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“Some of them. Being born into my family took away many of mine.” He didn’t sound particularly bothered by that truth.
But then he’d had an entire lifetime to come to terms with it.
“You can’t change the role you were born into, but I can determine who I am friends with.”
“Can you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Could you really walk away from Nataliya, who is like a sister to you, simply because the friendship isn’t always convenient?” The look he gave her said he doubted it.
“I don’t know.” She had no trouble admitting that. “It’s one of the things I planned to think about while I’m on vacation.”
“One of them?”
She shrugged. “I’m in a life-assessing frame of mind right now, I guess.”
“And what else do you want to assess in your life, besides your role in my family?”
“I’m not sure I want to stay at the magazine.” Like usual, Jenna found it way too easy to talk to Dima.
Like her brother Luke. Only her other feelings toward Dima were anything but familial.
Shock flashed in Dima’s gray gaze. “Why?”
“The industry has changed a lot in the last decade, but especially for print media.” Which was an answer, but not the whole answer.
“Are you saying you’ve been considering this move for a while?”
“Not consciously.” But what had happened with Skylar, and the magazine’s reaction to it, had brought what had been nebulous feelings of discontent into stark relief.
“And subconsciously?” he asked leadingly.
“The magazine is never going to give as much attention to sustainable fashion and all size models as I want it to.”
“Your activism is as important to you as your job?”
“It is,” Jenna admitted, maybe even finally to herself. “I just don’t know if I can make a living doing what I want to do.”
She wasn’t interested in being rich, but Jenna did need to provide for her own basic needs, like food and shelter.
“You were the contributing editor of a very successful adjunct blog before being promoted into your current position.”
“You know a lot about me. Should I be flattered?”
“Do you know any less about me?”
“Maybe not.” Jenna may have asked Nataliya more than her fair share of questions about Dima over the years.
She’d kept track of where he was and how he was doing when he was deployed. She had alerts set up for him too, and they were friends on social media.
“I’m not stalking you.”
“No, you are not. We live in an information age, and keeping up with those nearest to us includes things like search engine alerts.”
“Are you reading my mind?”
“I simply know what I do to keep up with my family, to keep up with you.”
