The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.
—Mark Twain
KATE STOPPED outside Comet Coffee and took a deep breath before pushing the door open and walking inside. The smoky, nutty aromas of freshly ground coffee tickled her nose…and her dancing nerves. She surveyed the seating area, looking for a familiar face, but she didn’t see anyone she knew. For a few panicky seconds, she wondered if Fool was indeed a stranger. Or a stalker. Or if the entire thing was a big, fat joke—it was, after all, April Fool’s Day.
She checked her watch again, then gave a little laugh—sometimes setting her watch ten minutes fast got her into trouble.
Her pulse was still tapping overtime as she joined the line to get a cup of coffee. She kept an eye on the door, but reached the counter without seeing anyone familiar. She ordered a cup of decaf with cream, remembering only last week she’d been standing behind the coffeemaker at work when she’d first heard Eric’s voice again after so many years. So much had happened in so few days’ time.
The drive home yesterday had been painful—for her. Eric had been his normal jovial self, reinforcing her notion that their night together had meant little to him. He’d spent a lot of time pushing speed dial buttons on his cell phone, but since he never talked to anyone, she assumed he was checking messages. They’d driven in and out of rain, and the drive had seemed interminably long. When they began to see signs for Birmingham, even Eric showed signs of restlessness. Her concerns about how they would part were allayed when they pulled into the parking lot at the same time John Handley was coming out of the building. He had stopped to get an update on Lexan, and Kate had left the men to chat. She suspected that Eric had taken the opportunity to tell John he was leaving Handley, and she expected to get a visit from John this morning.
All evening she had hoped that Eric would call her to tell her himself. Instead she had walked around her apartment carrying Lenka and doing something she never did—drinking wine alone. Between her second and third glass, she had opened her Bernadette cabinet and informed the dolls they didn’t know how good they had it to be manless.
When she’d realized she was talking to dolls, she’d put down the wineglass and gone to bed.
“Ma’am?”
Kate blinked.
“Here’s your coffee,” the young girl behind the counter said.
Kate took the coffee and moved aside, blowing on the top of the liquid. Just as she looked up, the door opened and she froze.
Neil Powers gave her a shy smile and a wave. He was wearing gray corduroy pants and a navy shirt, his hair fashionably shaggy. When he walked up, she realized that she’d never noticed his eyes were brown. They were nice eyes.
“Hi, Kate,” he said, his voice tentative.
“Hi,” she said with a little smile. “So it was you.”
He looked at her, his eyebrows raised, and a few seconds passed. Then he exhaled and laughed at the same time. “Yeah, it was me. I’m Fool for You.” His cheeks reddened slightly. “You must think I’m weird.”
She laughed and shook her head. “No, I don’t think you’re weird. I think that you’re incredibly…” She looked into his nice brown eyes and felt her smile fall—they weren’t the eyes of the man she loved. “Sweet.”
She closed her eyes briefly and when she opened them, Neil was staring at her. He angled his head, then he squinted. “Something just happened, and I have a feeling it doesn’t bode well for me.”
She pressed her lips together. “Do you remember asking if my heart had been broken?”
“Yeah. You said anyone over fifteen has had their heart broken and your heart was no exception.”
“Well…I just realized that it’s more broken than I’d thought.”
He shrugged. “I’m a patient man.”
“Let me work on this,” she said softly. “I’ll keep you posted.”
He nodded, then sighed and gestured toward the counter. “I think I’ll drown my sorrows in a latte.”
She smiled. “I need to get back to work. I’ll see you around.” She waved and watched him walk away, wondering when she’d get to the point where she could entertain the thought of letting another man near her heart.
She sipped her coffee on the walk back to Handley’s building, thinking right now she had bigger problems than losing Eric McDaniels, like the fact that she was losing her best salesman and major account rep. That wasn’t going to reflect well on her, one week into the job. And if John got a whiff of their personal involvement, he was likely to demote her to the mailroom.
When Kate walked down the hallway to her office, her assistant wore a sour frown. “Good morning, Patsy. Is something wrong?”
Patsy nodded toward Kate’s office and harrumphed.
Kate strode into her office and her pulse jumped at the sight of Eric standing next to her window with his back to her. He wore jeans and a sport coat. His shoulders looked tense and his hair hand-ruffled.
“Eric?” She closed the door behind her.
He turned and his handsome face wore a troubled expression so uncharacteristic, it was startling. “Hello, Kate. We need to talk.”
Her stomach churned, but she felt compelled to put him at ease. She held up her hand. “Look, Eric, I know why you’re here.”
“You do?” he asked, looking more distressed. He pushed his hand into his hair. “What am I saying? Of course you do. It probably came through while I was driving over here.”
She frowned—his resignation? “I’m not sure when it came through, but I know all about it.”
He came over and stood in front of her, his eyes a little wild. “Kate, I’m so sorry—I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t. It was supposed to be a stupid joke to make you look bad in front of the sales team, but it got out of hand.”
Her mind spun in confusion.
He emitted a harsh laugh. “I just want you to know the secret admirer thing was all my crazy idea—I know you must be humiliated.”
“Your idea?”
“Yeah.” He sighed and paced the area in front of her desk. “I was angry about having to work for you, and…and then you made that comment about being nobody’s fool, and I…” He lifted his hands. “I’m sorry, Kate. For some reason, I thought that exposing the notes between you and a secret admirer would be funny.”
She squinted. “You hacked into my e-mail?”
He stopped pacing. “No, I arranged for the notes to be sent.”
She touched her temple, still trying to make sense of what he was saying. “You know Neil Powers?”
He frowned. “Who? My buddy Winston sent the notes.”
“Does Winston know Neil?”
Eric studied Kate’s expression and realized she seemed more confused than angry. And right now, he was pretty confused himself. “Who is Neil?”
A ring sounded from his jacket pocket and he withdrew his cell phone. The display read Winston Grant. “About damn time,” Eric muttered, then flipped open the phone. “Winston? What the hell is going on?”
“Sorry, buddy. I know I really let you down, but it couldn’t be helped.”
Eric frowned. “Let me down?”
“The notes—I couldn’t send them. I was feeling kind of bad that night we were together, and as it turns out, I had the chicken pox. I’ve been in the hospital for a freaking week, sick as a dog.”
When Winston’s words sank in, Eric’s stomach bottomed out. “You didn’t send the notes?”
“No,” Winston said dryly. “And did I mention that I’ve been in the hospital?”
Holy relief swept through Eric…until he lifted his gaze to Kate’s face, and realized she now seemed more angry than confused.
“I’ll call you back,” he said into the phone, then snapped it closed. He turned his most charming smile on Kate and shrugged. “My mistake.”
She crossed her arms, her cutting green eyes dismembering him. “Let me get this straight—you put a buddy up to sending me e-mail as a secret admirer? And my correspondence with your friend was going to be distributed to the sales team?”
He winced. “But…he didn’t do it, so…no harm, no foul?”
He expected her to throw something at him, to fire him on the spot, to slap his face. But he didn’t expect her eyes to fill with tears.
“Kate?” A lump formed in his throat and he crossed the space between them.
She held up her hand. “Don’t. You. Dare. Touch. Me.”
He let his hands fall uselessly by his sides. “Kate, there’s something else I need to tell you.”
When she finally looked at him, she’d regained control, her eyes dry again. “What?”
“I, uh….” Damn, now that the moment had come, he was as nervous as a schoolboy. “I love you.” There.
But instead of bringing her lovely self over and falling into his arms, Kate lifted her eyebrows. “You love me?”
He smiled. “That’s right.”
She burst out laughing. “That’s a good one, Eric—what, do you have my office wired?” She turned and waved to the corners. “Did you rig up a hidden camera?”
He frowned. “No.”
“Really? Because you couldn’t possibly think that I’d believe something so ludicrous on April Fool’s Day, could you?”
“Well…yeah.”
“Ha! From the biggest practical joker in the business? And after you told me that you were willing to humiliate me in front of my colleagues just to get a laugh? Why don’t you just tell me why you really came to see me, Eric?”
He shook his head, confused. “What?”
“That Monday you’ll be working for Mixxo Toys.”
He felt the blood leave his face. “How did you know?”
“I overheard you talking to someone at the electronics show.”
“And you didn’t say anything?”
“No—I was waiting for you to do the honorable thing and tell me.”
He set his jaw. “I was trying to close business for Handley before I left.”
“You were trying to qualify for your bonus.”
That he couldn’t deny. And he couldn’t miss the way that Kate had spoken to him—with disappointment and disgust. Like the tone she’d used years ago to tell her friend she’d never get involved with the likes of him.
He’d never felt so worthless in his life.
Kate pursed her mouth. “Just tell me one thing, Eric—did you take the Mixxo job before or after John made me VP?”
He decided not to lie. “After.”
She gave a curt nod and averted her gaze. When she looked up again, her face was placid and professional. “Well, to show there are no hard feelings, we’ll have a going-away party for you in the boardroom tomorrow.” She dropped into her chair and flipped the switch on her computer. “Close the door when you leave.”
He looked at her bent head, realizing suddenly how bleak his future seemed without Kate. And why should she believe his pathetic declaration? Had he done anything that would make the woman believe he loved her?
Recognizing a bed of his own making, Eric left, stewing in the knowledge that, today, he was the world’s biggest fool.