Page 41 of Stay this Christmas
I hadn’t put the two together, but now that I did…
“It’s great you’re on a first-name basis with the motorcycle-riding MMA fighting instructor. Cool, cool, cool.”
She laughed as if any of that were funny, and started walking again. “Anyway, I don’t really want to ride a motorcycle.”
I caught up to her in a few strides. “Then what fear are you going to conquer?”
She shot me a sideways look. “I’ll tell you once I figure out where to do it.”
“Color me intrigued.”
Her little smile turned smug. “I won’t give anything away.”
“So why haven’t you done these things on your list before now? You handled that one easily enough.”
Her adrenaline high seemed to drop down a notch. “I’ve just been really caught up with work.”
Made sense, I guess. Harper always had been driven, probably even more so now for her career instead of just grades. Didn’t seem like the whole story, though. “They work you pretty hard over there.”
I’d meant it as a joke, but her laughter sounded forced.
“It’s almost like they need two of me.”
“Are you doing more work than you should?”
“No.”
Her immediate answer didn’t convince me of anything. I stared her down in silent question.
“I don’t know, maybe? When I started at the Village, it was a Monday to Friday, eight to five thing. But last summer, Olivia decided I should be available evenings and weekends, too, to better suit the residents’ schedules. If nobody wants those times, then it’s great, I just don’t worry about it, but when people do want those times…”
“Then you wind up doing PT Sunday mornings before church.” Her strange hours made a little more sense now, even if I didn’t think they were okay.
“Now she thinks being on-call is necessary for PT. She wants to get me a special phone line and everything.” She shook her head as though it was ridiculous. “But I’m not working all that much over contract.”
Not the best defense I’d ever heard.
“You’re allowed time off now and then.” I shot her a sideways look, my eyes narrowed. “You are, aren’t you?”
“Technically. It’s kind of fuzzy.”
“Harper, that’s not right.”
“I’ll get the week of Christmas off.”
“Is that your only vacation?”
She crossed her arms over her chest, but she might as well have stamped her foot. Liked the glimpse of her sassy side, but not how hard she justified the overtime.
“They don’t have another PT to fill in for me yet.”
“Yet. How long have they been meaning to get around to that?”
The way her mouth twisted, I knew I wouldn’t like the answer.
“They just started offering PT when they hired me on. They’re still working out the best way to do it.”
“You ever think about changing things up?”
