Chapter 15

15

J essa woke up to bright light coming in between the crack of the curtains. She scrubbed her face and yawned. She had the best night’s sleep she had ever had in her life.

A pair of muscular arms were still wrapped around her waist, and Noah softly snored beside her. Her eyes roamed over his face while he slept. He looked peaceful.

Their evening didn’t quite go as she had pictured, but it was better than she expected. Hanging out with his family hadn’t been something she thought she would have done. She was only in Wintervale for a few weeks and hadn’t had any intention of sticking around after those two weeks. But now, Noah had her second guessing everything. Second guessing her life choices. Second guessing what she wanted for her future.

Jessa snuggled into his chest and sighed. Never had she felt safer and more seen than she had with him. He recognized she was anxious last night and made sure she was good before anything happened between them. She couldn’t say any other guy she had dated would have ever done that.

Noah was a special person, that much she knew.

“Good morning,” Noah said, his voice groggy.

She hadn’t even realized he had woken up. She tipped her head back to look up at him.

“Morning,” she said.

He pulled her tighter into his chest. “Have you been awake long?”

“No.”

“Thanks for spending the night.”

She smiled into his chest. “It was my pleasure. Your bed is far more comfortable than the resort beds.”

He chuckled. “Good. Maybe I can get you to spend the night a few more times.”

Maybe you can get me to spend the night for good.

The thought struck her out of nowhere. The fact that she had been thinking about settling down here since they arrived gave her pause. And the closer she got to Noah, the stronger the feeling became that this was where she needed to be. She stiffened.

Noah leaned back to look down at her. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“You don’t have to spend the night if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“It doesn’t make me uncomfortable.”

He continued to look down at her, preventing her from burrowing into his chest to hide. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Noah glanced at the clock and sighed. “I need to get to the mountain. My shift starts in thirty minutes. Can I interest you in a quick bite at the coffee shop and a coffee?”

Jessa smiled up at him. “Sounds perfect.”

They got out of bed and Noah took a speed shower before they got into his truck and drove to Brewbirds. Jessa didn’t have a change of clothes with her since she hadn’t intended to spend the night, and they didn’t have time to stop for her to change, so she decided yesterday’s dress would do.

Noah found street parking easily and opened Jessa’s door for her. They walked inside the shop and waited in the small line to place their orders.

Jessa shot a quick text to Megan. Ordering coffee and breakfast. Interested?

The response was immediate. Hell yes. Shit storm at the office. Bring sustenance.

She frowned. Problems in the office meant one thing: a difficult manager wanted a slew of people fired.

“Everything okay?” Noah asked, as they stepped up to the counter.

Jessa nodded. “Just work stuff.”

They placed their orders and stepped off to the side to let the next person order while they waited for theirs to be prepared. At that moment, Jackson stepped through the door of the shop.

He immediately spotted them, and Jessa knew the moment he realized she was wearing yesterday’s clothes. His eyebrows shot up and he took a step closer.

“Fancy seeing you two here… together.”

Noah smiled. “Just a quick bite before I have to get to work.”

“Uh huh. I’m sure you need lots of food after all that exercise you got last night.”

Jessa could feel the heat climbing up her neck and giggled nervously. Thankfully, the barista called their order, so they stepped up to the counter to collect their drinks and food.

“See ya later,” Noah said to Jackson.

Jackson waved quickly just as he stepped up to the counter.

Noah opened the door to his truck and helped her inside. When he closed the door, she let out a breath. If she had known they would run into his brother, she wouldn’t have agreed to go. But she was thankful it wasn’t his mom. That would have been worse.

Noah pulled himself into his truck and drove them to the resort. Once they parked, he leaned over and pressed a kiss to her lips.

“Can I see you tonight?”

“Yes.”

“Perfect.” He brushed a lock of hair behind her ear before hopping out of the truck and coming around to help her out. With one last hug, they split ways; Noah heading to the gondola and Jessa heading into the resort lobby.

She walked through the lobby carrying two coffees on a tray and a bag of sandwiches and pastries. She didn’t know what she was walking into after Megan’s text, but it didn’t sound good.

“Hi, Jessa! It’s good to see you this morning,” Karen’s voice rang out.

Jessa froze and squeezed her eyes shut. Shit.

She slowly turned around and spotted Karen standing at the open door behind the front desk. Much like Jackson, Jessa could tell the moment Karen noticed she was wearing the same clothes from the night before.

Karen pressed her lips together as if she was trying to stop herself from saying something, so Jessa accessed her inner Megan.

“Hi Mrs. Blake. Thank you for last night. It was a great evening.”

A small smile touched Karen’s lips. “You’re welcome.”

Jessa gestured at the bag of food in her hand and the tray of coffees. “I need to get upstairs to Megan so we can work, but I’ll see you later.”

Karen slowly nodded. “Have a good day.”

“You too.”

Jessa jammed her finger on the elevator button and thanked her lucky stars that it slid right open. She stepped inside and gave Karen one last smile before the doors closed. Once she was alone, she sagged against the wall.

She made a mental note to bring a spare change of clothes with her to Noah’s tonight, in case she spent the night again.

The elevator opened, and Jessa made her way to her hotel room with no other incidents. She pushed the door open and held the food and coffees up. “I brought nourishment.”

Megan stood and walked over to the door to take her coffee and the bag of food. “Thank God.”

“What’s going on?”

“First, you need to tell me what happened last night and get changed while I clean up the current fire.”

Jessa stripped her dress off and put on a pair of sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt before sitting down at the small table and powering on her laptop.

“Spill,” Megan said as she sat back and looked at Jessa expectantly.

“Well, we ended up going to his parents’ place for dinner. He was worried they’d show up at his place if we didn’t.”

“Wow. So you met the family?”

Jessa nodded and took a sip of her latte. “I did, but I already kind of met his parents in the lobby the other day, and I’ve, of course, met Jackson. So it was really just his other two brothers and niece.”

Megan raised an eyebrow. “Look at you thinking logically.”

“Ha. Hilarious.”

“So then what?”

“We went back to his place and had the best sex of my life.”

“Hell yeah, girl.”

Jessa waved a hand in the air. “Now, enough about that. Tell me what happened with work. What am I walking into?”

Megan sighed. “Layoffs are happening. Apparently, we are dropping something like twenty employees.”

“What? Seriously?”

“Yeah. The company isn’t doing well at the moment, I guess. So they’re making ‘necessary’ cuts,” Megan said, doing air quotes.

“That’s unfortunate.”

“Yep. And guess who got volunteered to do them?”

Jessa sighed. She knew what that meant. She and Megan would take on the bulk of it, despite there being several other human resource representatives across the country who worked for the same company. They each managed different regions.

Laying people off was the worst part of her job. Most of it she could handle just fine, but telling a person they were no longer employed was sad. She never knew how the employee would respond, and that made it harder.

A video call on Megan’s computer rang through. Her eyes widened as she shot a look to Jessa.

“It’s Brian.”

Brian was their boss and liked to check on them periodically to make sure they were doing their job. Or at least that’s what he called it. Jessa thought it was more because he had a thing for Megan. While he never crossed boundaries, it still was obvious to her.

Megan had already gotten dressed for the day, but Jessa looked like a train wreck with unbrushed hair that had been tossed on her head and a clean face with mascara residue below her eyes.

Jessa rushed to the bathroom to look a bit more put together while Megan answered the call. She could only partially make out their conversation until she came back into the room.

“Is Jessa with you?” Brian said.

“Yes, she’s right here.”

“I need her to be a part of this call. I have an assignment for the both of you.”

Jessa moved around the computer and sat in a chair where she was in sight of the camera.

“Hey, Brian.”

“I’m going to need the both of you to pack your bags and head to Arkansas,” he said, skipping the niceties.

Megan and Jessa both stared at the computer screen.

“What?” they both said at once.

“We need you in Arkansas. The people we’re laying off are all there. We’re closing the business there, and we need your help in shutting it down smoothly.”

“But what about Sarah? She lives there, and that’s part of her region. Why isn’t she taking care of it?” Megan asked.

“Sarah is one of the people being laid off,” Brian said.

Jessa sat back, dumbfounded. Arkansas? They weren’t even done with their trip in Wintervale, and she had a date with Noah that night.

“When are we expected to go?” she asked.

Brian clicked around on his computer. “There’s a flight that leaves that little town you’re in at noon. Then you’ll have a layover in Minneapolis.”

“Is there a possibility we can delay it a few days? Or even a day?” Jessa asked.

Brian shook his head. “No. Look, I know this is last minute, but I need you to do this. You can return to Montana after you’re done there.”

“How long will we be there?” Megan asked.

“About a week. You’ll be pulling the employees into rooms one-by-one so you can offer them each a severance package that suits the position they had. I’m shooting you an email with all the details and the employee files. Please review it on the plane and be ready to hit the ground running when you land.”

Jessa sighed and looked at Megan. An entire conversation passed between them with that one look. Both of their faces mirrored sadness, but for entirely different reasons. Megan set a hand on Jessa’s and gave it a small squeeze before standing up and moving across the room to grab her suitcase, hefting it up onto the bed.

For the first time since she was a child, Jessa was sad about leaving a place… about leaving a person.