Chapter 11
eleven
. . .
Georgia
My father was talking about our many trips to see Santa over the years, and Gracie was busy drawing a picture of her and Santa.
It had been adorable, and my phone was filled with pictures of Gracie sitting on his lap, giving him the long version of her wishes for Christmas.
I snapped a few pics of Cage stewing as Mr. Weber followed him around, talking nonstop.
Cage kept whispering in my ear that he was going to give a nasty Yelp review about being followed around by an elf that was three sheets to the wind.
As if anyone in Cottonwood Cove relied on those reviews. This was a small town. Everyone knew everything, so reviews weren’t really necessary. But my stubborn older brother needed to take his aggression out somewhere, so I wouldn’t point it out and ruin his fun.
My eyes kept moving to the table a few feet away, where my boss sat with the ice queen. The woman didn’t even try to fake it.
She put the itch in bitch, no doubt about it.
My phone vibrated on the table as everyone continued laughing and talking and telling stories as our food was placed in front of us.
Bossman
Sorry about that. I let her know she was rude.
Rude is someone not saying thank you. Your date could give the devil a run for his money. Not sure what you see in someone who gives off major mean-girl vibes and has the warmth of an ice sculpture.
Bossman
Didn’t your last boyfriend steal your car?
Yes. He’s not here, though, is he?
Bossman
Fair enough. Would it be all right if I came over and met your family? I promise I won’t insult you.
They’d like to meet you. I wouldn’t let them come over for fear your date might pull the stick out of her ass and beat them with it.
Bossman
Wise choice. I’ll be over shortly.
Cage was ranting about Santa when Maddox approached the table, and everyone turned to look at him.
The man just had a way of drawing everyone’s attention.
It was more than his height and his good looks. It was his demeanor.
“I’m sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to introduce myself,” he said before my niece interrupted.
“You’re Aunt Georgie’s bossman?”
Everyone laughed, and Maddox’s lips twitched in the corners before a smile took over his face.
“Yes. I’m Maddox Lancaster, and I just wanted to say you have raised an amazing young woman. She’s done a fantastic job so far.”
“She’s the best. No doubt about it,” my father said. “I’m Bradford Reynolds, and this is my wife, Alana.” He went on to introduce everyone at the table, and Maddox made his way around, shaking everyone’s hands. It was unexpected but appreciated.
When he got to Gracie, she held up her hand for a high-five. Maddox gently tapped it with his hand and bent down to meet her gaze. “Did you go see Santa tonight?”
She gasped. “Did he tell you?”
I used my hand to cover my mouth to keep from laughing, expecting Maddox to correct her and tell her that I had let him know where we were going.
But instead, he shocked the shit out of me.
“He did. I ran into him on my way in here, and he told me to look for the cutest girl in the place and tell her that she was at the top of his list.”
Where the hell was Mr. Moody? Maybe he’d already had sex with his evil queen, and he was more relaxed now.
Everyone at the table smiled, including Cage, which said a lot.
“Thank you, Bossman. I told Daddy I was going to be the best girl this year.”
Maddox pushed back to stand and smiled at her. “I think you did it. It was nice to meet you all. I’ll let you get back to your dinner.”
He sauntered back to the table, and Brinkley leaned in close to me. “Holy shitballs. My ovaries just exploded. He’s so freaking hot. And sexy. He doesn’t seem that mean… Not that I would care when he looks that good.”
I licked my lips, trying to calm my racing heart because I felt the same way.
“He was definitely being nicer to you guys than he normally is. He probably knows I’ve told you how rude he is, so he’s trying to make me look like I’m being dramatic.
But I guess I have seen the softer side of him a few times.
He’s just pretty intense at work.” I couldn’t tell her what he did for me regarding my car because I’d have to tell her the whole story and I didn’t want to go there.
“Well, he definitely likes you.”
“He can’t stand me,” I said with a chuckle because she was obviously misreading that.
“He hasn’t taken his eyes off you since you walked in. I don’t think his date is too pleased about it, nor do I think she’ll be getting any tonight.” She laughed.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I work for him. He reminds me of that constantly. And he’s a few years older than me anyway, so he dates women, not college grads.”
“You are a woman. And so what if he’s a few years older? Definitely not too old for you. You’ve been dating these losers, and that right there is a real man.”
“What are we whispering about?” my mother asked.
“Nothing. Work stuff.” I shrugged.
“Well, your boss seems very impressed with you,” Mom said.
“He does seem impressed, doesn’t he?” Brinkley teased.
“Well, he should be. She’s amazing,” Lila said as she winked at me.
“She works such long hours. We hardly get to see her.” I loved living with Hugh and Lila, but she was right.
I usually got home so late they were already in bed.
And I left early to avoid them seeing the scooter, but now that Maddox had gotten my car back, I could take my time in the mornings.
“Thank you. I got my car back today,” I said proudly.
“Ahh… so your boss won’t have to send a car to get you every morning, huh?” Hugh asked.
“Nope. I can drive myself.” I hated that I’d lied to them, but sometimes, little white lies were necessary to spare everyone a lot of drama.
“Looks like our Georgie girl is growing up,” Cage teased as he popped an onion ring into his mouth.
“I need to head back soon,” Finn said, rubbing his belly. “I have to be on set early in the morning.”
“I’ll drop you off on my way to the city.” Brinkley reached for her water and took a sip. “Glad we snuck in a family dinner this week.”
“Well, it’s a big day when our grand-girl gets to see Santa,” my father said.
“And your grand-girl is at the top of the list. Bossman said so.”
I glanced over to see Maddox and his date leaving the restaurant. Was he taking her home with him?
My stomach wrenched at the thought of her in that beautiful home.
The thought of her with him.
“You okay?” Finn asked, as he dropped an arm around my shoulder. “You look a little pale.”
“No, I’m fine. Just tired.”
“Your boss seems like a cool guy. Not what I expected,” he said. “I thought he was going to be this rich, arrogant prick.”
“Well, he is rich. He can be very arrogant. And he definitely has his prick-ish moments.” But he’d taken me to that meeting and introduced me to my unicorn author.
He let me read the entire manuscript. And he had gotten my car back for me.
The man was full of surprises. “But he has a really decent side to him, too.”
“Was that his wife?” Finn asked. “She was pretty hot.”
“She is not his wife,” I hissed.
“Ohhhh, down, girl. I struck a nerve.”
We all stood from the table and made our way outside, and I turned to hug him goodbye. “Not at all. She just wasn’t very nice. And she’s not that pretty, is she?”
He laughed and shook his head. “No. I was mistaken. She’s extremely unattractive.”
“Who are we talking about?” Cage poked his head in. “The hottie with your boss? Is that his wife?”
“No.” I rolled my eyes. “He’s not married.”
“I was just telling her how unattractive she was,” Finn said, his voice all tease.
“The woman in the red dress?” Cage wasn’t picking up on the social cues. “Big breasts, big ass, pretty face?”
“She had severe resting bitch face,” I grumped.
“Bitches can still be hot,” Cage said, and Finn shot him a look, as my three brothers had always been able to communicate without words. “But that woman was definitely not hot. Definitely not.”
Now it was my turn to laugh as I turned to Cage and hugged him. “Good night, brother.”
“Thanks for going with us to see Santa. Love you, Georgie.”
“Love you, too. It was fun.” I leaned forward and kissed Gracie goodbye as she patted Hugh’s cheeks with her little hands as he held her.
“Love you,” she said as Cage took her from our brother, and I hugged my parents goodbye.
I climbed into the truck with Hugh and Lila, and we headed home.
We chatted about my boss on the short drive home, and they asked a ton of questions about him.
When we got to the house, they asked if I wanted to watch a movie, but I was exhausted, so I turned them down and made my way to my room to curl up with a good book and forget about this night.
Why was I in a bad mood?
Bossman was allowed to date. Why did I care? He was my boss.
Nothing more.
The next week had been busier than ever as we were trying to get as much done before the holiday break as possible. Christmas was right around the corner, and I had just finished my holiday shopping this past weekend.
Maddox was running me ragged. We worked long hours, as I never left the office until he did.
I’d taken care of ordering all the corporate gifts this year, and he’d also tasked me with shopping for everyone on his personal Christmas list. I was thrilled to see that Heather was not on the list, but maybe he’d shopped for her on his own…
And instead of doing what he usually did, which was getting all of his gifts from one place for everyone in his family, I took the time to inquire about each person and their specific interests.
It was a lot, but I’d gotten everything done.
And tonight, I had a date.
After seeing him out with that awful woman, he’d motivated me to put myself out there.
Or maybe I just wanted to tell him that I had a date.