Page 48 of Christmas with Her Millionaire Boss

Noelle took a seat between two bulky customers, both of whom glared at her desire for space. “Sorry,” she heard herself murmur again.

“Coffee?” the waitress asked.

Not really, but Noelle was too shy to ask for anything else. “Yes, please,” she replied.

The waitress slapped down a mug and a bowl of plastic creamers. Noelle shivered and wrapped her hands around the cup. Everything was so cold all of a sudden. Cold and angry. This was nothing like the New York James had shown her. But then, he’d gone out of his way to show her only the magical parts. What she was seeing now was the other New York, the part that dwelt beneath the twinkling lights and Christmas trees.

The realistic part, James would say. She’d been trying to keep this part of the world at bay since foster care.

What if falling in love with James was like that?

Sure, everything seemed wonderful now, but what if being with him was like New York and what looked beautiful at the beginning turned out to be filled with garish lights and cold, burnt coffee? It had happened before with Kevin. Hadn’t she convinced herself he was the love of her life? What if she woke up one morning and discovered she’d made another mistake? Where would she be then? Who would she be then? She wouldn’t be a Fryberg, not after betraying Kevin’s memory, and they were the only family she’d ever had.

She’d be alone again. Back to the days when she was an outsider at the dinner table. Present but not truly belonging.

Manger Baby.

Suddenly, she felt very small and alone. Add in a few schoolyard taunts and she’d be ten years old again. Lost and longing for a family to call her own.

“You want anything else?” a voice asked.

Noelle looked up to find the waitress looking in her direction. Yeah, she thought, I could use a hug. “No, thanks. I’m good.”

If she were home, Belinda would hug her. Like her son, she hugged fiercely. When a Fryberg encircled you in their arms, nothing in the world could harm you.

You come visit us anytime you want, Noelle. Any friend of Kevin’s is a friend of ours.

Tears sprang to her eyes as Noelle remembered that wonderful first afternoon at Kevin’s house. Had Mr. Lowestein known what he was giving her when he assigned Kevin as her lab partner? One step over the threshold and she had the family she’d always wanted.

And now, Kevin and Ned were dead. Belinda was moving. The store had changed hands. Everything she cared about and deemed important was slipping out of her fingers. If she lost Belinda’s love along with everything else...

She couldn’t lose it. She couldn’t go back to being alone. She needed...

Needed...

“I need to go home.”

Her announcement fell on deaf ears, but it didn’t matter. Noelle knew what she had to do. With any luck, James would understand.

Slapping a five-dollar bill on the counter, she headed outside.

* * *

James woke up to the sound of his cell phone buzzing. At first he tried ignoring the noise by putting the pillow over his head, but no sooner did the call stop, than the phone started buzzing again.

“Whoever it is, they’re fired,” he groaned. Leaning over the side of the bed, he groped along the floor until he found his jacket and dug the phone from the breast pocket. The name on the call screen made his shoulders stiffen.

“It’s the crack of dawn,” he said. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s early afternoon here,” his father replied. “You’re usually up this hour.”

“I slept in.” Sort of. Raising himself on his elbows, he looked to the other side of the bed, only to frown at the empty sheets. Noelle must have slipped into the bathroom. “Is everything all right?” he asked. “You don’t usually call on Sunday mornings.”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that question?” Jackson said in return. “Carli said there was an...” He cleared his throat. “An issue at the Fryberg store the other day.”

How like Jackson to call his being struck in the head an “issue.” “I had a minor accident is all,” he said.

“So everything is all right there?”

“Everything is fine.” He told his father he had the Fryberg deal under control. A bump on the head wouldn’t change anything.

Jackson cleared his throat again. “I’m glad to hear it. Carli didn’t have too many details so I wanted to make certain myself. When I had trouble connecting with you, I thought perhaps there had been a problem.”

“No,” James said. “No problems. I’ve just been very busy here, and with the time change and all...”

“Right. Right. I’m glad...things...are going smoothly.” There was a pause on the other end of the line, like his father was reading something. Multitasking and distraction were par for the course with Jackson. “When do you think you’ll be back in Boston?”

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