Chapter 65
STEPHANIE
Jeremiah finally came back to the car almost an hour after he left. I’d skipped through all the channels on his radio, painted my fingernails with a bright pink polish I found in the bottom of my purse and was catching up on social media about what everyone I knew and their goldfish had eaten for breakfast.
“There you are,” I exclaimed, feeling the nerves clamor again when I saw the expression on his face. He looked like he’d eaten Tweety bird, caught Jerry, and then stole several boxes of cream. “What happened?”
He grinned wider than I’d ever seen before, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me as close to him as he could manage with the gear lever in the way. The thing pushed into my leg uncomfortably, but I did my best to ignore it. I was too curious about what the hell was going on.
“I got fired,” he said, his chest swelling with pride as his grin kept growing. “So did you.”
“You got me fired?” I couldn’t believe it. I knew I should’ve gone to speak with Jance myself. I couldn’t afford to lose my job. A lump formed in my throat as I imagined having to tell Tiana I was unemployed.
Tim would probably hire me back at the bookstore, which was a really comforting safety net. I would go back if I had to, but then what on earth would’ve been the point to all this?
Jeremiah snapped his fingers right in front of my eyes. “Steph? Are you okay?”
“No.” I pushed away from him, trying my utmost best to ignore the hard pectorals under my hands. I couldn’t be distracted by his muscles right now, as worthy as they were of being distracted over. “I can’t believe I got fired. I’ve never been fired before.”
The thought played on a loop in my head. Fired. Fired. Fired.
Fuck. What was I going to do now?
It took me a few minutes to realize that for someone who got fired too, Jeremiah was looking impossibly cheerful. He took my hands in his and kissed both. “I also want to offer you a new job?”
“A new job?” I repeated skeptically. “What new job? You were in there for less than an hour, where did you find a new job?”
“I didn’t find one,” he said as though his words explained everything. When I lifted an eyebrow, he smirked. “I’m going to create one, for both of us.”
“Creating a job for both of us?”
His cheeks were flushed. I thought it was happiness or even exhilaration earlier, but maybe it was a fever. It would be a better explanation than having created a job.
Jeremiah saw my skepticism and sighed, leaning his forehead against mine as he explained what had happened upstairs. When he was done, I couldn’t keep my jaw from going slack. “Wow. You really made him fire you in front of everybody?”
“Yup,” he said proudly. “And all the rest really happened too.”
“Wow.” I slumped against his chest, taking comfort in his warmth as I pictured the scene he’d described playing out in front of me. “That’s quite a morning.”
“A fucking great one,” he said, undoing my ponytail to tangle his hands into my hair. “I promised you everything would be fine. You won’t have to deal with my father again unless he apologizes unconditionally and accepts you as part of my life.”
“I look forward to it. Perhaps he’ll come visit me when he can walk across the ice after hell freezes over.”
Jeremiah laughed, but I hadn’t exactly been joking. His father would accept me when hell froze over and snowballs stood a chance there, not a second before. Not wanting to think about Jance if it wasn’t absolutely necessary, I spoke into the fold of Jeremiah’s neck where my head was still buried. “What job?”
Leaning back slightly so he could look at me, he cradled my chin in his fingers. His expression was fierce, his eyes warm like melting chocolate. “I want you to be my partner.”
“Uh, Jer. I’m already your girlfriend. If you start thinking about it as a job and paying me for it, I’m pretty sure we’re venturing into prostitution territory. I’m not that desperate. I can go back to the bookstore.”
He rolled his eyes and chuckled softly. “I should’ve known you’d come up with something like that. I’m offering you a job as my business partner, not as my partner in sex or life. I’m already used to getting that for free.”
I swatted his arm, leveling him with a playful glare. “It’s good I’m so generous, even you wouldn’t have been able to afford me.”
“No doubt,” he answered immediately. “I’m being serious about the job as a business partner though.”
“In what business?” As I looked into his eyes, I realized it didn’t matter. I would go wherever he went. “Nevermind. I’m in.”
He folded his arms around me and crushed me in a giant hug. “You won’t regret it. I promise.”