Page 34 of Christmas By The Book

She gestured to the pictures on the book covers that were showing, the ones with my face on them. “That life,” she reminded me.

“That life is behind me now,” I told her. “It was fun while it lasted, but it was never what I wanted, not for my whole life, I have other things in mind. Better things. That’s why I came here, because I wanted a fresh start.”

I reached over the counter, planting my hand on hers. “And I think I found it with you, Jorja.”

She gazed up at me, and, for a moment, I could see something in her wavering—something wanting to give in to this connection between us, this feeling that had risen from the first moment we had laid eyes on each other. But then, she drew her hand back.

“You’re not going to want to stay,” she replied. “You’re going to move on. And when you do... when you do, I’m still going to be here, just like I always have been, and nothing is going to change!”

I stared at her in disbelief. How had she managed to convince herself of all of this? It just didn’t make sense to me, none of it did. I felt like we had gone from being exactly where we needed to be, to crashing down and falling apart right in front of my eyes. Was it because I had paid too much attention to other women yesterday? Surely, she understood that I had been doing it for the good of the store. Though, judging by the way she was looking at me right now, I wasn’t certain.

She headed to the back office, where the exit to the store was waiting for her. I followed her.

“Jorja, can we just talk about this?” I replied. She had invented a fiction about me in her head and decided that was how I was going to be, and I wanted at least a chance to disprove her.

“I don’t have anything to talk about with you,” she told me, her voice cracking as she unlocked the door. Outside, the snow had begun to fall heavily, whisking this way and that in cold flashes of wind.

“After everything that’s happened...” I began, but she lifted her hand to stop me in my tracks.

“No, it’s not like that,” she replied. “I know you might be on the cover of all those romance books, but... but that doesn’t mean that the world is going to play by those rules. Real life doesn’t work that way.”

Before I could follow her out into the cold, she rushed off toward her car, leaving me standing in the doorway, too stunned to speak, and desperately trying to wrap my head around what the hell had just happened.

Chapter Twenty

Jorja

THE TEARS NEARLY FROZE on my face as I hurried out into the street. It was so cold, but I hardly noticed, given how emotional I was.

I didn’t know what had just happened. But I knew there was no coming back from it. The way I had just spoken to Seth, there wasn’t a chance in hell he was ever going to want to deal with me again. And I couldn’t blame him. After the way I had just acted, I knew I had well and truly blown up any chance of anything happening between the two of us.

I stuffed my hands into my pockets, but the snow was already biting at my cheeks and lips. My skin was aching beneath the freezing cold, and the thought of walking a few blocks home to get to my place seemed impossible right now.

“Jorja!”

I heard his voice behind me, but I kept my head down and ignored it. I didn’t want to talk to him right now, not after what had just happened. All of this was such a mess. I just wished he would take the money back, so we could be well and truly done with this and I could just move on with my life. But holding on to the cash he had rightfully earned just felt... wrong, in so many ways. I wished there was some way I could go back in time and tell him not to do all of this for me in the first place, but he would never have listened.

No, he was too kind for that. Too kind and too sweet, and I had just blown things up between us by telling him that I didn’t believe in the romance in those books he was on the covers of. What must he have thought of me? I tried to keep pushing forward, but the snow was too heavy. I had seen some nasty blizzards in my time, but this one might have topped them all.

All at once, I felt a pair of arms around me. It was him, holding me close, pulling me against his chest.

“Jorja, you can’t walk home in this, you’ll freeze,” he protested. As much as I wanted to shrug him off and prove him wrong, I knew he was right. I paused for a moment, not saying anything, but then turned to face him.

“Come on, let’s go back to the store,” he told me softly, his arm around my shoulders. In truth, it was the last place I wanted to be right now. But what choice did I have?

He steered me back toward the store, and as soon as we stepped inside, I could feel the prickling of pernio all over my face and hands. I rubbed them together, and headed to the breakroom to make something warm to drink. Well, that, and to give myself some space from that man who sent my head spinning a hundred different directions at once.

As I turned on the coffee machine, I heard a mumbling from the next room, and then, he turned it up, so I could hear the weather report as it played out.

“...experts are advising people to stay indoors as much as possible, and to avoid roads at all costs,” the announcer told the audience. “This is one of the biggest snowstorms to hit the area in several decades, so take all the precautions you can. And have a Merry Christmas!”

I emerged from the breakroom, shoulders hunched up to my ears. As though this couldn’t get any worse. I was locked in here with a guy who probably wanted nothing to do with me, during the storm of the century.

“You’re not going anywhere tonight,” he told me firmly. “Do you have food here?”

“Enough,” I replied, gesturing toward the breakroom. “Maybe I could try heading home in an hour or so, once it’s calmed down a little.”

“Didn’t you hear what they said?” he reminded me, raising his eyebrows. “It’s dangerous to go out right now. If you think I’m going to let you trek in that snow, you’ve got another thing coming.”