How To Make Your Coworkers Think You Have a Date on Valentine’s Day

Make a small error at work, call everyone’s attention to it, and dreamily say, “I guess my mind has been elsewhere lately.”

At staff meetings, doodle variations of your married name, like “Mrs. Annabelle Smith,” “Annabelle Jones-Smith,” and “Mr. and Mrs. Henry Smith.” Make the doodles large enough for people several seats over to see.

Arrange for your BFF to call you a few times a day so coworkers can overhear you cooing, “No, you hang up first. No, you. No you,” as you giggle girlishly.

Wear a sexy new outfit to work on February 14th. When colleagues ask where you’re going, say you’re really jazzed about trying the new Italian place downtown. No one will notice you haven’t actually said you’re going there.

The next workday, bring in a lavish heart-shaped box of chocolates with just a few pieces missing. Announce that you brought it in to share because you’re trying to watch your figure.

A few weeks later, arrive at the office sans makeup, looking sad. Thank everyone for their concern, but say you don’t want to talk about it. Enjoy the next day off, knowing everyone will be willing to cut heartbroken you some slack.