AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He closed out the app on his iPad. It wasn’t until he dropped the stylus to the ground that he noticed how badly his hands were shaking. Something felt off. But he had eaten very little today. Or even yesterday. When he thought about what he’d said to Josie and the hurt in her eyes when he’d blurted out the words—well, food was the last thing he wanted.
“You needed to see me, sir?” he said from the threshold of his boss’s office.
“Yes. Please. Come have a seat.” His body looked stiff, the hard lines of his face more pronounced than usual. Kevin knew right away—this would not be one of thosewe’re so lucky to have you working for usconversations. He’d watched Kevin chase Josie into the parking lot the other night. It was a small town; he probably knew he’d broken company policy by now.
“Sir, I—”
Mr. Stevenson held up a hand to silence him. “I’ll start this. I’d like to know your intentions with Josie Ward.”
Kevin blinked rapidly. “I, uh… you know Josie?”
“Yep,” he responded, popping the last sound. “Her father is my best friend, and she’s the closest thing I’ve ever had to a daughter. Here’s a quick lesson about small towns, son: if people aren’t related to someone, chances are good they at least know the person… and the things that person has done.” He twisted his lips, and Kevin’s stomach fell to the floor.
“Sir, I was dating Josie. I didn’t want to. That’s not true. I did—but I kept her at arm’s length. I was respectful of both her and your rules here at the company. And when I realized I’d like to date her for real, I tried to tell you the truth, but you were out of the office, and—”
“Oh, I know all of that. I’ve known about you two since the night you two cut down that Christmas tree.”
Kevin rubbed the back of his neck. “We weren’t together then.”
“Bull. When Josie stopped by her dad’s house the next night, I was there having a beer with the colonel. She couldn’t stop talking about you—only I didn’t know it was you until a couple of days after.”
“Why didn’t you fire me then? Or at least reprimand me? I broke company policy.”
Mr. Stevenson blew out a long breath. “Have you ever lost someone close?”
That was… not what he expected him to reply. “I, uh, lost my mother,” he answered, speaking to the air rather than making eye contact. “But we weren’t very close.”
His boss looked down at his desk, hesitating for a moment. “We lost both of the Ward girls the night of the accident. Courtney and Josie were best friends, inseparable. And after the accident, Josie didn’t know what to do with herself.” His voice shook, and he cleared his throat. “They say grief comes in waves, and I’d mostly agree. But with Josie—grief swept her away like a tsunami, and we weren’t sure we’d ever see her again. And just when we thought she was coming around, that Scott—what he did to her,” he grumbled something under his breath, a cross between muddled-up curses and a growl. “To take someone who was suffering and then use her father’s success for personal gain? Well, it doesn’t get any shadier than that, if you ask me.”
Kevin’s head reared back. “What? What did he do?” Josie had said very little about him, but Kevin hadn’t heard a single thing he liked.
Mr. Stevenson sighed deeply, and the color drained from his face. “You didn’t know.” It was a statement, not a question. “Now I’ve really stepped in it, haven’t I? I tend to over-share from time to time.”
Kevin thought about the “nudies” conversation they had in this very same office.Yeah, that checked out.
“Well, in for a penny, right? Scott and Josie dated off and on for a while. Let’s just say we all enjoyed the ‘off’ parts more than the ‘on,’ but it was Josie’s life, so we butted out. When her father’s book came out, Scott turned it ‘on’ in a big way, promising a commitment that he eventually delivered on with a big ol’ ring when the book hit the national bestseller list. The smarmy idiot broke off the engagement about six months after Courtney passed. Said Josie wasn’t fun anymore, was too much work for what he was getting out of the relationship, and he finally admitted that marrying the daughter of a bestselling author and war hero was a political move. A very good one. But not one worth ‘sticking it out’ with Josie.”
Kevin ground his molars so hard, he feared he’d worn them down to nubs. Heat spread through his body, and he loosened his collar. “No,” he whispered. “He didn’t.”
“He did.”
Kevin’s knuckles cracked as he made fists at his side. “She never told me. Why didn’t she tell me?”
The older gentleman shrugged. “Why do people keep a lot of things to themselves? Sometimes they don’t like the way it sounds when they say it out loud. No one wants to admit ‘my fiancé was using me’ or ‘the golden child of the city lied to me.’”
I have dyslexia.
I’m an orphan.
Yeah. Kevin knew what it felt like to keep things to himself. And then the truth hit him like a runaway train—he’d lied to her just like her ex. She thought he’d been using her to advance his career. So much of what she’d said that night in the parking lot made sense now, and his head pounded with the realization. He wasn’t like her ex, but when he looked at the situation through her eyes, well, it sure looked like they were cut from the same cloth.
“Look, I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you, but your job is safe here. The contract with the resort doesn’t start until January first, and you two were dating before then.”
“Were, sir. Were.”
“Will be. I have faith in you two. If you could take someone like our Josie and bring her back to life—well, I just have to believe, son.Youhave to believe it’ll all work out. You’ve gotta put all your cards on the table.”
Kevin shifted in the seat, the feel of his wallet in his back pocket suddenly making him uncomfortable. When he pulled it out, he knew what he had to do. He had one card left in his stack, and it was finally time to show his hand—and hopefully win back Jojo’s heart.
