Page 74 of Snowed In With the Mountain Man
She’d only just returned to the office when Rose had told her about the upcoming scan and invited her to be part of the gender reveal. How could Dahlia pass that up? So she’d been off only nine days later to be there for her sister and then got stuck for the week. And now she was stuck again.
But neither time had been her fault. She didn’t control the weather!
While typically she could justify her employers’ rudeness, or even reclassify it as urgency or stress, right now she couldn’t help but hear how they must have sounded to JJ. And then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, her mind chose that moment to call up every promotion she’d been passed over for, every proposal she’d put forward that’d been shot down.
The more she stewed, the more unsettled she felt.
“Are you still worrying over your job?” JJ’s voice came from the kitchen area, and when she glanced over, she saw him leaning against the counter.
He was watching her with a quirk to his lips and amusement in his eyes. “I assume it’s work that has you wearing a hole in my floors.”
She stopped pacing, but her nervous energy wasn’t going anywhere. “I know you think I should just quit, but it’s not that simple. You don’t understand.”
She nearly flinched at the sharpness of her voice, but he only shrugged. “Then explain it to me.”
She opened her mouth and then clamped it shut. Where to even begin? “They weren’t always in charge,” she said. “The woman who owns the company—the one who hired me straight out of school—she’s mostly retired now.”
He eyed her evenly, his gaze fixed like she had his full attention.
“But she gave me a chance when I had no skills to speak of.” Her lips curled with a little smile, but she could feel how sad it was. Why was she telling him this stuff? Her voice got small. “I didn’t even have the right degree because we didn’t have the money.”
More like because she’d earmarked the money for Rose’s education. But that wasn’t what mattered.
“I owe that company a lot.”
“The company, huh?” He tilted his head to the side. “And does this company show you the same loyalty?”
“Yes,” she said quickly. Maybe too quickly. “It’s been steady work. It’s been reliable and… and…”
And how did she explain how much that meant to her? How did she tell someone who didn’t know her life that when she’d first graduated high school, there’d been nothing she’d wanted more than steady and safe?
And this company was that. She winced as she recalled how much she’d been worrying about losing her job lately.
Okay, fine. Ithad beenthat.
“You know,” JJ said finally, “no one can fault you for being loyal. Definitely not me. I guess I just wonder if you’re giving your loyalty to people who deserve it.”
She stared at him for a long moment. Part of her wanted to be annoyed. Irritation would be a welcome relief right now. Because what she felt when she looked in his eyes… when she heard what he was saying and how reasonable he sounded…
She glanced away, swallowing hard.
Well, it wasn’t annoyance she felt. But that would definitely be preferable.
Her gaze fell on the bed again before she turned away, trying to find something—anything—to take her mind off this conversation.
Her gaze fell on the window where the snow fell in heavy clumps. A smile tugged at her lips at a memory of Rose as a child. She was standing out in the snow, her tongue catching flakes while she giggled.
“Do you think Rose is all right?” Her voice caught on the question, and she couldn’t even explain why.
“I’m sure she’s fine.” JJ’s even tone left no room for doubt.
“But if she’s caught in—”
“Dahlia,” he interrupted gently. When she turned to meet his gaze, he smiled. “Rose has plenty of people looking after her. Between her sister and Nash and Kit, not to mention Dex…” He took a step toward her and lowered his voice. “You don’t need to be her mother anymore.”
Her lips parted, and a sound escaped that was horrifyingly close to a sob.
No one had ever said it like that. She blinked rapidly and turned away. After a long silence, she heard him moving around behind her as she went back to pacing. From the window to the fireplace and back, over and over as her mind dwelled on what she’d do or say when she got back to the office.
