AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I had this vision of Josephine as a reindeer-owning recluse, but I was wrong. I'm almost never wrong about people. Am I totally off my game? Has RJ thrown me off my game?
As if the universe wants to re-enforce my idiocy, Josephine waves at a man across the street and shouts to remind him she's hosting poker night at her house this week.
Waving goodbye to her friends, she joins me by the enclosure. I move to get off the stool and give it to her, but she waves me off. She walks over to her truck and pulls a folding chair from the back.
Wordlessly, she unfolds it and sits next to my stool.
"You've got a lot of friends here," I say. "Will it be hard to leave them?"
Her eyebrows pop up as she unwraps her sandwich. "Leave them?" Her expression clears. "Oh. No. I'm not leaving Yuletide. There's an assisted living community in the next county and I can do my work from home. I'll have to sell the farm and move into something smaller, but I'm staying."
"What is your work?"
"In my past life, I was CFO for a major corporation. Maybe you've heard of it? Prior Fashions."
"What?" I hop off the stool, my earlier unhappiness forgotten. "You were CFO for Prior? Did you get to meet the designers? The models? Their boots and dresses are my favorite." I feel a bit swoony. "I love everything they do, actually."
She smiles and takes a bite of her sandwich, letting me fangirl away.
"Wait. Are you going to be working for them again? Do you get a discount? Can you share it with me?"
She shakes her head as she chews, her blue eyes bright. "I'm not going back to Prior. I'm working for an accounting firm in Denver that allows remote work."
"And your parents are cool with moving here?"
She nods. "It took a bit of convincing, but they're ready for a change. When they retired, they moved to Arizona from Seattle for the warm weather, but they don't have a great community there. As much as they don't want to move to a colder climate, they want to be closer to me and they know how happy I've been here. Plus, they came up to visit the assisted living community last fall and fell in love with it."
I can't ever imagine my mother compromising what she wants for my happiness. "You must be really close to them."
"I am. I'm lucky."
"And your siblings? Are they close to your parents?"
Josephine winces as she chews, her expression closing off. I predict she's going to change the subject before she does. "What happened to you after you left to get lunch?" she asks. "You look sad. Those kindergartners didn't show up to bully you again, did they?"
I can't help my laugh. "How dare you? I'll probably be having nightmares about those kids for weeks."
Josephine chuckles. "I wouldn't blame you."
She must sense I want to ask more questions because she holds up a finger and points at me. "What happened?"
"I'd planned to have lunch with my ex." My cheeks heat and I look down, more embarrassed than when I fell on my ass this morning. "He had his receptionist tell me he won't be having lunch with me and asked her to give me a letter."
Josephine scowls. "That lawyer, right? James something? I knew he was a coward the first time I saw him slink into town."
Apparently, the whole town knows about my mission to win back RJ. "He's not a coward. He just hates drama or too much emotion."
Josephine snorts. "Okay. What did the letter say?"
I sigh. "I don't know. I'm afraid to read it."
She drops her sandwich onto the paper bag folded on her lap and wipes her hands on a napkin. "I'll read it for you."
I consider for only a second before pulling the letter out of my coat pocket and handing it over.
Like someone who's opened a lot of letters, she tears off one end of the envelope and pulls out the folded paper. I twist my fingers together, my lungs tight. This could be the end or the beginning of my mission.
Josephine scans the page, her scowl deepening. Then she clears her throat and reads. "Dear Cherry, Because I am an entitled man, I will never admit my own role in the end of my relationship with Alice, and I will forever blame you. I am a selfish, spoiled twit who thinks love is a game, but I will put my own shortcomings on you to make me feel better about myself. I don't deserve you. You should date that fine hunk of man who runs the candy store and is kinder than I'll ever be. Consider yourself lucky that I will never want to date you again or marry you. Do yourself a favor and please don't ever get in touch with me again. Sincerely, Douche bag."
