And because of my interest—my inappropriate but uncontrollable interest—I told a lie that could hurt her badly.
I need to fix this. And I think I might see a way to do it.
I sneak a look at Alexandra, and I’m relieved to see that she’s taken care of the whipped cream situation.
“So I have an idea,” I tell her. “It may seem a little crazy, but hear me out.”
“Okay,” she says cautiously.
“I think you’re right about the gossip,” I say. “I could try to shut it down, but there’s no guarantee it would work.”
“Yep,” she agrees flatly.
“So, I thought, if you’re not already in a relationship . . .”
She shakes her head. “I’m not.”
I can’t hide my sigh of relief. “So what if we tell everyone we’re in a relationship? That way, we’d take control of the narrative, and no one could accuse us of sneaking around. We’d tell Heather Larkin and the chief of staff, so everything would be above board.”
Alexandra’s eyes widen in surprise. “Tell everyone we’re in a relationship . . . with each other?”
“Yeah. A relationship with a coworker is allowed, as long as you disclose it. You couldn’t be my admin assistant anymore, but I think you might still officially report to Heather anyway.So you could work for her directly, or she might reassign you to someone else.”
“But we’d just be pretending, right?” she asks. “We wouldn’t actually date, we’d just say that we were?”
“Of course, pretend,” I say quickly. “I mean, if you’re comfortable with it, we could go on a couple dates. So people think it’s a real relationship, and not just . . .” I trail off as I search for the best way to phrase it.
“A secretary sleeping with her boss?” Alexandra supplies.
“Yeah. But obviously I wouldn’t expect you to sleep with me,” I say in a rush. “Or anything physical.”
A faint blush creeps across her cheeks. “Obviously,” she agrees.
“But we could eat lunch together sometimes,” I suggest. “And maybe play tennis again.”
The corner of her mouth lifts a little. “You want a rematch, huh?”
“Of course I do,” I admit. “I don’t like losing. And this way, when people ask about our relationship we’ll have something to tell them.”
Alexandra chews her lip thoughtfully. “How long would it last?”
She’s actually considering it. “How long do you think would be reasonable?” I ask.
“A couple of months, maybe? That way, it’ll seem like more than a fling. Unless you think that’s too long?—”
“No, it’s fine,” I assure her. “Should we say three months? That would take us to the middle of August.”
“Yeah,” she says with a nod. “That sounds good.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. Under the circumstances, it’s probably the best option.” She smiles a little. “If we can make people believe it.”
“Why wouldn’t they believe it?”
She rolls her eyes, like she can hardly believe I’m making her spell it out. “You saw the look on Nina’s face when you said I was your girlfriend. You’re a surgeon, and I’m an admin assistant.”
Alexandra was worried people would think we’d slept together, but she’s not sure they’ll believe we’re in a relationship. She thinks she’s not good enough, and that bothers me. A lot.
