Page 1 of The Ice Queen in the Corner Office

CHAPTER ONE

Jill

“Mom’s selling pot,” my youngest sister, May, said.

I smiled, which was an odd reaction, considering I should be angry that my freedom from family problems was so short. “Is this a joke?”

“It’s okay,” May said. “One of her customers is the sheriff’s aunt. And she’s baking it into cookies and brownies, so it’s not like she’s selling it in baggies.”

“Oh, my god, you’re serious. I can be there in six hours. Don’t let her do anything crazy until I get there.”

“It’s medicinal. Cody’s growing it on the back corner of the—”

“Cody’s growing it?”

She shrugged. “He could use the extra income.”

“May, this is insane. You know this is insane, right?”

“Carefully controlled chaos. It’s fine. Please don’t drive up here.”

“Our mother is selling an illegal drug. That is not fine. That is—”

“I sold my first photograph,” she said, her grin so wide it looked like it hurt.

My lecture died on my lips. “May. That’s amazing.” I’d never been a huggy person, but I suddenly wished I wasn’t looking at her on the screen of my phone. I wanted to grab her and wrap my arms around her and jump up and down with her in celebration. I’d missed her since she’d moved to Virginia. I’d missed my little sister, and I was so proud of her.

At twenty-five, May was eight years younger than me and my polar opposite in every conceivable way. She’d bounced around from job to job, starting several different degrees and never finishing any of them. My whole family, including me, had figured she was a free spirit who’d never land, but she’d proved us all wrong. She’d found her passion and was happier than I’d ever seen her.

Her cheeks pinked, and her gaze dropped to the floor. “Yeah. I mean, it was just one picture, it’s not like I’m —”

“Don’t do that,” I said. “Don’t second-guess this. Just enjoy it and keep taking your classes and keep taking pictures. All good things are coming your way.” May was good at pretending she was uber-confident around most people, but she let her guard down around me, showed her vulnerable side.

When we were kids, our parents worked all the time to support the family and I took care of May. My older brother Noah was the disciplinarian, but I was the one the others came to when they needed someone to talk to about their problems, when they needed to cry, when they needed a hug and warm chocolate chip cookies. I was the equivalent of a sweet grandma at fourteen.

She looked up and her lips curved in a smile. “You don’t think I’m being impractical?”

I scrunched up my nose. “Of course, I do. But I love my high-paying corporate job and my downtown condo and my designer threads. That’s me. You’ve never cared about any of that stuff. I can totally see you thriving as a starving artist, and it’s not like there aren’t other ways to make money with photography. Weddings, journalism, family portraits.”

She scrunched up her nose and pretended to snore. “Boring. I want to make art.”

Happiness welled in me. May was so much stronger than she’d ever let herself be and I knew she’d be fine. “Then you make art, baby girl. You do what makes you happy.”

“And if I’m poor for the rest of my life, waiting tables to make money?” She was glowing, her smile more genuine than I’d seen it in a very long time.

“I’ll love you anyway. And, if you ever decide you’re tired of waiting tables, you’ll have the skills you need to create a more stable job with your camera. You’ll be choosing the life you want. Most people never get that option.”

Her smile slipped just a bit. “Did you get that option? Did you get to choose what you love? I mean, you went into business for the family and you never really got to explore—”

“I’m doing what I love.” It was true. I loved my job as CFO for Owings Leisure, a company that owned several hotels and resorts on the east coast. I loved crunching numbers and figuring out ways to make more money.

But she wasn’t wrong that I’d never really had a choice, that I’d never gotten to explore my passions. My parents had built and owned a resort corporation and I’d gone to work there right out of business school. It had never been about what I wanted, it had been about doing what was right for the family. I’d never regretted it. I wasn’t like May. I needed to know where my next meal was coming from, needed stability, and if sometimes I wondered…Well, no one needed to know about that.

My siblings may have come to me when they needed someone to talk to, but I’d never gone to them. I’d made sure I was never vulnerable, never needed someone in that way, because I had to be strong for the rest of them.

I widened my smile and put on my most reassuring tone. “I’m happy, May. Don’t ever doubt that.”

“But Alex Owings,” she said, her face twisted in disgust. “He’s so horrible. Noah said—”

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