Page 82 of Tuxedos and Tinsel

She shrugged. “Maybe I needed an image makeover too.”

“What?” Thomas and Rosalind spoke together.

“Come on, there’s no need to act all shocked,” she said. “We all know I’m the unloved elf of the Collier family.”

“The what?” Thomas asked.

“The one who doesn’t fit in and who everyone would rather just went away.”

“No one wants you to go away,” Thomas said. “You’re our sister.”

“Half sister,” she reminded him. “And please, I know I drive everyone crazy. People at the company only tolerate mebecauseI’m your sister.”

“I don’t believe that,” Thomas said. “Linus told me last night that you were the belle of the ball.”

“Because I had Lewis with me. When I’m with Lewis I feel different. Likable.” Wanted.

“Is that why you agreed to the idea?” Rosalind asked.

She nodded. “Yes. Kind of.” Close enough anyway. “I wanted people to see me as more than I am. I thought if people think someone like Lewis could fall for me, they would see there’s something likable about me after all and I wouldn’t…”

“Wouldn’t what?” Thomas asked. For the first time since the conversation began, his voice was gentle. The kindness threatened to dislodge her withheld tears.

“Be the loser outsider anymore.”

“What are you talking about? You’re not an outsider.” Thomas said. “You’re my sister.”

“Half sister,” she corrected again.

“Whatever,” he replied. “It’s not your fault who your mother is.”

“A woman who took off and stuck you with me,” Susan added.

He waved off the comment. “Linus and I always figured you dodged a bullet when that happened. You call yourself a loser outsider now. Imagine the damage if she’d stuck around and raised you. Imagine the kinds of issues you might have had to face.”

Susan didn’t know how to respond. He was right; she would have been worse off. The three of them sat quietly for a few minutes, listening to the baby’s gentle sleeping noises.

Eventually, Thomas leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. “Linus told me last night he didn’t believe you. About the relationship being fake. He said you two looked pretty into each other and he thinks you only said it because you wanted to get him off your back.”

He’d whispered something similar to her when they were on the dais.You don’t look like you’re faking to me.

“That was wishful thinking on his part.” On her part too. “We had to put on a show in order to make people think the relationship was the real deal.”

“By loving it up on the roof?” Susan looked up from her lap. “He told me on the phone.”

“I’ve got to say, that doesn’t sound too fake to me,” Rosalind said.

“It was nothing serious. We figured since we were going to spend the month together and were attracted to each other, we might as well enjoy ourselves. We weren’t some great romance,” she added, quoting Lewis.

“And how’d that arrangement work out for you?” Thomas asked.

Susan didn’t answer. Couldn’t answer really, without her voice cracking. She studied the wrinkles in last night’s dress.

“I’m sorry,” her brother said.

“Me too.” But hey, for a few glorious weeks, she’d felt special. “I’ve got no one to blame but myself. The whole point was to go against type, so I knew going in he wasn’t going to stick around. Caveat emptor or something like that.”

A tear escaped. The first of the day. Swiping it away, she looked over at Thomas. “I never meant for Collier’s to get stuck in the middle of this. I’ll step away from the company.”