business. As your good friend, I stood ready to help if and when you wanted to talk about it.”
“I wanted to tell you.” She reached over and squeezed her friend’s hand. “But I was afraid it would put you in the middle and didn’t want to chance that Brady would find out. You wouldn’t mean to say anything, but stuff has a way of slipping out. Then things get awkward. If you didn’t know, everyone is protected.”
“Everyone but you, Liv.”
“So you and I are okay?”
“Of course. Pinkie swear.”
Olivia held up the correct finger and hooked her friend’s. “Thanks, Mags.”
“Don’t mention it. I’m on your side. I know that you haven’t been happy lately.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Only to me. My brother is oblivious and charming in equal parts. He also has this annoying habit of getting everything to go his way. I’m not at all surprised you made up a boyfriend as a way out.”
“You’re not?”
Maggie shook her head. “A self-made man as prosperous as my brother didn’t get where he is without being determined. And having good people around him.”
As Olivia was one of his people, she said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. He also doesn’t like change and will do anything he can to prevent it.”
“No kidding. Today he interviewed several women who applied for my job and found deal-breaking flaws in all of them.”
“Because he doesn’t want to lose you.”
Olivia nodded. She knew she was good at her job. “The only reason he could come up with for not hiring either of the qualified applicants was that none of them were me.”
“Wow.” Maggie’s eyebrows rose. “So he does care.”
“It wasn’t personal.” But the words had had her heart going for a minute. Then reality had set in and she remembered the last five years of impersonal behavior. He was always friendly, but never asked her to dinner or a movie. There was never even a flicker of awareness or any sign that he’d wanted to kiss her. It was time to face reality. She had feelings for her boss that wouldn’t stop and the only way to go after the life she wanted was to ditch the job.
“I don’t think he believes that I’m serious about quitting,” Olivia said.
“So you had to do what you had to do.”
“Yes.” She sighed. “I hope you know that I’m not normally a liar.”
“You’re the most honest, straightforward person I know.” Maggie smiled.
“Thanks for understanding.”
“I understand more than you know. It’s not easy to let go.” Maggie glanced at a framed picture sitting on the end table beside her. The Tiffany lamp highlighted her handsome, smiling husband in his camouflage uniform and her eyes filled with a wistful, sad expression. “This isn’t making excuses for my brother, but you know that he took our father’s death pretty hard.”
“Who wouldn’t? I can’t even imagine losing my father.”
Maggie’s remote expression indicated she was remembering. “Brady had just gotten home from college for Christmas break and we were all looking forward to being together for the holidays. Dad had a heart attack and literally died in his arms.”
“I remember.”
“He was different after that. More aloof. Driven.” She shrugged.
Olivia hadn’t really seen that much of him then. They never talked or hung out and he went back to school. She only knew the now Brady, and he showed no sign of ever seeing her the way she wanted him to.
“He is the way he is, Mags, and I finally realized this isn’t about him. It’s about me and my life. If I don’t make the break now, I never will.”
“True enough. So, not only do I get why you fibbed, I will help you pull this off. I’ll back up your story.”
“You will?”
“Absolutely.” She raised her arm and curled her fingers into her palm. “Girl power.”
Olivia bumped her fist. “Females unite.”
“Brady will ask me about this and I’ll tell him how deliriously happy you are with...does he have a name?”
“Leonard.”
“Really?” Maggie’s lips twisted as if she’d sucked a sour lemon. “Not Lance? Stone? Or Indiana Jones?”
“Like I said...didn’t plan this. The falsehood was in no way premeditated or I would have come up with something romantic like...Jean Luc.”
“Okay. Leonard it is.” Maggie laughed, then turned serious. “Stay strong, Liv. Stick to your guns if it’s what will make you happy.”
Olivia wasn’t sure about future happiness, but she knew for a fact she wasn’t content now. The clock was ticking and she wasn’t getting any younger. Doing nothing wasn’t an option.
* * *
Ever since Olivia had left for the day, Brady had been battling the urge to go through her computer files and get more information on Leonard.
“The loser,” he muttered.
She’d left him no choice what with her tight-lipped lack of details. He was hurt, really. They were better friends than this. He would give her data about a woman if he got serious. Then again, he made it a point not to get serious.
Olivia was different. She deserved all the best things that life had to offer and it was incumbent upon him as her boss, and friend, to find out about this guy and make sure he was on the up-and-up.
Like a dieter looking at a seven-layer death-by-chocolate cake, he paced back and forth in her office, fighting the itch to search her files for Leonard-related information.
“What can it hurt? Who will know?” When his damned annoying conscience pointed out that he was better than this, he said out loud and with self-righteous defiance, “No, I’m not.”
He sat in her chair and hit the power button, then waited impatiently for the machine to boot up. It seemed to take forever. She should have told him she needed a faster computer. This was a waste of time and money. Finally it was ready and he clicked on the first file, which was data on her out-of-town trips. Where she’d met Leonard.
“The loser.”
She kept copious notes on everything work-related and her travel was no exception. He’d hoped to hit pay dirt right away, because the less time he spent digging, the less dirty he would feel. A man had to cover his backside, too. On the off chance his poking around was found out, there was plausible deniability.
