AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The flatness of her tone did not invite further questions, but that didn’t deter him. “You all look happy.”
“We were.” A smile ghosted across her features. “Or pretended to be.”
She’d revealed more than he anticipated, and he waited for her to go on.
“The man in the picture is my father. Or, if you prefer to get technical, my stepfather.” She shrugged. “Since he was more of a dad than my sperm donor ever was, I simply called him Dad.”
“Called?”
She moved in closer to him and pointed to the right side of the picture. “That’s my younger sister. On the other side of Mom and Dad are my half-siblings. There’s quite an age difference between me and Loree and the rest of the kids.”
“Loree? She’s the one who is getting married?”
“You remembered.”
He hated that she sounded shocked.
“At first Mom wasn’t sure that she wanted to have a second family, especially since we were almost grown. But she was so much in love with Dad that it was natural.” She shrugged. “We were all one, big happy family.”
“I envy you that.”
She blinked up at him. “Do you?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re an only child?”
Her honesty made him want to share as well. “I wonder if or how things would have been different if that wasn’t the case.”
“What-ifs are dangerous.” Suddenly her light-gold eyes flooded with tears. With a tiny, regret-filled smile, she explained. “My dad died recently.”
The anguish in her words cut through him. He had no idea how long ago it had been, but the loss seemed new.
He winced on her behalf. All too well, he knew how the smallest memory could rush that emotion back to the surface. At times, the loss of his mother felt as if it had happened months—rather than years—ago.
“It was a long, awful descent that left my mom destitute.”
Frost scowled.
“Medical bills, funeral expenses…”
“No insurance?”
“Not enough, and times were tight, so they never had money for extras like burial funds. And seriously, he was young. No one expected anything like this. They thought they had years left to figure out that kind of thing.” She exhaled. “I help out as much as I can. But it’s never enough.”
“Why did I not know any of this?”
“I had no reason to tell you.” She lifted a shoulder as if her response should have been obvious. “He passed right before you took over. Sylvia was more than understanding and generous with my time off needs in the final weeks.”
Another barb about how wonderful her previous boss had been. In the same situation, no doubt he’d have made as many accommodations as he could have. Yet business was business. And as he well knew, Sylvia’s generosity had left the business teetering on the verge of insolvency.
“I keep expecting that the loss of my dad will get easier, but it doesn’t.”
Her voice had turned shaky, perhaps from repressed emotion.
“Anyway, we have work to do.” She shook her head as if to clear it. “And I’d like to get on with it so I have some time to finish my laundry and do my chores.” She took the photo from him and returned it to the precise spot that he’d found it.
Wishing he could vanquish the emotional distance between them, he led the way to the door and opened it for her. With a tight nod of acknowledgment, she preceded him down the stairs.
