Chapter 2

Hailey wasn’t particularly bothered by Philip’s assessment of her. She fully understood that being popular automatically made you unpopular with certain elements. What she couldn’t understand was why Philip had been openly hostile toward her from the moment she had spoken to him.

She would do her best to impress his parents – David and Beth, she reminded herself – and they would make sure that Philip made room for her on his travels home. It would be much more convenient – and reliable – than having her mother come to pick her up.

Picco’s was a very upscale restaurant and she wondered if she should change clothes. She was wearing a cashmere sweater and stylish pants and she hoped her hosts didn’t expect her to have a dress handy.

She had one in her garment bag but that was for the next evening’s festivities. She couldn’t possibly wear it two nights in row.

“Excuse me, Beth,” Hailey said when she came back outside. “Am I dressed appropriately? I’ve never been to Picco’s but I know it’s a very nice restaurant.”

“You’re fine, dear,” Beth replied. “Philip, however, is not. Go change into something presentable while I let your father know where to meet us.”

Phil bit back a reply but did as he was bid. The sooner he got on with things the sooner the night would be over. He returned a few minutes later wearing a pair of cotton pants and a pullover rugby shirt. Beth frowned slightly but the look on her son’s face let her know this was the best she was going to get from him.

She ignored him and went back to her conversation with Hailey Warren as they headed for the garage.

The drive into the city went exactly as Phil had expected. They took his mother’s car, newer and roomier than Phil’s, and Phil took the backseat so his mother would be the one forced to engage Hailey in conversation.

Hailey regaled Beth Warner with life on campus, the awards she’d won and the people she’d met. It was more than Phil had offered his parents in the few times he’d been home. His parents expected college to be exactly like high school had been.

Phil had been popular in high school. He was friendly with a variety of groups, ranging from the fashionistas to the pseudo-Goths. He played on the soccer and baseball teams. He was Homecoming King and class president.

College was different.

At Heilman, he was nobody. In fact, he was less than nobody. Part of the problem was that he lived off campus. He didn’t get a ready-made set of acquaintances – who might later become friends – by living in a freshman dorm.

He also was taking a heavier class load than most of the freshmen. He had taken every Advanced Placement course offered at his high school and had picked up a class or two each summer at the SouthPointe branch of the state university.

Thus he had most of his core requirements out of the way and was taking second- and third-year courses. That meant most of his classmates were sophomores and juniors. They already had a group of friends and they didn’t really want an 18-year-old freshman tagging along with them.

But in Phil’s mind there was one main reason he had no real friends at Heilman College: Hailey Warren, bitch extraordinaire.

“Philip, are you listening to me?” his mother asked – apparently not for the first time.

“No,” Phil replied. “Not in the slightest.”

The response seemed to catch both Hailey and his mother off guard as both were silent for a moment or two.

“Hailey was telling me about the courses she’s taking this year,” Beth recounted. “She’s a business major just like you but she says you’re not in any of her classes.”

“Not a one,” Phil answered. Hailey looked at him as though she expected him to elaborate. He didn’t.

“Why aren’t you?” Hailey asked. “I mean, Heilman only offers one course on Introductory Business Principles and one ethics course. You have to take both of them in order to start 200-level courses.”

Sophomore courses were designated 200-level.

“I took equivalent courses last summer at the university,” Phil replied. “I didn’t want to waste time on freshmen courses. Heilman is too expensive to take five years to get through there.”

Hailey didn’t know exactly how much it cost to go to Heilman College. She earned a partial scholarship – and she considered her mother to be relatively well-off. But she could see where Philip’s family might have trouble paying his way. She was surprised when Beth broke out into laughter.

“Oh, yes, Philip, I’m sure you’re worried about where the money will come from,” she said. “I’m positive you’re checking in your couch cushions for grocery money every day.”

“Mother,” Phil said warningly. The topic of money wasn’t something he wanted to get into – particularly not with Hailey Warren around.

“Fine,” Beth said as they pulled into Picco’s parking lot.

The hostess greeted Beth Warner warmly – which surprised Hailey somewhat.

“Your usual table?” the young woman asked with a smile.

Beth agreed and the young woman looked past Hailey to Phil. Hailey decided the woman was plain-looking. She didn’t have to be, she thought, but she seemed to choose to be. It put her off slightly to be completely ignored by a restaurant employee but she decided it had more to do with the woman knowing her hosts and not knowing Hailey.

“Hi, Phil,” she said brightly.

“Hey, Lauren,” Phil replied. “Still working here weekends, I see.”

“I sort of enjoy it,” the young woman answered. “I took your advice. I’m taking hotel and restaurant management courses. Dad is really happy. Thanks.”

Phil smiled at the young woman warmly and she led them to a private room in the back of the restaurant. Hailey was suitably impressed but she maintained her air of disinterest. She hoped Beth didn’t have an idea about trying to fix her up with Philip. He was a handsome man but she was only interested in guys who had status on campus or money. Philip, it seemed to her, had neither.

It was only a few minutes later when an older version of Philip came walking in. He greeted his wife with a kiss on the cheek and gave his son a hug. Then he extended a hand in Hailey’s direction.

He had barely sat down when he pulled a vial out of his pocket and passed it across to Hailey.

“Here, smell this and tell me what you think,” he said.

“David!”

“Dad!”

David Warner glanced at his wife and his son sort of sheepishly.

“It’s not the skunk-berry cologne I gave you last year,” he told Philip. “I swear. It’s a new fragrance of shampoo we’re working on. The company wants to market it to the college-age female crowd. It’s lavender and chamomile. I figured I’d get some research done.”

“I don’t mind,” Hailey said, holding out her hand. David unscrewed the top from the vial and passed it across. “This is pretty nice. You say it’s for shampoo?”

“Shampoo, body wash, maybe lotion,” David said, smiling.

“David is a chemist for a cosmetics firm,” Beth related. “You’ll have to excuse him. Remember what I said about that single-minded pursuit of a goal.”

Hailey laughed pleasantly. She started to tilt the vial to put a little of the liquid on her finger. Phil reached across and stopped her.

“Don’t do that!” David said urgently.

Hailey looked confused. The mixture smelled really nice and she thought it might make a nice perfume.

“It’s hard to tell what he’s used to make it smell that way,” Phil said, rolling his eyes. “He’ll have to break down the compositions to make sure it won’t melt your skin away when you use it.”

Hailey’s eyes widened.

“It’s not that bad,” David said, taking the vial back and screwing the top back on. “It’s not like I used battery acid and strychnine. But it still needs FDA approval before I let you put any on your skin. I just hit on the combination this week. I’ll have the approval in a month or so and this should hit the market right about Christmas time. I’ll make sure Philip gives you a sample of it beforehand.”

Hailey nodded her agreement as the waitress came and took their drink order. She was surprised that neither David nor Beth ordered anything alcoholic, sticking with iced tea and water with lemon instead. Her mother would sample about half the wines in a place like this before choosing something appropriate. But she didn’t say anything. Perhaps it was a religious thing.

Dinner conversation revolved around Heilman College and David’s work. Hailey knew that Beth worked somewhere but it couldn’t be anywhere interesting because she contributed little to the conversation about her own day. In fact, she directed the conversation away from her activities when either her husband or her son asked. Hailey decided she was probably embarrassed by her occupation.

Hailey was also surprised that Philip, who had been surly the entire time she had known him, was pleasant during dinner. He seemed to be able to hold his own in the conversations that ranged from women’s fashions at college to the city’s beleaguered baseball franchise. He was also polite to Hailey during the entire meal.

She was surprised that she found herself enjoying the company of the entire family. They went out of their way to include her in conversation and they treated her as if they’d known her for years.

Of course she noticed they treated the wait staff the same way. They were midway through dessert when Hailey’s cell phone buzzed. She had noticed that the others had turned all their phones off while they dined. But since she was still waiting to hear from her mother, she turned hers to vibrate only. Beth assured her that they understood completely. But when it buzzed, Hailey politely excused herself and moved to the back of the room to talk to her mother.

Despite her politeness, the Warners overheard her end of the conversation. It started out well enough.

“I’m dining in a private room at Picco’s,” she told her mother. Phil rolled his eyes at his parents at the evident glee in Hailey’s voice. Hailey listened to her mother’s reply before she spoke again.

“The family of the guy I rode home with invited me,” she informed her mother. Phil tried to restart the conversation with his parents but his mother tuned out when she heard Hailey’s voice raise slightly.

“Where am I supposed to go?” she asked her mother. “I already have him driving me all over the city just to get home. I’m supposed to tell him to wait until midnight to drop me off? Why can’t I come to your office?”

Beth pursed her lips while pretending to be interested in whatever her husband and son were discussing.

“Where are you?” Hailey asked and then waited for the answer. “Mother!”

She was silent for a moment.

“Mother, I don’t know these people,” Hailey said as softly as she could. “I don’t even know the guy who brought me home. I can’t just invite myself to spend time with them. Fine, I’ll make some calls. I guess I’ll see you in the morning.”

Beth sighed deeply and knew she was going to impose upon her son’s good nature once again.

If Beth Warner hadn’t been eavesdropping on Hailey Warren’s conversation, she would have overheard what her son and husband were discussing: Hailey Warren.

“She’s pretty,” David told his son. He shifted his chair over to sit next to Phil.

“It is only skin deep, Dad,” Phil said. “I think Mom picked up on it. Hailey thinks the whole world revolves around Hailey.”

“When we all know it revolves around you,” David replied with a practiced smile. His son knew he was joking. They had never allowed Philip to get too high an opinion of himself.

“It should,” Phil answered. “I’ll tell you about it sometime. But she is not the type person you want me bringing around the family very frequently. In fact, Dad, I think she is exactly the type woman you and Mom always warned me away from.”

“Really?” David asked. He hazarded a glance at Hailey. He had bought enough presents for his wife to know that the young woman was wearing $400 in clothing and probably another $250 in jewelry.

“Maybe not that type,” Phil admitted. “But she is fake, Dad. She gets by on looks and reputation. Again, this isn’t really the place for this conversation. I’ll tell you about it later.”

David smiled at his son. He was glad that college hadn’t changed his personality. He also thought back to how Beth had changed the topic whenever it came around to her. With a shrug, he turned the conversation toward other things just as Hailey sat back down.

“Problem, Dear?” Beth asked when she saw the look on Hailey’s face. Hailey had tried to mask her frustration but Beth was a master of seeing through facades.

“My mother is not going to be back until later tonight,” Hailey admitted. “And it appears that my friends are all still at school.”

“Well, we have a spare room and you’re welcome to it,” Beth said. Phil bit the inside of his lip to keep from exploding.

Chapter 3 »