story, let alone hire me.” He bent forward to put his shoulder at Amelia’s waist, and then hefted her over his shoulder. “No big deal. As long as you think I’m a hero, I’m golden.”
What’s more, Alex meant it.
Yeah, his prospects of lining up another hotel manager job were slim. No, he had no freaking idea what else to do with his life. But it had been him and Amelia against the world for years now. The three people kicking at the sidewalk snow with him were all that mattered. As long as he had them, Alex would be fine.
Sure, the Orion had given him a place to live as a sweet manager perk, which meant he was now sleeping in Amelia’s spare room. No job, no home…but he’d make sure his sister still had a magical Christmas Eve.
After Amelia squealed, laughed and kicked while he spun her around twice in yet another tradition performed every time it snowed, he set her back down. And hoped the break was enough to shift the focus off of him.
But her laughter cut off abruptly. This time she was the one who turned away to stare at a window display of nutcrackers, oversized mice and overflowing bowls of walnuts covered in red glitter. “If it makes you feel better, you’re not the only one with bleak holiday tidings. I’m losing my job as of the first of the year. Home Warehouse is closing twenty stores, and mine is one of ’em.”
“Oh, nooooo,” wailed Everleigh. “Amelia, that’s terrible.” She threw her arms around Amelia. Her heavy dark hair swirled around them both like an actual cloak of sadness as they rocked back and forth.
Yeah, Ever could always be counted on to bring the drama. For good and for bad. But this time Alex agreed with her reaction. Amelia loved Christmas time. She was one of the nuts who started watching holiday movies by Halloween. Losing her job was bad enough. Finding out today would ruin her holiday.
It’d been a lot easier to protect his little sister before she grew up.
“I heard you hated that job?” Teague said, lifting one eyebrow. “I mean, I’m bunking on your couch. Thanks for that, by the way. Christmas is a crap time to job and apartment hunt. So I don’t eavesdrop, but I heard you venting to Alex every night this week.”
“I don’t have any secrets from you.” Amelia beamed at him from over Everleigh’s shoulder. “You’re practically my brother! And I do hate it. It was supposed to be a stopgap after college until I got a full-time gig doing landscaping. But it’s been three years now.”
“Maybe this is a good thing. Karma kicking you in the ass to find a better job.”
“Hey, you know the rule,” Alex barked sharply. “No mention of my sister’s ass. Or any body parts, come to think of it.”
Amelia disentangled herself from Ever. “Teague, I appreciate a good Karma kick as much as anyone. But I’ve been trying. Doing side-hustle solo projects to build my résumé while applying at every landscaper in town. Alex was going to try and hook me up at the Orion, but I get the feeling they don’t want to do any favors for someone with his last name…”
Hand slapping at his forehead, Alex said, “Shit. I’m sorry, Amelia.”
He’d screwed up. Alex had been ready to be the hero and hand her the job on a silver platter by the new year. But he’d never even asked his boss.
That had slipped his mind what with the police questioning and the firing so that the hotel could have a scapegoat for the disappeared money. Even though they knew full well—because he’d given the confessional letter left on his desk to the police—that Elena Vasquez had stolen the money using his passcode to escape a violent husband who’d been abusing her and her children for years.
She patted him on the arm. “It’s fine, Alex. I don’t want to work for a place that would throw you under the bus like that.”
“If we’re going all in on the pity party tonight, rather than chugging eggnog…um…I got fired today, too,” Everleigh admitted. Her head drooped down, swinging her long black hair to cover her face. If Ever was feeling an emotion, chances were you could peg it by reading the motion of her hair.
“How could Randall fire you?” Amelia pulled Ever closer to the storefront. Then she looked left and right at the deserted sidewalks. “Weren’t you guys…you know…”