Page 120 of Peppermint Bark

They'd sat enrapt as I recounted Bruce’s heart attack and Alex dressing up like Santa and the pinkie promise and baking apple pies and cutting down the tree myself — Isaac offered that it could be my job from now on — and Christmas morning with Ruby and seeing Mama and New Year’s Eve.

The retelling had torn me apart, dabbing the tears with tissues that Isaac had distributed. Rachel started crying when I got to the tree farm — she blamed her pregnancy hormones, but Isaac shot a look at Elijah that told me this was normal. My tears didn’t begin until Christmas, and Elijah held strong until the the sidewalk dance on New Year’s Eve. Even Isaac got misty-eyed when I'd searched for them while skiing.

“But what was your counteroffer?” Rachel asked.

My whole body stilled.

“He said that the first person should make a huge offer," Isaac reminded me, "then the second person counters with a reasonable alternative. And if they don’t, the first person has to walk away.”

Holy heck. I’d been propositioned by a world class negotiator. He’d anchored high and I’d balked, offering no concessions. I’d said no, full stop.

I dropped my head into shaking hands as I realized how I might have reacted if I hadn’t gone into fight-or-flight. How differently things could have ended. Or not ended.

My breathing hitched. Elijah steadied my arm. Isaac brought me water.

“But, how can I, what could I even, how could we —?”

“A man like that,” Rachel said, then corrected, “A love like that … it doesn’t come along every day. You’ve got to grab it when you find it.”

“Call him, sis,” Isaac said. “It’s not too late.”

“Go to California before the paperwork clears for Ruby,” Rachel suggested.

“I can be right with you, if you want backup when you call," Elijah said.

I looked around, panic wracking me. “But what would I say?”

Isaac smiled. “Tell him you’re ready to negotiate.”

Alex

“I broke her brother’s nose,” I confessed sheepishly.

My soft-spoken brother’s laugh was nearly a howl. “Quite the impression on your future in-laws.”

That sobered me more than the vomiting. “It’s over. She told me to leave.”

“No, you idiot,” Nick said. “She told you she wouldn’t go with you.”

“Same difference. They finally offered me partner, I can’t just leave.”

“And why do you want to be a partner so badly?”

“Fuck, I don’t know,” I growled.After nearly a decade of working nonstop, he asked me this now?

"Why do you want it, Alex?” he repeated firmly, pressing on a bruise.

“To prove I could get it,” I snapped.

“So the pursuit was more about the title than desire to lead.”

I groaned in annoyance. “Why do you have to be so goddamn insightful?”

“Guess playing the God of Truth is rubbing off,” he said, the cocky bastard. “Making partner is a Pyrrhic victory. The sacrifice is worth more than the win.”

“So what do I do now, genius?” I sneered.

He ignored my attitude. “Redefine your victory conditions. Right now, what would winning be?”

---