Page 47 of Nailed

The room was a tiny log cabin with a freestanding fireplace and a wrought-iron bed, along with a half kitchen and a small sofa. There was even a tiny Christmas tree in the corner, strung with white lights. It was perfect.

Tollier was exactly halfway between Crestville and Quince Valley. The weather was supposed to ease up toward Vermont. Of course, Jamie had handled the truck like it was a sunny day on a flat highway in Arizona, so I was only a little worried about them getting home safely.

But that didn’t make the goodbye any easier.

Jamie stood at the door, his hat in his hand, melted snow dripping from his whiskers. My heart felt like a broken thing, but I knew I’d be okay. I knew he would be, too. Eventually.

“Natasha knows me,” he said at last. “I’m going to give her a call. Straighten this out.”

“No!” I exclaimed, taking off my coat. “I mean, no, thank you. I’ll figure something out. I had lots of other people with what I think will be offers after a phone call.”

I’d already told him I was leaving Reilly, no matter what happened. I didn’t want to be any kind of issue for him, and I needed a fresh start anyway. As much as I’d loved working there, I could never go back to having Jamie only as my boss. Not when he was the man I loved.

Even if he wouldn’t let me love him.

“Empire was the best one, though. Natasha’s incredible, and none of the other jobs would let me stay in Quince Valley.”

Jamie frowned.

“Didn’t I tell you the Empire job was remote?”

Now he blinked. He knew I’d withheld that information on purpose. His eyes met mine, and for a moment, I held my breath. Would this change things?

But he just looked away again. “Let me make a fire for you, at least.”

I gave him a little smile, even as a fissure crept across my heart. “Sounds good.”

I hung up my coat and checked out the box of food the owner had handed me at the door to their house—“Because of the weather, dear!”—while Jamie made the fire for me. It was all perfectly lovely.

“You know,” he said, closing the glass door, “you could have that job back if you wanted.”

“Thank you,” I said. “But I said I’d rather you didn’t intervene.” I didn’t need him fighting my battles for me. Not anymore.

“I wouldn’t need to. You’re pretty persuasive, remember?”

I thought of how he’d spent several hours in his hotel room helping me see that. How, even before that, over the year we’d worked together, he’d been showing me that. Even when he went cold. It was only then that I built up the nerve to stand up to him.

“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll think about it.”

At the door, we stood awkwardly for a moment, until I noticed there was a sprig of mistletoe hung right above us.

So I wrapped my arms around Jamie’s neck and kissed his cheek, inhaling his woodsy scent for the last time.

“Goodbye, Jamie.”

“Goodbye, Sarah.”

CHAPTER17

Jamie

It was late afternoon by the time we arrived back in Quince Valley, and the reports were right—the weather had thinned out once we got over here.

But back where Sarah was, my phone said the storm was still raging.

My stomach churned, and not just at the thought of her out there on her own. The B&B owners may be nearby—but she was alone in that cabin.

But she’d insisted, and she said I never listened to her, so this time, this last time, I did.

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