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She was suddenly full of life and action, eyes bright and seeming to take everything in at once.
The woman looked me over from head to toe as she clasped her hands first in front of her, then behind, that sunny smile warming all over.
“I wasn’t expecting you here today, but I’m glad you finally made it,” Joanne continued, sounding sincere. “Naomi and I have been looking forward to working with you.”
“Nice to meet you, too.” I nodded, then furrowed my brow. “Sorry to come in unannounced, but I guess I didn’t think much about it. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
“No, not at all,” she said, motioning for me to come with her. “In fact, if you happen to know anything about computers, you’ve come at exactly the right time.”
I shook my head but followed behind the girl anyway—even though I was unsure of where we were going or what she was even talking about.
“I’m afraid I don’t know much more than on and off, point and click when it comes to computers. But…” I paused, not sure how I should say what was on my mind, or if I should even say it at all.Fuck it. “Are you the person—the same Jo, I assume—who has worked here for years? Like, almost since my dad opened the place?”
“That’s me,” Joanne said, turning to face me again once we were both standing in the cramped office. “I started about a year after your dad opened the shop, and I’ve been here ever since. Why?”
“I’m just… I guess I wasn’t expecting someone so… cheerful. And happy, and…”
Beautiful.
I paused, uncertain how to articulate exactly what I was thinking or why I felt it was so important that I do so.
Joanne arched a brow. “Female?”
My eyes went wide as I shook my head at Joanne’s misinterpretation. “No, no.No, not that. Well…” I shrugged. “That wasn’t what I was going to say. But honestly? Knowing my dad? Yeah, I guess that threw me off a little.”
“With all due respect, I knew your dad, too. It wasn’t a problem forhim.” Joanne’s eyes narrowed as all traces of that bright, sunny smile completely vanished. “Is it going to be a problem for you?”
I shook my head.
This conversation had gone completely off the rails, and I didn’t know how to fix it.
Chapter Seven – Brady
It was clear from Joanne’s expression that I had fucked up. Ihatedthat I’d been the reason she had stopped smiling. Still, I needed to set the record straight. I wasn’t some anti-feminist asshole.
I normally didn’t give a damn what people thought of me, but for some reason, it mattered that Joanne knew I wasn’t some kind of macho jerk. In fact, I wanted to prove to her how much I loved women. Yet, that might be a bad idea too.
Offending my new employee and then hitting on her within five minutes of our first meeting was probably a little much.
“No,” I said as soon as I could get my mouth working again. “Hell, no. Look, I know we just met, but I’m notthatkind of asshole. In my line of work, the only thing that matters is if the person next to you is competent and trustworthy. I don’t give a shit about anything else. I worked with female trainers. The only reason I asked about any of it was because you’re just so…differentfrom what I expected.”
I shoved a hand back through my close-cropped hair and exhaled a long breath.
I’d planned on dealing with my dad’s shop without any emotion—without feeling one way or another about wrapping things up, but just staying focused and getting itdone. From the moment I’d walked in, though, all I’d done wasfeel—first about my mom, then my dad… and now Joanne.
And all those unwelcome feelings only served to make me aware of how much I’d lost over the years.
I’d lost my parents, obviously, and thought I’d made peace with that. But now? Finding out about a whole new side of my dad that I’d thought had been extinguished when my mom had passed away? It almost felt like I’d lost both of them all over again.
For a moment, when I’d first walked through that door and saw Joanne smiling at me, it had felt like I’d been gifted some long-forgotten warmth back into my life. But now that had been taken away, too.
No, not just “taken away”—damaged… both by my thoughtless words and by my own conflicted thoughts and memories of my father.
It had been wrong of me to put Joanne in the middle of all that. I felt like a complete ass because of it. I should’ve just kept my mouth shut, the way I usually did. But I hadn’t, so… how in the hell was I supposed to fix it now?
Joanne stared at me for several long seconds without replying to my fumbling attempt to undo the damage I’d caused. Then she finally seemed to relax a little.
She sat down in the creaky office chair. Even though she didn’t seem to bemad, she still wasn’t smiling… or even looking in my direction.
