still reside in Holiday Springs?”
She laughs. “She sure does. She came back from college and never left. Actually, she owns a business here in town.” Something flashes in her eyes, getting me curious.
“I don’t enjoy town gossip one bit. However, I’m invested. Who is this tart?”
“I’d advise you to reserve judgment and stop the name-calling.”
“Never, in fact, I think we should go throw rotten tomatoes at her windows tomorrow night.”
“Well, that will be all you. I’m going to stay out of it.” She turns around and lifts a bottle of water from the side table, taking a deep sip.
“I see, well, give me the location at least.”
Turning back to me, she now looks like she may fall over in a fit of laughter. “You want the name of the store?”
“Yes, as a matter-of-fact, I would.”
“Okay, but don’t you dare drag me into this. And don’t you dare—”
“Your secrets are safe with me, but I’m going to insist on the location.”
She sighs and shakes her head. “Bookland Bookstore.”
“What?” I gasp, sitting up.
She nods, laughter dancing in her eyes.
“Our Faith is the heartless harlot, the older woman, the one who broke a young dyslexic man’s heart?!”
She nods again.
“Faith. Hope’s Faith. Nathaniel’s Faith. She was involved in a scandal?”
Finally, the laughter breaks out from her lips. “You know what they say, don’t you?”
“Apparently not.” I scratch my head in thought.
“Never judge a book by its cover.”
“He what?” Nikki pulls the mascara stick, er, wand, off her eyes.
“He wants me to come to the meeting.”
She shakes her head. “Why? I mean… what?”
“Nikki, I have no idea. I’m guessing it’s out of respect for you.”
She finishes doing whatever she does to her eyelashes before pacing back and forth. “Shep is my friend. This is my meeting, and he invites my freaking boyfriend?” She’s talking under her breath, but it’s directed at me.
“Red, I’m not sure how you’d like me to answer that. However, we’ll be late for your meeting if we don’t leave now. It’s snowing and—”
“It hasn’t snowed since the day we met,” she huffs, taking two white shirts that look exactly the same to my eyes and puts them up against her chest. Facing the mirror, she exhales.
I take a seat on the bed. “Then I take it as a sign this meeting is going to go exactly as it should.”
She turns her head to face me, her bottom lip popping out slightly before she holds up one of the two nearly identical shirts. “I’ll choose this one.” She slips off her soft black sleep shirt and puts on a lacey white bra before putting her arms into the blouse.
By the time we pick up our coffees from the Starbucks drive-thru, her anxiety has lessened.
And when Jenny called, halfway to the office building, telling her how badass she was, and even insisting I play “Eye Of The Tiger” on repeat, I realized how proud I am of Nikki.
She has the ability to push past her natural instinct to be soft, kind, and full of heart and can turn into a badass who will make her mark in her professional life.
I park next to Shep’s blue Ford. “He’s early.”
“I suppose I should be happy he even showed up.” Then she mumbles, “Traitor.”
“Do you need one more listen to four minutes and four seconds of that incredible and uplifting song again?”
“Shush.” She laughs.
I turn to her. “I’m not Survivor, but unlike the band, I’m here for only you. Fuck Shep, fuck Beckett, and fuck whatever they decide. You’ve done the work, and if they don’t see your worth and the fact that you have literally spent the past month looking at every way in which this could work for your boss, who knows damn well you are probably the only human being on the planet to get Shepard Granger at the negotiation table, then he can eat shit. And if Shep doesn’t see that you’re not just doing a job, but looking out for his best interest as well, he can suck shit, too.”
She looks down. “I know he’s going to reject Beckett’s offer.”
“And that’s why you have a second offer prepared, eh?”
She looks back up at me, pleadingly. “But Beckett doesn’t like it.”
I shake my head. “If he didn’t see value in it, he’d have tossed it.”
With a deep inhale, she tells me, “Let’s go.”
Nikki and I get out of the vehicle as Shep steps out of his. He’s got a cap on his head backward. I know he’s not exactly conventional, but he