Page 33 of Sunset Serenade
A weight sunk into his stomach. She must think he was angling to replace her. That wasn’t what he’d meant at all.
He tried to come up with a better explanation, but Rose had already moved on, discussing the details on the next five clients she’d chosen. She had their preliminary matches and wanted to schedule her first meetings with each of them.
“Are there any changes you’d like me to make?” she asked, her eyes wide and bright. “I really take no offense if you want something done differently. I’d much rather know that I’m doing something wrong early on so I can fix it.”
Try as he might, Craig had no advice to give her. She was the dream employee: organized, driven, and intelligent. When they were just starting, they always talked about hiring quality people, and it felt like he’d hit the jackpot.
How did he express to her how important she was, how pleased he was with her planning and execution?
He gave her a generic, “I think you’re doing great.”
She nodded, turning back to her computer screen. “Now that things are picking up, I can send you a summary at the end of each week with what I’ve been up to, if you’d like?”
“Oh. That’d be nice, not just for me, but for the board. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.”
He stopped. It felt like he was caught swimming with seaweed tangled in his legs. Why couldn’t he get out what he wanted to say? She was a star, but every time he tried to assure her that she was far exceeding expectations, he fell flat.
He was afraid of sayingtoomuch. Afraid of giving away how he really felt about her, and her kind eyes and her laugh and her self-deprecation…
With these thoughts whirling in his mind, he started to speak, and something terrible happened.
Was it the warm glow of her conversation? The pleasing neatness of her color-coded stacks of papers? The way the light hit her hair?
Whatever it was, it didn’t matter, because the words that came out of his mouth were, “How did it take me so long to find you?”
Chapter Fourteen
The blush started in Rose’s chest, spread to her neck, and finally reached her cheeks.
“I don’t know, but I can’t tell you how nice that is to hear.” She took a deep breath, trying not to smile like a fool. She thought the blush had started deeper than in her chest – that perhaps it came from her soul.
Embarrassing.
“They never said nice things at my last job,” she added. “I’m realizing my boss was kind of a monster.”
Craig cocked his head to the side. “I thought you were teaching classes at Washington State?”
Shoot. Rose wasn’t used to keeping track of a fake story. She was not a good liar. She talked so much it was impossible to keep track of untruths. “Yeah, you know. University politics.”
“Or was that the landscaping place?”
Craig laughed, and Rose laughed too, eager to change the subject. “I’ve got a lot to do, so I’d better get back to work. Let me know when your parents arrive. Maybe we can put something together for them at the hotel. A warm welcome.”
“I’m almost afraid of telling them about this house,” he said. “They’ve always said it’s their dream to live on the island, but I don’t know how they’re going to deal with the change. Last week, my mom’s whole day was ruined because she had to go to a new grocery store.”
Rose could relate. All those years, staying at her miserable job, she’d convinced herself that it was better than the unknown.
She had been wrong, though. This was better. Whatever it was, wherever this wild ride took her, it was better.
“They will be thrilled. Even if it takes a while for them to realize it.”
Rose excused herself and escaped to her car. There was too much to think about, too much overflowing from her mind.
Craig’s words circled her thoughts. He was too sweet. The other employees loved him and she could see why. He was intelligent, trusting, and kind.
That was what her last boss had lacked. Kindness. He was driven, he was brilliant, but man, he was a jerk.
Still, Rose was certain Craig hadn’t told her that the clients were payingten thousand dollars each! If she succeeded in matching a hundred people a year – and that was a bigif– she alone would bring amilliondollars to the company.
