Page 21 of Dance with Me on New Year's Eve

I nodded. “Well, I sometimes agree. Small talk sucks. But when you say that, it makes it sound like you value productivity over human beings. Which makes you sound like … well …”

“What do I sound like? Don’t spare my feelings now,” he said dryly.

“Like a jerk,” I blurted out.

The briefest moment of bravery was quickly eclipsed by regret. Dread. Panic.

Was I breaking some rule in employment law by … name-calling? Wow, that sounded more childish than I realized.

“Sorry, I—I shouldn’t have called you that.” My face flamedas I tried to hide behind my long hair, one of my go-to avoidance strategies. It was part of the reason I’d always kept my thick, wavy hair long, at least shoulder length

He looked at me earnestly for what seemed like hours before finally saying softly, “Maybe we were both being jerks, Roxanne. I apologize.”

My eyes nearly popped out of my head as I took this in.He actually apologized for something?That’s never happened—I didn’t think he was capable of it. I picked up my jaw from the floor and bobbed my head up and down jerkily.

“So, this is your office?” I heard myself asking the obvious question.

“Yes. I’ve laid out the files we need to review over there.” He pointed to a large round table I hadn’t noticed. This was quite a decent-sized office, I realized. Almost as big as Mari’s, in fact. It surprised me that he’d be valued enough to have one of the biggest offices here.

“Wait, you have files? I thought we were just reviewing a couple of quotes or contracts. Not entire files …” My voice was uncertain as I sat at one of the black leather chairs circling the table.

He sat in the other chair and scooted closer. I had to restrain myself from moving my chair back.

“Files are good for organizing, Roxanne.”

“Yes, but this looks like … a lot.” I eyed the thick file folders and sighed. “OK, let’s get this over with.”

“OK, this first one is for a contractor right here in Shipsvold. You might have even heard of him—”

“I haven’t,” I said after reading the name in large letters on the file. “But I like the idea of hiring locally.”

He nodded briskly. “Yes, when possible.”

After what seemed like hours, we finally closed the last file. I rubbed my eyes, which had started blurring after reading so much fine print.

“All right, let’s review the notes. Or would you like to wait until tomorrow? You look tired.”

I bit my lip. Iwastired, but the last thing I wanted to do was show any weakness, even a reasonable amount of fatigue. “I’m fine,” I managed with what I hoped was enthusiasm.

He raised an eyebrow and studied me for a moment before shrugging and turning his attention to his notebook. “Well, I think Jonson is an obvious choice for design.”

“It’s not obvious to me. Why should we go with his company?”

“He’s got more experience than the others combined.”

“Maybe,” I said doubtfully, “but Sanders Design has a lot of potential. Jill Sanders has already won some state and national awards, yet her quote was very reasonable.”

Jeff sighed. “I guess we can meet with her too. But I think experience and a long record of success are key, and Jonson is unmatched in that regard.”

“And he’s a man. That’s another plus, right?” I asked, sarcasm dripping from my voice.

Jeff gave me a side-eye and shook his head. “It has nothing to do with gender. And I think you know that. Are you arguing with me just to argue?”

Do I know that Jeff isn’t a chauvinist? Not really. I didn’t even know him that well. But I had to admit, he didn’t seem like the type. He might be a jerk in many ways, but I doubted he was a misogynist too. Finally, I just shrugged. “No. I want to make sure we’re considering this from different angles.”

“Fine, we’ll meet with them both. Separately, of course. Do you have any schedule blockers for the rest of this week or next?”

I opened my mouth and then closed it. “Potentially,” I fibbed.

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