“Lily is a personal shopper. She gets paid to shop. Can you imagine?”
“I absolutely can’t. Definitely not a job I would want.”
“Then Maya is a travel agent, Chloe owns her own small coffee drive-through kiosk over by base, Amber is a professional gamer, and Emily is a yoga instructor and personal trainer at the Y. She leads a Zomba class and I went once. Only once. Never again. Turns out I have no rhythm and my hips very much lie.”
He laughs. “I promise you baby girl, you very much have a rhythm and your hips are delicious.” I’m glad I’m facing away from him. I can blame the fireplace for the blush creeping across my face. I tilt my head to look up at him. "You'd probably like them. They're nosy and opinionated and they don't take any crap."
"Sounds familiar."
I grin. "I'll take that as a compliment."
"You should." His fingers trace absent patterns on my shoulder. "When this storm clears and we go back to real life, things will be different."
"How?"
"People will talk. About us being snowed in together."
"Let them," I say.
"It could affect how people treat you at work."
I sit up, turning to face him. "Are you having second thoughts?"
"No. But I want you to be prepared. HR will have questions. Some employees might assume things."
"Then we'll handle it." I take his hand. "Together. That's how this works, right?"
His expression softens. "Right."
“And you are the boss. The owner. You can do whatever you want.”
My phone buzzes on the side table. I ignore it.
It buzzes again.
"You can check it," he says, giving me permission.
“I was trying not to be rude, but if you insist.”
“I do. Check your texts. Tell the girls you are alive.”
I do just that, pulling up the group chat.
Madison: It's been 24 hours. I'm staging an intervention. Do I need to send emergency services up? He hasn’t chopped you to bits has he?
Lily: You watch too much true crime, Maddy. Maybe she's just busy
Chloe: VERY busy
Amber: I bet she's found out boss man has a secret soft side
Maya: Or she's living out her own book and forgot about us
Emily: Sending good energy and hoping she's okay!
Me: I'm very okay. Better than okay.
Madison: DETAILS
