Page 59 of Gross Misconduct

“Oh, I’m going to like you! Well, I already do. It’s not often he brings a girl around, mostly because he knows Mom will lose her shit and plan a wedding. Since he told them about the engagement, you’d thinkshewas getting married again. Let me warn you now: she expects grandchildren right away.”

“Oh,” I said and laughed. “Okay. Well, we’re in no rush.”

“Don’t tell my mom that.” She motioned for me to move in closer. “Like I said, he doesn’t bring around many girlfriends, but you definitely break the mold. I’m glad he’s finally stopped chasing after airheads. You’re a smart one!”

“I am?”

She scooted even closer to me. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with someone who has a whole brain. That’s why you are different. You have substance, and you give him a challenge. I think he got bored with all those women before you. Sex can only take you so far.”

That sort of tracked with what I knew of him. “Agreed. Sometimes I wonder if I challenge him too much.”

“Nah. If he thought that, he’d be long gone.”

But she didn’t know about our arrangement. She had no idea that he couldn’t go anywhere. I thought about that for a second. Would he be long gone given the opportunity?

“We come from totally different backgrounds, so I’m not sure we are exactly compatible, but so far it’s working.”

“Depends on what you mean by that. I don’t know if Jeremy told you, but I’m not going to have kids. I don’t want them. I made that pretty clear to my parents, and Mom just wouldn’t believe me. When she wouldn’t give it a rest, I had my tubes tied.”

I didn’t know how old Gwen was, but I guessed she was maybe a few years older than Jeremy, so around my age. To know at thirtyish that she didn’t want kids—that she’d made that kind of decision—was admirable. “I’m guessing that didn’t go over well.”

“Mom lost it. She thinks women were put on this earth to have children. I argued that we had more than enough children on this earth, and many have no one taking care of them. She backed off, but when I had my tubes tied, she stopped bugging me all together. She even stopped talking to me for a few days. I’m much happier now.”

“You are my hero.”

“Wait, you don’t want kids?”

The kids question again. “I don’t know. I had a crappychildhood. I’m not sure I’d make a good mother. And when I look at my life, I don’t see kids in it.”

Gwen smiled sympathetically. “I’m not going to push you either way, but make that decision when you’re ready. And don’t worry where you came from, just focus on who you can be. The one thing you need to be is honest with Jeremy. I know he’s going to want kids, and this should be a conversation you have soon.”

I really liked Gwen, and we talked a lot until Susan put us to work. Susan told me she expected thirty-five people for dinner, and my eyes nearly popped out. I couldn’t count that many family members anywhere, but I was excited. I helped set the two basement tables with Gwen’s help, since it had to be done a certain way, according to Susan. I then moved on to food prep, and Susan had me cutting vegetables for salad, and putting together trays of appetizers. Mostly simple things like cheese and crackers. Luckily, Jeremy got the potato-peeling job.

Every family was instructed to bring at least one dish, so that made sense. I couldn’t see how Susan could do this alone. I was giddy when people started showing up, and even though I was introduced as Jeremy’s fiancée and would likely never meet any of these people again, I made sure to have a great time. And I did. It was the best Christmas I’d ever had. We ate, drank—in moderation—opened gifts, played games, and by the end of the night, I was too wired to sleep.

Jeremy tried to sleep, but I couldn’t stop talking, telling him how much fun I’d had.

“You’re welcome to come back every year,” he said in a sleepy voice.

“Not unless we plan to get married,” I said with a laugh. “I think your mom is going to be devastated when she hears the truth.”

“I’ll handle that. She’ll get over it. I don’t plan to get married anytime soon, so she can park the pressure.”

He drifted off to sleep, and I thought about what he’d just said. Yes, we had both decided that this wasn’t real, but why did it hurt a little? Suddenly, everything Gwen said came back to me, and here Jeremy was saying he wasn’t settling down anytime soon. That meant he definitely was never settling down with me, and that was still a punch to the gut.

Chapter Thirty-One

Jill

We drove home two days later because Jeremy needed to be back. I took the last few days of my holidays to hang out with Tangi and give her an update on my time with the Vaughns. She commented on how happy I looked, and I couldn’t lie. I’d had a fantastic time. Tangi and I called Wolseley and managed to pin her down for a visit to Vancouver. With the busy restaurant season out of the way, she said she’d come at the end of January. Tangi and I weren’t satisfied with that, and wouldn’t let the subject go until she’d booked her flight.

My last few days of holidays were up, and that meant my new added job with the Ravens. I had approved the job description with HR, and they planned to post the job. I was assured a replacement would be found by the end of next month. In the meantime, I would have to rely on the small Raven’s team—so one other person in the PR department—and my team. Thankfully, the Ravens players managed to stay out of trouble.

One aspect of the job I’d grown to loathe was ourinterdepartmental meetings with the marketing crew. Mark, as usual, was a thorn in my side, fighting us on everything. Our latest meeting was no different, and in typical Mark fashion, he decided to go on the attack. I wondered if he spent all his free time coming up with ways to make my life difficult. I thought I’d somehow managed to avoid his vitriol, but as our meeting was wrapping up, he went for the jugular.

“I know that we are finished here,” he began, “but I have a few questions. First, congrats on the new job, Jill.”

Nothing good came from a compliment from Mark. “Thank you.”

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