“Thanks, Bev,” Mattie said.
“Can I steal you two for a minute?” she asked, looking at Giles and Mattie. “That new shipment of glassware came in,and I swear it’s the wrong color. I don’t want the delivery guys to leave until we can confirm it.”
“Oh, crap. They already messed it up once,” Mattie said, getting up. “I can pull up the invoice.”
Giles scooted his chair out and followed her. “We’ll be a few minutes,” he said. “Feel free to order whatever and don’t wait on us.”
Frankie sighed audibly once we were alone, which, for some reason, tickled me even more.
“Not happy with my company?” I asked.
She eyed me. “You’re fine.” She spread some cheese onto a cracker and stuck it in her mouth. Crumbs coated her lips and she daintily wiped them away with her napkin.
“Then what?” I propped an elbow on the table, letting my chin rest in my hand as I stared at her. “Afraid to be left alone with me? Better watch the wine or you might end up making out with me again.”
“I’m having a shit week.” She pointed the butter knife at me. “And that kiss was just as much you as it was me. And for your information, I’ve already had my one and only glass of wine for the night. I have a lot of stuff to do when I get back.”
“Like what?” I pressed.
“Like apply to hundreds more jobs and watch as control of my life slowly slips through my fingertips.” She frowned and stuffed another piece of cheese into her mouth.
Her dramatics made me chuckle, but when she scowled at me, I cleared my throat. “You’ll find something,” I said, hoping I sounded upbeat and optimistic.
“I appreciate the vote of confidence from the man who moved to a ski town late-season to work part time giving lessons,” she said. Again, I should be insulted, but her playful tone only begged me to exchange more barbs with her.
“Hey, you snob,” I responded, knocking her knee withmine underneath the table. “I’ll have you know, lessons are very lucrative.”
“Is that right?” she asked in mock disbelief.
My grin spread ear to ear. She was impossible. I liked the way her eyes glimmered when we were sparring like this. She seemed so uptight on the outside, yet something about her made me feel like she didn’t take herself too seriously. She was a riddle I hadn’t quite figured out.
“Tell me,” I continued. “Why was your week so bad aside from the obvious?”
She sighed, slumping her shoulders. “The obvious obviously being me losing my job.”
“Obviously.”
She smiled at that. “Well, let’s see.” She held a finger up. “To start, I haven’t found a single job listing that I’m actually interested in.”
My brow furrowed. “I thought you said you had dozens to apply to.”
“I do.”
I searched her face. The chatter in the restaurant had grown louder as the bar quickly became standing room only, but I found myself only focused on Frankie. “I don’t get it,” I finally said.
She sighed. “I need a job, Oliver. What’s there to understand? It’d be nice if it was at a company I was interested in with a job description I found compelling, but that’s not how the world works. I’ll apply to everything, and I’ll take whatever I can get.”
I winced. “That sounds absolutely brutal. I could never do that.” I couldn’t relate to anything less. I’d gone out of my way to make sure every job I’d done in my adult life had been something I was passionate about.
“Some of us don’t have a choice,” she said, her tone moredefeated than it was a second ago. The teasing had been sucked away and replaced with some level of despair. Was that my doing?
“I didn’t mean to bum you out.” I stared at her, willing her to look back up at me.
“It’s not you,” she said in a tone that didn’t convince me at all. She glanced at me and then back down at the table. “Like I said, I’m just having a hard time.”
I paused, taking her in. “And being in a place as beautiful as this doesn’t help?” I pointed outside the window, where the snow glowed underneath the moonlight. It was only 5:30, but it was completely dark. I loved that about the winter—the evening sky overtaking everything so early. There was something magical about a winter night.
“It’s hard to focus on anything except what a failure I am, if I’m being honest,” she muttered, refusing to make eye contact with me.
