“What do you sell?”
“Cosmetics.” Nina smiled, looking a little self-conscious. “I know it might not seem like it, since I don’t wear a lot of cosmetics myself. And given my outfit.” She was dressed casually in jeans and a white sweater.
“I wouldn’t say that.” Nina’s natural beauty seemed to make her the perfect candidate for cosmetics sales, though presumably she never saw her clients if she just spoke to them over the phone. “Is it interesting?”
“Not really.” Nina rolled her eyes. “Sometimes it can be fun, but it’s a lot of work, and it isn’t the steadiest of incomes. I studied graphic design, actually, and I worked in it for a while — but when Jack was born, I quit my job to stay home with him and had trouble finding freelance graphic-design work.”
“Now Jack’s in… kindergarten, right?”
“That’s right.” Nina nodded. “But he’s very advanced for his age. His reading skills are already at a second-grade level, and he’s great with numbers. At his school, it’s a little difficult, because the classes are so big, so he gets bored…” She trailed off. “Sorry. I don’t know why I’m telling you this. Any of this.”
Theo saw his opening and leaned forward. “Why don’t you send him to a different school with smaller classes, where he could get personalized attention?”
Nina bristled. “Not all of us have the money to do things like that.”
Theo winced. He’d offended her.Again.But he was on the right track, and he couldn’t give up now. This would be an amazingopportunity to finally move his business forward, and it would benefit Nina and Jack, too.
“I understand,” he said. He understood more than he would tell her — Theo had been raised by a single mother who’d struggled to make ends meet. Now that he was wealthy, he had bought her a beautiful house on the coast, where she’d always dreamed of living, and made sure she never wanted for anything. “What if you did have the money, though?”
“If I were rich,” Nina said, “obviouslyI’d send my kid to the best possible school. And obviously I’d buy an apartment with more space, and not worry about the cost of replacing broken things and… all that.” She sighed. “Listen, Theo, I really appreciate the ice cream and you being so understanding about Jack. And it’s been nice talking. But we do need to get going.”
“Wait just a minute. Please.”
Nina paused halfway out of her chair and sat back down. “Okay…”
“I have an offer. It’s going to sound a bit strange, maybe more than a bit, but I need you to listen and really think about it, okay?”
Nina’s brow furrowed, but she nodded.
“I’m the CEO of Epsilon,” Theo said. “And I’ve been very successful — but there’s one client who’s proven impossible to land. He’s a family guy, and he doesn’t want to deal with people who don’t share his values. Which he doesn’t think I do. If you and Jack would be willing to pose as my wife and son, just for a little while, it would help me land that client.”
Nina’s eyes widened, and even Theo could hear how outlandish his offer sounded. He hurried on. “I know this is asking a lot, but you’d benefit, too. I’d enroll Jack in Holyoke Academy, which is the best school in the city. They have small class sizes, and lots of time to play, and great extracurriculars.” At least Theo was pretty sure they did. He hadn’t actually looked into the school much. “And I’d take care of all your finances and give you a great financial incentive. Enough that you wouldn’t have to worry about money for the rest of Jack’s childhood, at least.”
Nina blinked at him. She was quiet for a long, disbelieving moment, then she tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear and sighed. “Okay. Let me get this straight. You want me to pretend to be your wife, and Jack to pretend to be your son, so that you can land a client. And for that, you’d pay me some ridiculous amount of money.”
“That’s right,” Theo confirmed.
“Wow. I… have you even thought about how this would work?”
“Not yet,” Theo said. “But I’m sure we can figure out a reasonable arrangement together.”
Nina laughed softly. “I can’t believe this. You want to prove to some client that you share his family values by tricking him?”
This time, Theo was the one who bristled. “Listen,” his voice dropped low and earnest, “I can have good values without being a husband or a father. I’m an honest businessman, and my product would really help Ackley Industries. It isn’t my fault that Charles Ackley is too stubborn to listen to my pitch just because he and I aren’t exactly the same.”
“Right.” Nina bit her lip. “I just… you’re asking a lot. You understand that, right? It’s one thing for me to pretend to beyour wife, or whatever, but it’s another thing to ask that of Jack. It might confuse him.” She glanced at her son, who was still licking the last of the ice cream from his cup and looking out the window. “Things are hard enough.”
“That’s the thing, though. Life shouldn’t be hard. I don’t know your situation, but I do know that you want something better for Jack than what you can give him right now. I can help you. And you can help me.”
Nina bit her lip again. Her gaze drifted from her son to the window, then back to Theo’s face. Then she sighed. Still, she didn’t say anything, and Theo’s heart began to race. He was asking for a lot. He knew that. But he was offering a lot, too. He needed this. Something told him that Nina did, too.
CHAPTER 4
NINA
Nina was trying to think of a polite way to leave.
Theo seemed nice enough, but there was no way his offer was for real. What kind of person paid a pair of strangers he’d just met to pose as his wife and child so that he could land a contract?
