Page 141 of A Merry Mountain Christmas

I hold her gaze and try to hide my disappointment. “Of course.”

“If you come near him again, I’ll have you arrested!”

She’d have no grounds for that, but I don’t argue. There’s no way I can change her mind, so I don’t even try. I’ve learned that the hard way.

Everyone around us is staring at us, atme, and the judgment I’ve always felt since my arrest is magnified tenfold. These people think I’m a child molester, and a few of the men look like they’re about to make sure I’m rendered physically incapable of touching a kid again.

With nothing left to say, Mary turns around and stomps off, and I get up to leave, if only to make sure I walk away unscathed.I hand our untouched food to a homeless couple on the corner, then get the hell out of there before the crowd takes matters into their own hands.

As I leave, I tell myself it’s for the best. I shouldn’t have applied for Butterfly Buddies in the first place. But I feel like my heart has been cut out of my chest and stomped on.

CHAPTER SEVEN

MARY

This is what I get for taking a chance. Heck, I’ve been taking chances left and right lately, willy-nilly, as if they couldn’t blow my world into even smaller bits, and now here I am, worse off than when I started.

I should have run a criminal background check on Jace the moment Butterfly Buddies assigned him to Aidan, but I let the school’s trust in the organization lull me into a false sense of security. That, and I ran the idea by Molly, and she rolled her eyes at me and reminded me of all the money I’d wasted running security checks on old boyfriends (hers, mine, and Maisie’s).

I’d trusted him with my child.My child.

As if that weren’t bad enough, I’d started to…

Oh God. It’s embarrassing to even think about it, but tears sprang to my eyes when he helped me with my coat, his touch so gentle yet strong. And then he told me Glenn was a dick. I mean, Glennisa dick, but it felt like he was telling me that because he liked me. Not in a romantic sort of way—again, he probably dates women like Nicole—but like a person. A friend, maybe.

Nicole would scoff if I told her that. No, she’d smirk and suggest,A friend with benefits?

Because there is no denying the way my body reacted to him—like my lady bits were a lockbox and he had the key. But there would be no friendship, no benefits, and what am I doing looking for companionship with people like Jace and Nicole anyway? I’m a dolphin swimming with sharks.

No, Mary, you’re a freaking minnow.

By the time I get back to the office, I’m practically hyperventilating. Luckily, the office is closed for lunch, and there is only one person inside. Unluckily, it’s my boss, Hilde, who takes one look at me and hands me a paper bag. I take it, even though it probably held her lunch and she always eats tuna fish, because I’m just that desperate. Usually, it would embarrass me to be this out of control, but I’m far beyond that. She trails me to my office, where I drop into my chair, stoop over my legs—the pencil skirt doesn’t let me get far—and try to regulate my breathing on my own so I don’t have to resort to the tuna fish bag.

The fear of tuna stench is enough to set me straight, it seems, and I sit up in my chair.

Hilde is, understandably, staring at me.

“You said you were going to Tea of Fortune, huh?” she says. “Did you go for Dottie’s cleansing line? I’ve heard it has a powerful kick.”

She should be annoyed with me, maybe even angry—after all, no attorney should fall apart under pressure, or under the influence of Dottie’s strange red sandwiches—but it didn’t take me long to learn Hilde isn’t anything like the other bosses I’ve had. She gives her staff Christmas trees and incense, and just yesterday, she sent out an email about setting up an office Secret Santa. (Not that I believe in Santa, of course, she added in a postscript,nor do I condone honoring one tradition over another, but itisa bit of fun.)It felt weird at first, working for anattorney who was so warm, exactly the kind of person who Glenn would deride as (a) “not professional” and (b) eccentric.

But oddly, that’s why I like her.

“Something like that,” I mutter, still feeling my heart racing in my chest. Then, gathering myself, I say, “Hilde, I need to do some research on a personal matter. I should probably take the rest of the afternoon off.”

We have an understanding that I leave early on Mondays to bring Aidan to occupational therapy, and also that I sometimes have to pick him up from school early after a particularly bad meltdown. Or that one time he kept poking the kid in front of him with his pencil. This is not one of those occasions, so it feels wrong to ask, but…

“Of course,” she says. “I was going to recommend it, actually. My neighbor had one of those cleansing platters at Tea of Fortune, and she didn’t leave the bathroom for the rest of the day.”

Goodness.

She waves a hand. “As long as you’re ready for court tomorrow, you have my blessing to do whatever needs to be done. Stay here, if you’d like. I know it’s closer to the school. We have two bathrooms, so it’s no trouble at all.”

My face flushes again. Really, if I stay in Asheville, I’ll never need to buy another compact of blush.

“I’m not feeling…I won’t.” I clear my throat and sit up straighter. “Thank you, Hilde. Yes, I’m ready for court tomorrow.” It’s the kind of case that would make Maisie’sandMolly’s eyes glaze over, because it doesn’t involve stolen cars or anything, well, exciting, but the company we’re representing in court tomorrow was badly mistreated by the other party, and I’ve enjoyed gathering the details to build our case.

“That’s the spirit,” Hilde says with a smile. Her gaze drops to my naked tree, but if she’s disappointed by my lack ofholiday spirit, she doesn’t say so. She settles for, “Remember, this judge collects everyone’s cell phones before court. She’sverystrict about that. One time, your predecessor snuck in the smallest cell phone I’ve ever seen in her bra, and two minutes in, it started playing ‘Shake It Off.’ The judge fined her twice—once for breaking the rules and again for her choice of song. So remember, no Taylor Swift.” She winks and steps out.

---