Page 92 of Knot Your Karma
My heart breaks and soars simultaneously, tears spilling down my cheeks as I process thirty years of lost love finally being acknowledged. “Mom, he wants to see you again. He didn’t ask directly, but the hope in his voice when he talked about you...”
“Tell me about this compass situation, sweetheart. How did you get mixed up with Sterling’s business?”
I tell her everything. The theft, the guilt, the pack, the investigation, tonight’s revelation. She listens without judgment, making soft sounds of understanding while my pack’s presence anchors me through the difficult parts.
“And he offered you a job,” she says when I finish, her voice steadier now but still thick with emotion.
“Not just any job, Mom.Thejob. Head assessor for one of the most comprehensive maritime collections on the East Coast. Museums, auction houses, private collectors. It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of professionally, and probably pays more than I make in three years at the shop.”
“But?” Mom prompts, hearing the uncertainty threading through my excitement like she’s got some kind of maternal radar.
“But it’s in Boston! It means leaving Anchor’s Rest, leaving my shop, leaving everything I’ve built from scratch. And what if I’m not actually good enough? What if I completely fail and embarrass myself in front of the entiremaritime antique community? What if he only offered it because of you and I’m some kind of nepotism hire?”
“Karma Rose,” Mom says firmly, using that maternal voice that used to make me stand up straighter as a child. “Listen to me very carefully, because I’m only going to say this once. Sterling Ashworth is brilliant, successful, and absolutely ruthless about business. He wouldn’t risk his professional reputation on nepotism, not even for me. If he offered you that position, it’s because you’ve earned every bit of it.”
“You really think so? Because I’m kind of spiraling here and my pack is being very patient about it but I can tell they’re worried I’m going to hyperventilate.”
“I know so, honey. Sterling could always spot talent before people saw it in themselves. Even in high school, he had this gift for seeing potential that others missed.” She pauses, and I hear her taking a steadying breath. “If he sees something special in you, trust me, it’s real. What does your pack think about all this?”
I look at my three men, all watching me with expressions of love and support that make my chest feel too small for all the emotion building there. My scent must be doing something because all three of them suddenly look like they’re trying not to smile, which probably means I smell like excited omega instead of panicked disaster.
“They want me to take it,” I say, voice catching with gratitude that threatens to make me cry again. “They’re ready to support whatever I decide, which is either really sweet or completely insane because we’re talking about uprooting their entire lives.”
“Sounds like smart men to me. How do you feel? Underneath all the panic and self-doubt?”
I close my eyes, reaching past the anxiety to find the truth beneath all the complicated emotions. When I stop freaking out long enough to actually think about it, underneath all the panic is... “Excited,” I admit, which surprises me because Iwas expecting more terror. “Like, terrified but excited. Like maybe this is what I’ve been working toward my whole life without knowing it.”
“Then you have your answer, sweetheart.”
“What about you and Sterling? What should I tell him when I see him again?”
Mom’s laugh is watery but genuine, carrying decades of suppressed hope finally allowed to surface. “Tell him that Lilli Rose would very much like to have coffee with an old friend. Tell him that thirty years is long enough to carry regrets around, and maybe it’s time to see if some things are worth a second chance.”
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too, honey. Now go accept that job before you talk yourself out of the opportunity of a lifetime.”
I hang up and immediately turn to face my pack. Something bright builds in my chest as I bounce slightly on the couch cushions, unable to stay still. Reed catches my hand, grinning at my barely contained excitement.
“She still loves him!” I announce, practically bouncing on the couch cushions like an overexcited teenager. “After thirty years, a bonding, and enough heartbreak to fill seventeen romance novels, she still loves Sterling Ashworth and wants to have coffee with him.”
“And the job?” Adrian asks quietly.
“She thinks I should take it. Says Sterling wouldn’t offer it unless I’d earned it, which coming from someone who knew him in high school carries some serious credibility.” I stand up, electricity shooting through my limbs like I might burst if I stay still for another second. “I want to take it. Not because it’s safe or because it solves my money problems, but because it’s everything I’ve ever wanted professionally and I’m tired of being scared of good things happening to me.”
“So take it,” Reed says, like major life decisions are just that easy when you have people who believe in you.
“But what about logistics? I’d be based in Boston, traveling for assessments, working with collections all over the country.” I stop pacing to stare at them, panic creeping back into my voice. “How does that work with... with us? With pack? I can’t ask you to completely uproot your lives for my career advancement.”
“We go where you go,” Declan says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world and I’m silly for even worrying about it. “Pack means we figure it out together.”
“But your jobs! Your entire lives are here! Reed, your diplomatic work, Adrian, your construction projects, Declan, your business?—”
“Our lives are with you,” Adrian says firmly, standing to face me with that quiet intensity that makes my omega hindbrain sit up and purr. “Everything else is just details we can work out.”
“You’d really do that? Completely uproot everything for my career?”
“We’d do it for the pack,” Reed corrects, standing as well so I’m surrounded by their combined presence and the scent of absolute certainty. “For our chosen family. For the woman we love who finally gets to show the world what we already know—that you’re brilliant at what you do.”
