Page 9 of Grumpy Boss of the Year

“Oh, my gosh, I feel like I’m in an interrogation room, and you’re a member of the FBI.” I giggle. “Sorry, but to answer your question…” I take a deep breath and close my eyes. “I don’t even know if I want to go through with this anymore. I just feel so conflicted. I mean, I always knew that my father was going to throw me this party because it’s been talked about for so many years, and I knew there would be a lot of eligible men, and perhaps one of them would become my husband. Yet, I think I thought that Dad would actually tell me more about his job andmore about his world before this happened. I thought...” I pause, not wanting to start crying.

“Hey, what is it?” Juniper asks.

“I guess I just thought that Dad and I would have more of a relationship. When I was younger, I just assumed, well, I’m a kid. I’m a teenager, and he doesn’t want to burden me with his life. Maybe he thought I was too young to understand. Now I’m a woman. I’m twenty-five, and I still don’t know what my father does for a living. I don’t know anything about his world. I barely see him, and my aunts, Lucia, Gabriella, and Evalina, don’t tell me anything. I tried to speak to Romeo last weekend. He’s oblivious to the world, and I don’t even think he wants to know.”

“Do you really want to know, though, Elisabetta?”

“What do you mean, do I really want to know?”

“I mean, if you found out that your dad was a member of the mafia, like Tony Soprano or something, would you want to know?”

“Yes, I’d want to know.”

“Even if you found out he was killing people?”

“I mean, I don’t know if I’d want to know that,” I said.

“Girl, if that’s actually the world he’s in, those are the things he would be doing.”

“How do you know so much about the things he’d be doing?” I ask her. “Are you also in the mafia?”

“Uh, no, and you know that.” She laughs. “I’m just saying that sometimes, when we don’t know things, it’s actually better for us. Sometimes you learn things about people you wish you didn’t know.”

“I guess so,” I say. “Why are you so wise, Juniper?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I used to be an owl in another life. I have the glasses to prove it.”

“Haha, very funny. You barely wear your glasses anymore. I’m so happy you found contacts that you actually like.”

“I mean, I still love my glasses, and Remington loves them on me, too. He says that he loves being with a beautiful nerdy girl.”

“Um, okay. I’m not sure if I would find that a compliment, but you obviously do.”

She laughs. “I mean, I didn’t think it was the biggest compliment in the world, but it was okay. I knew it came from his heart. You got any dates planned?”

“No, though I might swipe and see if I can find someone to go out with tonight. Get my mind off of tomorrow, you know?”

My phone beeps, and I frown. It’s a number I don’t know. “Hey, can you hold on a second? I’m getting a call.”

“Sure.”

I press the button and click over. “Hello?” I ask suspiciously.

“Is this Elisabetta?” the deep, familiar British accent sounds into the phone, and I let out a loud groan.

“What do you want?” I say in response.

“Is that any way to greet your boss?”

“Future boss,” I say. “I don’t work for you yet.”

“This time tomorrow, you’ll be under me,” he says.

“Excuse me?”

He starts chuckling. “You’ll be under me on the totem pole in that I’ll be your boss and you’ll be my underling.”

“Uh-huh. I hope you don’t think that I’m going to be under you in any other way, Liam.” I stress his name, and he pauses for a moment.

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