knew someone who knew someone and so on. “I’m sorry that it happened, but it wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t Dallas’s, either. The guy I was dancing with was drunk, and he was saying some very inappropriate things to me.”
“Because of that sex video that was posted online right after Thanksgiving.”
Emery’s heart sank. The fight had brought the scandal to Susan’s attention. Was she about to be fired from another job? “Yes. But that wasn’t my fault, either. My ex-boyfriend posted that video to embarrass and humiliate me.”
Susan’s lip curled in disgust. “What a terrible betrayal of your trust.”
Emery blinked in surprise. “What?”
“I spoke with Aiyana about it this morning. I can’t believe you were fired from your job—a job you loved—and yet he’s still working at the station.”
“It’s enraging,” Emery admitted, but she still wasn’t sure she was safe. Susan didn’t strike her as a particularly broad-minded person.
“It’s too bad he did what he did, especially right before the holidays,” she said. “What a way to ruin Christmas. But I’m glad you had the courage to apply here, even though it puts you in contact with the public. That couldn’t have been easy.”
Emery’s mouth fell open before she had the presence of mind to close it. “You don’t think I’m a terrible person? You’re not afraid there will be people who’ll criticize you for hiring me?” She didn’t dare add that some of those people might go so far as to quit patronizing the shop.
“No. If I’ve learned anything after what I’ve been through in my life, it’s that it’s not up to me to judge.” She smiled. “If anyone gives you any trouble while you’re here at work, be sure to let me know and I’ll take care of it.”
Although she didn’t plan on involving Susan, she was grateful for the offer. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now I’m going to bake a fresh batch of chocolate chunk cookies—we’re running low—while you watch the front, okay?”
“Okay,” she said, but before Susan could disappear into the back, Emery called her name.
Her employer turned.
“Thank you. I can’t tell you how much...how much your support helps right now.”
She nodded. “No problem. Next time you see Tobias, tell him he has taught me something,” she added with a wry grin.
“I’m not sure what that means,” Emery admitted.
“It means everyone makes mistakes.”
That didn’t explain what had gone on between her and Tobias, but when Susan went to do her baking, Emery knew it was all she planned to say on the matter.
* * *
“You’re in a good mood.”
Aiyana focused on Cal, who was dusting off his hands after rearranging lawn furniture. “I am?”
“You were smiling a second ago, while staring off into space,” he said.
“Oh.” She laughed as she watched Dallas, Bentley and Liam set up an outdoor bar under the shelter of an open-air barn. “I was thinking about this morning.”
Cal, his silver hair combed off a face weathered from the many years he’d worked outside, squinted at her. “Something happen that I’m not aware of?”
Once again, she recalled the many covert glances she’d noticed between Dallas and Emery this morning at breakfast, the way Dallas seemed to mark wherever Emery was at in a room and how quickly he’d come to her defense at the bar last night. He liked her; Aiyana could tell. “It’s Dallas.”
“What about him? Don’t tell me you’ve finally convinced him to give up climbing without safety gear.”
“Sadly, no. He’s as stubborn as they come. As stubborn as you are,” she joked. “But I’m hoping he’ll take more care if he finds someone he loves so much he can’t bear the thought of not being with her.”
“Like I have?”
She cupped his cheek. “Yes.”
A twinkle entered his blue eyes. “Who might that be?”
Emery had been there earlier, helping right along with the boys, until she’d had to leave for work. “My houseguest, of course.”
“I thought that might be the case. Anytime she started to lift something, if it was heavy, he hurried over to do it for her.”
“He’s definitely watching out for her,” Aiyana agreed.
Cal folded his arms across his button-down work shirt and plaid wool overshirt. “I can see why he might like Emery. She’s smart, she’s nice and she’s beautiful. Not quite as smart or nice or beautiful as you, but...close,” he added with a wink.
She took the gnarled hand she’d come to know so well and studied the veins tunneling under the sun-spotted skin, the thick calluses on his palms, the heavy silver and turquoise ring he