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When I arrived at the clothing shop, I waited outside until Mikael arrived.
"What's this?” he asked as I opened the door for us to enter.
"You'll have to ask Mr. Marshall when he gets here."
However, when we walked in, a woman who worked in the store came up behind us and locked the door. Todd had beaten us, and he stood from where he'd been sitting looking at his phone.
He walked over to us. "I've reserved the shop for us for the next couple of hours." He put his hand on Max's shoulder. "Son, it's time to clean up your image."
Mikael looked quizzically between us but then shrugged and smiled. "You make me sexier, right?"
I rolled my eyes. Todd smiled along with a quick shake of his head. "Come see what I've picked out for you."
We followed Todd to where a suit hung on a rack outside the fitting room. Todd held up the coat. "What do you think?"
Mikael studied it and nodded.
"With this shirt and tie, you will look as clean-cut as they come." Todd held up a crisp, folded white shirt and a silver tie, presumably meant to represent the Silver Nuggets.
"Why don't you put these on?" Todd handed him the clothes and nodded toward the fitting room.
Mikael took the items and disappeared behind the door.
I glanced over at Todd. "Making him look nice on the outside isn't going to fix what's on the inside."
"Probably not, but there's a reason lawyers have their clients dress a certain way in court when they are accused of heinous things. Appearances count for something. I'm counting on you to help fix what's on the inside."
I suspected that only age and experience would help Mikael grow up, but I nodded. After all, I'd spent much of the morning coming up with ideas on how to make him more endearing.
The door opened and Mikael exited. I bit my lower lip to keep from snickering. The suit fit him all right, but it didn't match the man he was. It was like coating a bitter pill with chocolate. It just didn't fix what was underneath. Plus, there was the fact that he tugged on the collar, which suggested he wasn't used to wearing a suit. Then there was the fact that the tie wasn't tied right and was askew.
I looked at Todd, who had his chin in his hand as he studied his new protégé.
With an eye roll, I stepped up to Mikael to fix his tie.
Mikael inched closer to me and waggled his brows. "You like what you see?"
Not particularly. "We can't make a good assessment until you've got the suit on correctly." I undid the tie and then re-tied it, pulling the knot up to his neck, perhaps a little too tightly.
"Ack, you choke me. Some people like that in passion, don't they?"
My hands stilled as I gaped at Mikael. Did he see everything through the filter of sex? I released the tie and stepped back.
"You believe in love at first sight, or should I leave and come back again?" Mikael grinned. That line was so bad it had to be something he'd heard in a bar or on TV.
"Mikael, you need to stop talking to and about women like that.” It was about time Todd stepped in.
Mikael looked genuinely perplexed. "But in America, women like bold, arrogant men, do they not?"
The truth was, some women did, but Mikael's execution of boldness and arrogance came off as icky.
"In America, writers have an expression that says show, don't tell. If you have to boast about yourself or be extremely obvious, it has the opposite effect. It makes it seem like you are nothing special. "
Mikael frowned. "But I am special. In America everyone is special."
"What Betts is saying, Mikael, is that you need to exude your specialness. Competent people don't have to try so hard. The very thing you're doing to attract women is going to scare them off. You're better off not doing it."
"Is this how you acted in Finland?" I asked him. I began to wonder if Todd got a deal on him because Finland didn’t want him anymore.
