Page 35 of Frostbite & Mistletoe
“Kymberlie?” Gabriel’s voice came from behind her.
She lowered the phone slowly, unable to turn and face him. The weight of failure squeezed her chest, making it hard to breathe.
Thanks to their shifter-enhanced senses, he and Tyler had overheard Melissa’s end of the conversation.
“Damn,” Tyler said.“That’s rough timing.”
Kymberlie laughed, a hollow sound with no humor in it.“Yeah.”
She felt Gabriel move closer.“The bride’s deposit should cover you for a while, right? At least until you can book another event.”
“January is always a dead month. Everyone’s all partied out after the holidays,” Kymberlie replied, still not looking at him.“I really needed to make a profit in December to cover me until Valentine’s Day.”
Tyler’s hazel eyes were filled with a mixture of concern and something else. Something that looked dangerously like pity.“Hey, Kymber, we’ll figure something out. You can ask the pack to—”
“No!” The word came out sharper than she intended, her pride flaring up like a wounded animal.“I don’t need them to rub my nose in my failure.”
“Kymberlie—” Gabriel said.
She finally looked up. He, too, wore a rage-inducing expression of sympathy mixed with pity.
“I-I need some time to think.” She backed away.“Lock up when you leave, would you, Tyler?”
Gabriel reached for her arm.“Kymber, don’t shut me out. Let me help.”
She jerked away, unable to bear his pity when she felt so raw.“I don’t need your help or your pity,” she snapped.“I’ve handled worse on my own.”
The hurt that flashed across his face sent a pang of regret through her, but she was already on her way out of the kitchen, heading for the front door with long strides and as much dignity as she could muster.
Her wolf howled in protest, wanting to turn back, to accept the comfort Gabriel offered.
But Kymberlie pushed forward, emerging into the swirling snow.
She climbed into her truck, then sat for a long moment, trying to get a grip on her emotions before she started bawling.
All those years of working seven days a week, all the sacrifices she’d made, all the times she’d insisted to her family and her pack that she knew what she was doing—and now, they were all going to see her lose everything.
The thought of their faces when they heard the news made her stomach turn. Bearpaw Ridge was a small, tight-knit community. She figured everyone would hear what had happened by lunchtime tomorrow.
∞∞∞
The drive home passed in a blur. By the time she reached her small house on the edge of town, the sun was setting, casting long shadows across her snow-covered lawn.
Inside, she didn’t bother turning on the lights. What was the point? In the gathering darkness, she trudged to her sofa and sank down.
Outside her window, snow continued to fall in thick, silent flakes, adding another blanket of isolation between her and the world. She ignored the calls and texts that lit up her phone.
She turned on the TV and watched a cooking show. After a few episodes, she realized it was dinnertime. And she had an untouched pan of lasagna and a bowl of salad in the fridge.
But she wasn’t hungry. In fact, the thought of food made her stomach heave.
Despite her attempts to distract herself with TV, the reality of her situation wouldn’t stop unfolding in her mind. The large beer, wine, and spirits order she’d placed for the wedding reception, that she’d already paid for. Another couple of thousand dollars for the large order of unreturnable appetizers, steaks, and side dishes currently sitting over at Justin Long’s Wildcat Springs Restaurant, in the walk-in cooler space he’d kindly loaned her. The mortgage payments on her house. The loan payments on her truck. And worst of all, the commercial loan on The Hair of the Dog itself.
She saw her future unfolding in slow motion, like a car hitting a patch of black ice and spinning out of control. Five years of backbreaking work, of proving herself, of building something from nothing—all of it about to collapse like a house of cards.
Her wolf whined again. Wolves and their wolf shifter counterparts weren’t meant to be alone in a crisis. Her beast-half urged her to seek the comfort and protection of her pack. To run to her alphas, to her family, to let them surround her with their strength when her own had failed.
To ask her pack for help.
