Page 31 of Falling for My Boss

It was complicated. Everything about Jodi seemed complicated. Yet, I was drawn to her, drawn to helping her solve these problems. But now things were starting to make a lot more sense.

She looked up from the ground, her eyes big and full of tears breaking at the corners. They were threatening to cascade down her cheeks, and who knew when they would ever stop. She was so used to living in fear that terror was her natural state. Tears came with it.

A fire burned in my belly at that thought. I hated that she ever had to fear anything. That this girl, this sweet, wonderful girl, would ever have to run from her own family pissed me off to no end. I wanted to protect her. To make sure she knew that there was someone who cared for her, unconditionally. That person was me.

“What should I do?” she nearly sobbed.

I looked around to make sure we were truly alone. No one else should hear her cry. If anyone was going to hear it, it would be me. But I was going to do everything I could to wipe those tears and make sure she never had to suffer them again.

“You stand tall,” I said. “No more running.”

She looked at me through tear-soaked eyes, droplets tumbling down her cheeks as she blinked at me confused. I stood firm, my jaw set.

“What?” she asked.

“You’ve run long enough,” I said. “You’re an adult. And I will back you up.Wewill back you up. You stand up straight, and if they come, they come.”

There was a moment where she just stared at me. Her eyes read my expression like a book in a foreign language. I knew it had to be hard for her. She had spent so much time hiding that the very idea of facing it down had to seem daunting and overwhelming. How could I convince her it was the only way? They would never leave her alone. She had to show them that she wasn’t afraid anymore. That she wasn’t going to just bend to their will because it was theirs.

Slowly, a change came over her. I watched it happen before my eyes and stood in awe of it. This pitiful girl, her body bent and curled in on herself, making herself as small as possible, began to change. She had spent so long making herself small, making herself invisible. The tears still came, but there was no more pinching in her eyes. They narrowed and focused. They were the eyes of a woman who had heard the truth and accepted it.

Her back straightened. She stood as tall as she could, which was still several inches shorter than me. It would be comical if it weren’t for the ferocity in her stance. It was awe-inspiring, this sudden change coming over her. She thrust out her chin and nodded, her fists clenching into little balls and hanging by her sides.

“You’re right,” she said. “No more running.”

Her voice cracked as she said it, a sign that it was hard for her to say. But the truth often was. Especially truth you knew deep down inside yourself but didn’t want to acknowledge. Truth that forced you to do something hard. Something seemingly impossible.

I nodded back and wondered if she meant it. By her body language, she certainly seemed like she did. She looked like a woman ready for a fight, ready to face anyone who told her who she should be and tell them which bridge to jump off of. But was it real?

I certainly hoped so. I wanted her to stay. And I knew the only way she was going to stay was if she embraced the idea that she was going to have to face off with her family. There was no need to go find them, but if they found her, so be it. She could handle it. Especially with us by her side.

Especially with me by her side.

If she wanted me.

20

JODI

My heart was up in my throat all day. I could barely concentrate, and there were moments when it felt like I couldn’t even breathe. Ally tried to get me to eat a couple of snacks, but I couldn’t even bring myself to take a bite. Anxiety hovered over me like a cloud.

It wasn’t the only thing. Ever since I made the connection and explained to Derek that the Jack Prince who was working with the vineyard was my brother, he had been hovering around me like a mother hen. At every opportunity he could, he came over to check on me, making sure I was still doing alright and offering me a glass of water.

It was everything I could do to keep myself calm after the fourth or fifth time he did it. I didn’t understand the compulsion to bring me the water. Not that he was the only person who ever did that. If there was one thing watching people be upset on TV and in movies has taught us all, it’s that when someone is emotionally distraught, clearly, they need water.

He was only trying to help, and he was being so sweet. I was just feeling on edge and worried about what was going to come next. I didn’t know what I was going to do. Or even what I was supposed to think. Maybe I should be relieved. When I saw him on the street where my rental was, I automatically believed it was because he found me. He was right on my tail, and it was going to be harder and harder to stay hidden and ahead of him.

Now I knew that wasn’t actually what happened. He didn’t show up because he found me, and he wasn’t on that road because he knew it was where I was living and had come to get me. It was all a coincidence. Maybe that should make me feel better.

But I still couldn’t get the reality out of my mind. Of everywhere I’d chosen to go, of all the places I could have gotten a job, it had to be the same place Jack made a business connection. People would probably say it had to do with being twins. That somehow our minds were more connected, and he was just able to intuitively find the same people I had, even if he didn’t know it.

But I didn’t put a lot of stock into that. In fact, it was those kinds of assumptions that drove me crazy anytime people found out we were twins. They loved to smile and talk about how deeply connected we had to be and how special that was for us. They asked if we had a special language or if we could feel when the other one was injured.

I had to remind them we were not identical twins. We were a brother and sister who just so happened to form at the same time. There was really no difference between us and any other set of siblings. No special language. No deep connection that meant we could feel each other.

Him ending up at the King Vineyard at the same time I was working there was nothing more than an unpleasant coincidence. Or a nasty joke of the universe.

It didn’t really matter to me why he was there. All that kept going through my mind was that he was there.

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