The Sleeping Beauty Proposal (25 page)

Bill is waving to me. “Daydreaming?”

“About
Huuughhh.
” Felicity singsongs and everyone chuckles.

“What?” asks Bill.

Margery's about to fill him in when I summon my faculties and launch into Hob Cooper's dismal final grade point average. I can't believe my mouth is working so well and that I'm able to pull this off. Look, I have a memo. Here I am handing it to him. I have copies. There I am distributing them around the table. People are reading and nodding.

I am engaging in an intelligent discussion about the pressures on a devout Mormon leaving a Mormon community to attend a heathen East Coast college like Thoreau. My coworkers are smiling and nodding. I'm actually putting forward a cogent argument on why we should excuse Hob's C+ in chemistry and his F in badminton and no one knows that inside me, I have absolutely zero idea of what I'm saying.

I'm hurt. I'm mad. I'm on a roll.

“In sum,” I say, having never said “in sum” in my life, “Hob is a dedicated student who clearly is capable of performing quality work at Thoreau. Frankly, I'd be worried if he hadn't slacked off a bit after getting our acceptance. I mean, he's been pulling down a straight three point eight and racking up fifty points per game as center of the Park City Panthers.Who cares if he can't keep his eye on the birdie when he's the next Larry Bird?”

Everyone laughs satisfactorily at the Boston basketball reference. I sit down and see that Bill is grinning at me with unabashed approval.What have I just done? I can't think of a thing I've said.

“All who vote to keep Hob Cooper?” Bill raises his hand.

So does everyone else.

“Excellent.” Bill makes a note.“I hope the Coopers know just how lucky they were their son got you as an admissions counselor, Genie, and not some tough nut like Kevin.”

Kevin guffaws. He loves being called a tough nut, seeing as his nickname around the office is quite the opposite.

“Now that Genie's done with her report, we can get to the big news everyone's been talking about.”

Oh, please, no. Not after I've just found out Connie is Hugh's future wife. Margery and Karen both giggle. Kevin gives me a nudge and I want to slap my hand over Bill's mouth. Anything to shut him up from announcing what will surely haunt me for decades to come.

Again Bill grins at me. I can feel it coming, the weight of my world crashing around me.

“Don't go sliding under the table, Genie. I don't want you, in particular, to miss a word.”

Darn. He caught me. Kevin hoists me up and gives me a pat. “It'll be okay,” he whispers.

Bill clears his throat importantly. "This weekend I learned a member of our admissions family . . .”

I have to cover my face. He's calling us his “admissions family.”

“... is moving on. And while that makes me sad, I've been in this game long enough to know that change, though hard initially, is necessary, and certainly Bowdoin's lucky to have Kevin join their team.”

A round of applause breaks out. Slowly, I lower my hands and, feeling even more foolish, see Kevin is standing and shaking Bill's hand. No one is looking at me, not even Alice.

Why . . . this announcement has nothing to do with my engagement. Kevin's leaving. He's going to Bowdoin!

“Yes!” I shout.

Bill and Kevin stop shaking hands. “You don't have to be
that
enthusiastic, Genie,” Bill says to more chuckles all around. “Unless, of course, you want his job, which I certainly hope you do. I encourage Genie as well as everyone here to update your resumes, dress for success, and make a good impression. Because I plan to fill Kevin's spot from in-house and, yes, I am open to bribes.”

And with that, the meeting's over. When I get up, I find I've left two sweaty butt marks on my chair.

Kevin stops me at the door. He's so short, I can look down and see the prematurely gray hairs on the top of his head. “I'm going to miss you, Genie.”

“Thanks, Kevin. I'll miss you, too.” Though I won't, as Kevin treated me like a puppy that required training.

“I'll put in a good word for you to replace me. That'll count for a lot. Bill trusts my counsel.”

Kevin relishes his role as Bill's right-hand man. I bet he'll miss that when he moves to Bowdoin and finds he's back to being part of the herd.

“Logically, Connie has to be Bill's first choice. She's been here longer than you and, hmmm, how to say this?” He furrows his brows. “She tends to be more professional. Admissions is more than a job for her. It's a career, a calling.You'd do well to remember that in future.”

In future. How pretentious. Of course Connie will get Kevin's job. She was supposed to get it before
he
got it, but then Bill decided he needed a right-hand man, not right-hand woman, to attract the much-coveted male students and, so, she was passed over with the promise she'd be next.

Then she stole Hugh.

“Well?” says Alice, sidling up. “What do you think Connie's going to do now?”

“Get everything she ever wanted,” I say sourly.

“What?” Alice rushes to catch up with me in the hall. “What was that?”

“Nothing.What do
you
think she's going to do?”

“Cut her trip short and rush home to claw and scratch her way into Kevin's office. Bad enough you got that rock on your finger.Wait until she finds out that Bill announced an opening for assistant director of admissions and she wasn't here. She's gonna go mental.”

I stand by my door and watch as Alice takes out her master key, unlocks Connie's door, and deposits the memos from today's meeting on her desk. When she leaves, she doesn't bother to lock up, leaving Connie's office temptingly open. I enter for just a bit and consider peeking in her desk, searching for clues about Hugh. A picture of them on the beach. His phone number on her speed dial. Extra-large condoms. (Hugh insists he needs them.)

No. I have crossed many lines lately, but this one I definitely must not overstep.

Taking a deep breath, I return to my own office, locking the door securely behind me lest I am struck by a sudden urge to fling it open and run to Connie's.

There is a flash of red behind my desk. The roses. Might as well get to the next bit of bad news. I slide open the envelope and remove the card.

Which is when I notice that the roses are not any old roses. They're Mr. Lincolns and they're in a root-ball. They're not cut; they're supposed to be planted. Planted on Peabody Road.

Wow.

Chapter Twenty

As my father would say, "This is highly irregular.”

That's all I can think as Tina, a mortgage processor who also happens to be Todd's ex-girlfriend, slides me a set of legal documents, all of which have been meticulously crafted by none other than my very own Patty Pugliese. No wonder she refused to get down on Nick— or break her lawyer-client confidentiality. At Nick's request, she was secretly drawing up papers so I could buy half of my dream house.

“It's a condo agreement,”Tina explains, tapping the top sheet with her hard pink acrylic nail.“Nick Spanadopolous will own the upstairs apartment and the outside of the entire structure, including any outbuildings or a garage.You would purchase the ground-floor unit.”

I know all this, but by some absurd bank stipulation, she has to go over the basics with me again.

“Per the agreement,” Tina continues, “Nick has promised to finish the kitchen and the bathroom. In return, you pay the taxes on the entire property for two years. Do you agree?”

"I agree,” I practically shout. “Oh, man, do I agree.”

“Then sign at the
X
s.” She points out all the highlighted
X
s and I sign merrily away, not reading one word of what I'm legally committing myself to.

This is all so stunning, I haven't even been able to absorb it. I'm finally buying my dream house. Well, not all of it, but that's okay because look! The purchase price is $250,000 and I don't even need my parents' money. Or, at least, much of it. Just enough to add to my savings for a down payment.

Somehow Nick got together the cash total, bought the property, and now we're refinancing. My monthly mortgage payment will be slightly more than my rent. And then there's the advantage of a tax break when I write off the interest every year.

Also, there's the advantage of Nick living on top of me. Well, not on top of me. In the apartment above.

“What about the title search and all that?” I ask.

“Done. However, you'll need to put down forty thousand dollars, twenty percent, in order to get this low monthly fee.” Tina shifts uncomfortably in her chair. “I guess your father's been involved because there's a note here that he's prepared to co-sign if necessary.You got the dough?”

“I do.”

It's weird that Dad knows about Nick's house deal.Why didn't he say something? Though I'm not complaining. Compared to the huge sum Mom and Dad gave Lucy and Jason, my request for $20,000 is almost saintly.

Tina is stamping and initialing things, moving the paperwork right along with nifty efficiency. She's a woman who has done everything possible to make herself pretty despite her Clairol-colored eggplant hair. She also seems to have developed a personal relationship with Neutrogena spray-on tan. At least I hope it's spray-on tan because anyone this brown should have a dermatologist on retainer.

As she staples and clips papers together she says, “So, your dad tells me you're getting married. Is that the ring?”

“Sure is.” Confidently, because I'm fairly certain Tina is not a certified gemologist or a Hellenic metallurgist, I thrust out my hand for her review.

She exhales a satisfying whistle. “That's gorgeous. Looks almost like one I bought down at Revere Beach for twelve bucks. Though that was cubic zirconia, of course.” She laughs.

I laugh, too.Twelve bucks! I was ripped off.

“I was sure Todd would be the next Michaels to get hitched.”

“Not Todd. He'll never marry. He's a confirmed bachelor.”

“That's what all bachelors say. Next thing you know, you're bumping into them at Target, where they're buying a thousand dollars' worth of playground equipment.” Putting the papers aside, she clasps her unnaturally dark hands and gets down to business. “Okay, so what's the deal with this Nick guy? Is he hot or what?”

“You met him already?”

“Sure. He's been in the bank all week and he's not exactly the kind of guy women ignore, if you know what I mean.”

Irrationally, I take pride in Tina's compliment, as if Nick belongs to me. This is setting a dangerous precedent. I have to keep in mind that we're merely neighbors, nothing more. Business partners. Platonic acquaintances.

“He's also a very nice guy,” I add prudishly. "Smart, too.”

"Oh, I bet he is.Then again, you're one of those brainy women. You know, the kind who falls in love with a guy's mind instead of his ass.”

“That's not true.” As soon as I say this, I realize how wrong Tina is. Well, I'm not necessarily big on ass, per se, but I enjoy a well-built man as much as the next woman. (Though probably not as much as Patty, who enjoys well-built men a bit
too
much.) Anyway, who's to say just because a man has a great ass means he can't have a deep soul as well?

Tina says, “I don't know if you've noticed, but that Nick of yours has one fine caboose.”

“Done signing papers?”

Nick is standing over us, smiling. I swear he knows exactly what we've been talking about.

"Done,” Tina says, pushing back her chair. “I just have to run these upstairs and I'll be right back.” As she passes by, she makes a big show of pretending to check the wall clock.

She is so transparent.

“Well,” says Nick, sitting his coveted ass in the chair next to me. “I hope I wasn't too presumptuous circumventing the real estate agent and going straight to Cecily. It was the only way I could think of to ensure our house didn't fall into the hands of crack dealers.”

He called it
our
house.

“You weren't presumptuous, you were brilliant.” I just noticed he's model-grade handsome in that leather bomber jacket and now I've forgotten what I was trying to say. Oh, right. "It was so thoughtful and considerate of you to keep me in mind—right down to the roses.”

“It was a pleasure.”

“It was? Even putting up with Cecily?”

Nick gives me a puzzled look and it occurs to me that maybe his tête-à-tête at the bookstore cafe with Cecily wasn't all business. Maybe they're seeing each other romantically.

“Unless you two really are an item,”I add quickly.“In which case, I have to say she is a stunning woman with a splendid personality.”

He grins slowly. "No, Genie. Cecily and I are not, as you say, an item.”

“Then your meeting at the bookstore . . .”

“Strictly to discuss the house.” Though, the way he says this leads me to believe that perhaps he is being a gentleman and not confiding that while all he wanted was the house, Cecily wanted more.

“Speaking of love interests,” he says, casually grazing my knee with his hand. “How's Hugh taking the news that you bought a place he hasn't seen?”