
em
and leave ‘
em
reputation for years? This was his MO. “Good. Neither do I, okay? I’m embarrassed, certainly, that your parents heard us, but I’m never going to see them again.” She shrugged, becoming more and more uncomfortable as he stood unmoving in her doorway. “It’s been a long day.”

“Margot—” he started and then raised his brows when the old pipes moaned. The sound of a toilet flushing echoed through her small house.

Phil nodded his head knowingly and Margot couldn’t look him in the eye. Let him assume the worst. The truth was so much harder to explain.

“There’s someone here,” he said.

“Yes.” She snuck a glance and saw the cold speculation in his eyes.

“I see. You should have said so before and I wouldn’t have bothered you.” He backed out of the house and down the steps. “Good luck on your test.”

Margot swallowed the lump in her throat and closed the door on any chance she had with the man she’d probably never get over.