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“I’m hard to get to know outside of the office,” Miranda acknowledged, realizing she had a true friend in Mary and not only a nine-to-five buddy as she’d thought. “And all this time I’ve been drinking alone,” Miranda teased, needing some levity before the conversation made her cry.
But Mary saw through her attempt and said, “You have a lot of people who care about you, probably more than you know. You are a very cool person, just a little troubled from everything that’s happened in your life. But you’re also the strongest person I know. Honestly, when I was going through my divorce and I thought I couldn’t handle one more thing being thrown at me, I thought of you.”
“Me?” Miranda repeated, bewildered. “Why?”
“Because you’re so strong,” Mary answered. “I thought of everything you’ve been through, from your sister’s death, the job, your family and you being a single mother, and I knew that if you could do it, I could do it. You gave me hope and you inspired me to be stronger, not only for my sake but for my daughter’s sake. And so I feel I owe you a debt, and if there’s any way that I can help you find happiness in your life, I want to do that.” Mary smiled and added, “And I’m not just saying this because I know my brother has a terrible crush on you. I’m saying it because I mean it.”
Miranda’s eyes watered, and she felt overwhelmed. “I don’t know what to say.”
Mary smiled brightly. “That’s easy. Say that you’ll apply for this job.”
Miranda wiped at her tears and laughed. “Okay. I will. But you’d better be on hand with tequila poppers when I get denied because Stuart hates me.”
“If that happens, and I say if in a big way, I will pay for all your drinks at The Rusty Anchor. But I have a feeling that even Stuart won’t be able to say no because you’re perfect for the job and he knows it.”
Miranda laughed. Wouldn’t that be crazy? Mary’s belief in her buoyed her optimism. For the first time in a long time she dreamed of something bigger than the satellite office could provide. The opportunity to make a difference in something she was truly passionate about was enough to give her goose bumps. Mary was right; she’d been allowing fear of failure to keep her pigeonholed in one spot. She didn’t know what she was going to do about Jeremiah but she could do something about her career. And perhaps her first step should be to pay a visit to Stuart and clear the air. If she didn’t at least do everything in her power to create a path to success, she wouldn’t be able to sleep at night, because she would always wonder. Her mouth curved in a tremulous smile. “When does the application period start?”
Mary’s smile lit up her eyes. “This Friday.”
Perfect. She had time to brush up her résumé and put together a plan. It also gave her time to figure things out with Jeremiah. “Thank you, Mary. I never realized the swift kick in the ass that I needed would come from you.”
Mary grinned, openly delighted. “Happy to help. Now, when would you like to start processing the permits for moose season? I have three stacks that just came in this morning.”
Miranda moaned and grimaced at the idea of sifting through hundreds of permits, then sighed. “Give me a minute to come off of cloud nine and we can start in thirty.”
“Sounds good.”
Mary left the office and Miranda couldn’t help the smile that kept creeping up on her. The idea of actually having some kind of power to make a difference was enough to keep her grinning for days and temporarily blotted out the other stuff in her life that was tumbling down around her ears.
And for the moment, she was happy to focus on something positive for once instead of dwelling on all the things that were going wrong. Mary was right; time for change.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
STUART OLLY FLEXED his fingers and struggled to control his temper. He’d warned Jeremiah about Miranda but the vixen had somehow gotten her claws into him. This was trouble. Oh, this was bad. Not only for Jeremiah’s career but for the whole agency. He couldn’t have a blemish like this staining their reputation in the media. He wanted to fire Miranda but he couldn’t. Technically, if anyone was going to be fired it had to be Jeremiah because he was in a position of power over Miranda. Ostensibly, Miranda might’ve been coerced. Yeah, right. Miranda was a piranha, and if anyone had been coerced it was probably Jeremiah, the poor man.
He still remembered his son Isaac’s crestfallen expression after Miranda had discarded him like yesterday’s trash. The woman was a moral scourge and had been a pain in his side since the day they met. She was all the things he couldn’t stand in a woman: outspoken, brash, with balls big enough to rival a man’s. He wouldn’t go so far as to say women belonged in the kitchen but he certainly believed that when the gender roles were all twisted up and confused, it complicated relations. Yes, he was all about gender equality in public but privately...he wished things were just a little bit more clearly defined.
