Switching Places (Escape Into Romance) (2 page)

"Great. My name is Angela. Angela Gray."

Even her name was lovely. He was so toast. What to do? Before he knew what he was doing he was typing, "What a beautiful name. My name is Matthew. Matthew Unger."

Oh crap. Now he really was in it. Matthew was his dad.

If his father ever found out… Well. His life wouldn't be worth living, that was for sure. But how was he going to work this? She would be expecting to meet a thirty-eight year old man named Matthew. There was no way a seventeen year old could pull that off. But he couldn't take it back. Not now. Not if he wanted her to ever talk to him again.

They chatted for a while longer and organized to meet on Saturday at the Unger Computers stall at the expo and Cody went along with everything she said. He had really painted himself into a corner. Cody spent a long time after they said goodnight with little wink faces just pacing the length of his bedroom. He couldn't stand her up and he couldn't meet her. What was he going to do?

There was nothing for it but to confess to his father. That should be fun.

He tried to bring the subject up several times over dinner and during the evening that followed but just couldn't quite do it. He caught his father looking at him oddly a couple of times and wondered what that was about. Did he know already? But how could he? His dad was smart but not psychic.

In the end he just gave up and went to bed. He would worry about it tomorrow. He'd have to figure out something. And quick. It was already Thursday. Maybe he could freeze time. Or disappear. Or shrivel up and die. Any of those sounded good to his overworked brain as he closed his bedroom door behind him.

Matthew watched his son leave the living room to go to bed and shook his head. What was going on with that boy now? He'd had the feeling Cody wanted to tell him something all night long and had watched as the boy had fidgeted and wriggled all the way through dinner and after. And then Cody volunteered to do the dishes, which was completely unheard of.

Matthew knew his son well enough to know something was up. Cody's mother had always been so good at reading their son. When she had passed away just before Cody's twelfth birthday Matthew had been left to figure things out as his son became a teenager. Sometimes the signals didn't quite make sense. Oh well, he would find out sooner or later whatever it was, Matthew thought, and went back to reading his book.

"So your boss just tossed this job in your lap and now you are going to Sydney to meet your mysterious online man?" Jill arched an eyebrow at her friend.

"That's right." Angela sighed. Now that she was saying it out loud it just seemed ridiculous. Wasn't it just yesterday that she had been busy convincing herself that she wasn't ready to meet this guy?

"That's hilarious. You were adamant about not meeting him and now you are going for it!" Jill giggled, echoing Angela's thoughts. "What changed?"

Jill shrugged. They were back at the same café, but today she didn't even touch her drink. "I don't know. The opportunity presented itself I guess. And, I have to admit I'm curious."

"Oh yeah. Of course you're curious. Mysterious man who clicks so well with you? Who wouldn't be curious. But..."

Angela looked at the concerned face of her friend. "Well? What?"

"Just be careful, okay? I've read some real horror stories about people meeting and it going all terribly wrong. Don't go anywhere alone with him until you're sure of him. Promise me."

Angela was troubled that her happy-go-lucky, free-wheeling friend had gone all serious on her. "Wasn't it you that was trying to convince me to meet him?"

"Meet him, yes. Go off with him alone to a hotel room? Well. Maybe on the second date." Jill winked at her. "But seriously, Angela. Promise me you'll be careful."

"I certainly will. You know me." She tried to reassure her friend. And herself.

The next morning Matthew didn't feel like things were any better with Cody. He was really getting concerned about his son now. What could he be mixed up in that was causing him to be so skittish? Drugs? No, Cody wouldn't touch drugs. Would he? Matthew didn't know for sure. Teenagers can do some really stupid things. As a single dad, he just didn't know what to do sometimes. Now he was even more worried.

"Cody." The boy stopped getting ready for school and looked at his father. "Have you got something on your mind, mate?"

Cody shrugged. "No, not really. Why do you ask?"

"Because you have been acting very strange since last night. Want to talk about it?" Matthew watched the changing expressions on his son's face. He saw the moment that the boy gave in. Cody looked at him with something like terror in his eyes.

Matthew's heart stalled in his chest. What could be so bad?

"I've done something, dad. Something that is going to come back and bite me in the butt really soon. As soon as Saturday in fact."

Saturday? Tomorrow? What the hell was he talking about? "What could be that bad, son?"

"Well…I'll explain it. Now please don't get mad until I finish talking, okay?"

Matthew gulped in a deep breath, trying to brace himself for whatever was to come. "Okay, I'll hear you out."

Cody straightened his spine to stand taller. Even then he fell well short of his dad's six-foot frame. But he was going to take this on the chin like a man. He started from the beginning and just let the words come. Once he got started telling his story he found himself speeding up just to get it all out. The sight of his father's face darkening as he went on was all the incentive he needed to get it over and done with. When he was finished he waited for the explosion he felt sure was coming.

"Let me get this straight." Matthew forced his jaw to relax. "You have been chatting with some random woman online and have told her not your life story, but mine, in an attempt to get her to like you. Is that correct?"

Cody was too scared to do more than nod.

"And now she is coming for a visit this weekend?"

Cody nodded again.

"A visit with me?"

"Well technically with me." Cody shifted from foot to foot.

Matthew thought he had kept his cool pretty well, considering. But anger tinged his voice now. "Of all the insane things to do! I thought you were growing up but it seems like I was wrong. I can't believe this! Good Lord boy, what were you thinking?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know. You don't know? I should...I don't know what I should do." Matthew needed to calm himself down before he said words he might regret.

Cody watched as his father started to pace. He'd thought that his father was going to have a stroke or a heart attack or something. His face had turned bright red while Cody had been telling him the whole sorry story. Hearing himself tell it now, it even sounded ridiculous to his own ears. What had he been thinking? He hadn't really used his best judgement in this situation.

Matthew went very quiet and was continually running his hands through his brown hair, which was a sure sign he was frustrated. He kept this up for several long minutes while trying to decide the best course of action. Cody knew better than to interrupt. It took a lot to get his dad this angry. But then, this certainly qualified.

Finally Matthew stopped pacing and turned to face his son. "Okay this is what you are going to do, son of mine. You are going to meet this woman like you planned and then you are going to come clean to her. Do you understand?"

Cody's heart sank. He was afraid of that. "Yes, dad."

But Matthew wasn't done. "Whatever possessed you to do something so idiotic?"

Cody shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I never expected I'd have to meet her. I didn't think it would do any harm to just talk to her. She seemed really cool. I like her a lot even though I know she is thirteen years older than me and she thinks I am you. She liked me as you. We had a lot to talk about. When I was you, I mean."

Matthew could feel the anger starting to surge through him again. "Yeah, about that. We will be having a serious talk about impersonating someone. Especially me. But later. Right now you need to get to school."

Cody didn't need telling twice. He was so glad to have a reason to get out of his father's space for a while that he took off immediately.

Matthew let out a frustrated growl after the door closed. What was he going to do with that boy?

Friday evening came too quickly for Angela's liking. Before she knew it she was boarding a plane for Sydney. The butterflies had started flitting around in her stomach a couple of hours ago and now they were in full flight. She hated flying and she had never been to Sydney so this weekend was going to be torture for her. And then there was the story that her boss had sent her to get. There were so many things that could go wrong in all this that she didn't even know where to start.

But then there was the thought of meeting Mister Compuking. The butterflies settled a little. Matthew Unger. It was a strong name. Maybe this weekend wouldn't be all bad.

It wasn't a long flight and it wasn't long before she felt the plane descending. Minutes later they had landed safely and she let out a sigh of relief. She didn't fly often. Something about being that high off the ground with no control really bothered her. Not that she needed to be in control of everything. Just the things that might end her life.

It took a while to get from the plane to the other end at the baggage claim and then she had the arduous task of getting a taxi. All in all by the time she got to her hotel she was feeling more than a little frazzled.

A long soak in a nice hot bath in her hotel room went a long way to restoring her good mood. She luxuriated in the hot water, letting it soak into her stiff muscles and warm her into a sleepy state. She decided to have an early night so that she could get an early start to the day tomorrow. She'd need it. She had no clue how she was going to uncover the information her boss had demanded. And in the back of her mind was the knowledge that she had a date tomorrow with her internet guy. Not for the first time she wondered what he would be like. That wondering fed into her fantasies as she drifted off to sleep.

Matthew had been awake very early in preparation for his long day at the Computer Expo. Cody hadn't been quite so enthusiastic about the early rise. He moped as they made the long trek to the Expo Pavilion and got their stall set up by seven-thirty. People started to drift in around eight o'clock and for a while, things got a bit hectic, and they were both able to forget what Cody had done.

But Matthew knew in the back of his mind that this woman, this stranger, would be turning up sometime this morning expecting to meet the man she had been chatting with online. For the umpteenth time he cursed his son for putting him in this position. He had noticed that Cody had been more jittery than usual and assumed that he was thinking about the same thing. Good, Matthew thought. Let him think about what he was going to have to say to her when she finally arrived.

A couple of hours later Matthew got the strangest feeling. It felt like all of the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end. Someone was watching him, he just knew it. He swung around, taking in the crowd around him, but no one in particular stood out. He shook his head trying to dislodge the feeling and went back to restocking their display table.

But it was no good. He couldn't shake the feeling. He took another slower look around and that was when he saw her. A tall, slim woman with short, ash blonde hair and a pair of the palest blue eyes staring back at him. He felt the world tilt on its axis as he stared back at her. She was stunning. She was just standing there, watching him. The breath whooshed out of his chest and he forgot to breathe. Was this Angela? His gut feeling told him it was.

He watched, mesmerised, as she started to move towards him. A smile slid across her face and he felt himself smiling in answer. He couldn't help himself. She stopped just a little way from him and he got a whiff of some exotic perfume that heightened his awareness of her.

"Matthew?" Her voice was like pure honey and he nodded dumbly as the ability of speech seemed to desert him. She smiled once more and he felt that hitch in his breathing again. "Hi, I'm Angela."

She held out a hand for him to shake and he looked at it idiotically for a moment before coming back to himself and taking hold of her hand in his own. He felt a kind of electricity dance right up his arm and quickly let go. She tipped her head to the side, studying him closely. He felt like a bit of an idiot. He was a grown man of thirty-eight, not a teenager. And yet, she made him feel like he was on display for her.

He cleared his throat before attempting to speak. "Hello Angela, it is so nice to meet you. At last." He heard Cody snigger behind him and made a mental note to give him another piece of his mind when they were alone. Later.

An awkward silence descended. He felt so self-conscious. This wasn't how he had planned this to go at all. Cody was supposed to tell her the truth and that would be that. He hadn't counted on being so strongly attracted to her. Now he found that he didn't actually want her to know the truth. Because if she went away he wouldn't get the chance to know her.

He was saved from making any more of a fool of himself by several customers coming up to his stall. The interruption gave him a chance to stall for time. He begged off from talking to her right now and asked to meet with her later. Cody gaped at him, and Matthew glared holes through his son. Instead of being chastised the boy smiled a knowing smile and went off to help a potential customer.

Angela was glad when they were interrupted by some people looking to buy from Matthew. At least she knew he was real now. He was a real man, with a real job, so maybe he had been truthful about all the rest of it too. She had been very surprised by her reaction to him. She would never have guessed that she would be so attracted to the man on first meeting. It had taken her breath away. Now she had a chance to get her footing back while watching the man and his son working the stall. She knew that he had asked her to meet with him later but she was enjoying watching him too much to leave.