Whenever Sophie asked one about the other, it was as if she’d just reminded them about a forgotten to-do list item. If Brynn’s bored tone and Gray’s indifferent expression were any indication, that “relationship” was dead before it even left the ground.
Not that Sophie cared one way or the other.
“Are you and your sister not on speaking terms?”
Sophie blinked in confusion at his question. “What?”
“You asked how she was. Since she’s your sister, I must assume you two are estranged if you’re asking a near stranger about her well-being.”
His gaze was cool, and Sophie realized he’d seen right through her not-so-innocent question.
She made a big show of glancing at her watch. “Sooo, boss. It’s nearly five o’clock on a Friday and I’m sort of trying not to freak out about whether or not I have a job to come to on Monday morning. Did I pass your little test?”
Sophie tried to keep the desperation out of her voice. Before the deer-and-ladder incident, and before she’d lost her mind and gone out of her way to rile him, she thought the week had actually gone pretty well.
Other than apparently thinking she was “too chatty” with the clients, he hadn’t criticized her once.
He hadn’t exactly complimented her either. But then, even if he had an employee whom he didn’t loathe, he didn’t seem the type to throw out bits of encouragement like Good job stapling!
Even though she was a pretty good stapler. Very precise.
Gray ignored her and pulled out a sheet of paper from a folder in his desk drawer. He alternated between reading the contents and looking over the top of the paper at her.
She struggled not to fidget. “What?” she finally snapped.
“You went to Stanford,” he said thoughtfully.
Sophie frowned. “I never told you that.”
“You double majored in biology and political science, with a minor in communications.”
“Are you reading my résumé?” she asked in disbelief. She leaned across the desk to make a grab for it, but he pulled it out of her reach.
“The communications focus, I can see. The opportunity to talk nonstop probably appealed to you. But tell me about the other two. Biology and political science?”
“I see no need for us to go through this little interview exercise…” Sophie crossed her arms over her chest, feeling ill at ease. She didn’t want to discuss anything personal with this man.
“Humor me,” he said in a bland voice.
Sophie reluctantly settled back in her chair, but remained tense. Nothing set her on edge as much as someone analyzing her résumé. One could dig through her panty drawer, her purse, her Internet browser history…
But not the résumé. It revealed too much.
The only good news about this little scenario was that she had plenty of practice with this routine. God knew she’d gone through it often enough with her parents, friends, Brynn, prospective employers…She could practically recite his next lines for him.
You have so much potential.
Is this job just a transition phase?
You’re squandering your talent and top-notch education.
“What do you want to know?” she asked, mentally preparing her usual pat answers.
“Biology and political science don’t exactly overlap in course loads. Did you have any career path in mind that would utilize both degrees?”
For a brief moment she considered setting aside her usual speech and telling him the truth. That the biology major had been for her dad, who’d assumed she’d go to med school. And the political science focus was for her mother, who’d long insisted on Sophie’s destiny to be a lawyer.
Her mother had been wrong, as evidenced by the one very big omission on her résumé: her one-and-a-half-year stint at Harvard Law.
But there was a reason that Sophie didn’t put her little law school dabbling on her résumé. People took a chance on those who’d just taken a little longer than average to make use of their college education. But nobody looked fondly on a quitter.
He was staring at her with unreadable cool eyes, and she changed her mind about telling him the truth. Grayson Wyatt didn’t exactly invite her to spill her guts. Instead, Sophie launched into her usual rambling evasions. Better to sound like a ditz than a failure.
“Well,” she said, winding a curl around her finger and fluttering her eyelashes. “It really came down to the cute guys. Biology had all those sexy, smart nerds. And poli-sci had all the confident alpha men. I mean, what girl could resist?”
He watched her for a moment, and then nodded once with something that looked like disappointment.
“That’s it?” she asked snidely. “You’re not going to grill me on why with a perfect college GPA, top-notch alma mater, and a couple impressive degrees to my name, I’m here fetching you coffee and figuring out how to rid your walls of animal heads?”
Gray shrugged. “If I thought you’d tell me the truth, I might ask. But if you’re going to continue with your evasive bullshitting, I’m not going to waste my time.”
Sophie scowled and tensed as she waited for him to move down the résumé. No doubt his interrogation over her education was just a lead-in to give her a hard time about her lack of office experience.