by Liz Peters
Samantha nodded, taking a step closer to Jim Anderson as she folded her arms across her chest.
“You know what? I have. I thought about it long and hard, Mr. Anderson, and I’ve got an answer for you.”
Jim knit his brows in confusion as she stepped closer, still not getting the message that she was trying to send him.
“And?” She could see the look in his eyes, like he’d already won this argument. He was so certain she was going to do whatever he asked her to do to keep this job, and it made her more than a little angry. Two more steps and she closed the distance between them completely, putting on her slickest smile.
Samantha reached out, toying with the lapel of his coat and watching him soften in response. She enjoyed the idea of setting him up for the fall he was about to take, but she knew exactly what her answer was going to be.
“I’ve worked hard at getting exactly where I’ve gotten, Jim, and I wouldn’t jeopardize that for just nothing, now would I?” He grinned and pulled his hands out of his pockets, visibly relaxing while the cocky grin spread across his cheeks.
“Now, that’s what I figured. Why don’t we…” Sam reached out, putting a single finger across his lips to silence him.
“Why don’t you just take that job and shove it right up the dark reaches of your asshole where it came from?” The shocked look on his face was worth any kind of consequences that were about to come from whatever she was going to do. There was no way she was taking this client on, and the mere suggestion that she ought to was downright offensive. It should have set off her alarms as soon as he’d said it. She should have done this days ago, but she’d been too lost in her desire to keep the promotion she’d just gotten to see what the right decision was. She was a little angry at herself for that, but she was even more angry at Jim Anderson.
“Well, never in all my years has a junior partner dared to speak to me in such a manner. You can get your things and get out of this office, Miss Crawford. You’re fired.” His face was steadily growing redder and she could see the anger building in him. He raised his voice so that the entire office could hear them through the thin walls, but that wasn’t good enough for her. Sam grabbed the bag she’d just dropped on the desktop, along with the copy of her diploma from the wall. She’d brought a few personal items in here, but her degree was the only thing that mattered to her. She didn’t plan on coming back for the rest of it. It could all rot in this office for all she gave a damn.
“You know what, Mr. Anderson?” The name was a curse she spat out onto the floor at his feet as she gathered her things. She was certain to talk loudly enough that all of the associates and assistants who were listening by now got an earful of what she had to say. She intended to make every word count.
“I fought long and hard every step of the way here, probably twice as hard as the men who came and went until you noticed me. Maybe that’s why you came to me when you had a job you knew that no one with any kind of damned moral compass or self-respect was going to do, but you were counting on my drive to keep this job to prevent me from opening my mouth about the questionable shit you were asking me to do. Well, fuck that. Like I said, you can shove this job right up your hairy asshole, and if you think for a moment I’m going to let all of this go without reporting you to the labor board and the Bar Association then you have another thing coming. So you can go fuck yourself, and I hope you enjoy the investigation that comes raining down on your head after all of this.”
Sam moved to leave the stunned silent senior executive in her wake but thought better of it for a second as she stood in the doorway and turned on heel to finish her statement.
“Oh, and I’ll make sure to tell my boyfriend you said hello. I hope your nose is still hurting from that punch he landed so maybe you won’t forget how to behave like a decent human being next time you’re in a similar situation.”
When she walked out of her office door with her bag slung over one shoulder the office was eerily silent even though everyone was watching her office door. She’d hoped for an audience when she began her tirade, but she hadn’t realized everyone was going to freeze like that. She felt her face heating up with embarrassment until she heard the sound of a single person clapping behind her. Sam glanced over her shoulder to see Debbie standing there, slowly applauding.
“It’s about damn time someone stood up to him. I’m glad it was you. He deserved every syllable of that. Just hold on a minute.” Debbie paused and leaned over, fishing her purse out of the bottom drawer of her desk and grabbing her coat. The next move she made was to go stand over in the open office door that faced her with a huge grin on her face as she brushed a stray strand of her red hair behind one ear. “You can double everything she just said for me. Samantha Crawford was the only reason I was still working here, so I hope you enjoy being down a junior partner and an assistant. Oh, and,” she pulled her bag up on one shoulder with a huge grin, “you can go fuck yourself with the cactus I’m leaving on my desk.”
Debbie walked over to Sam’s side and elbowed her gently.
“Come on. Let’s get the hell out of this place. We can both do better.”
Sam just nodded and lead the way for the two of them out of the office past the cadre of stunned silent associates, assistants and other office staff who parted ways for them to leave without a single comment.
A couple of hours later, Debbie and Samantha were sitting across from each other at Murphy’s, each of them nursing a cocktail and laughing over this morning’s events. Neither one of them cared that it was still before noon on a Monday morning. It wasn’t like either of them had a job to head into later anyway.
Sam had to admit that quitting had been absolutely freeing. She didn’t know why she’d hung on so long after he’d asked her to do something so against her conscience. Change was a funny thing. It was scary before you made the choice. All the possible consequences were looming on the other side. It was so easy to stick with the things that you knew and understood, even if things somewhere else might have been better.
Sam had spent so long working towards the goal of becoming a junior partner, that she hadn’t stopped to think about the toll it had taken on her life. When she sat down and thought about all the things she’d given up for Anderson, Ingersoll and Swift, she wasn’t certain what the benefit for her had been in the long run. She’d given up relationships, friendships, time, and any semblance of a life outside of work. It was just now that she’d realized it.
“Honestly, Sam, I don’t know why you stayed as long as you did. You’re better than them. They just don’t want to admit a woman does their job twice as well as they do. You should have been a junior partner years ago. And as for the rest of that bullshit, they wouldn’t have gone to any of the men around there with that kind of thing. They came to you because they knew how hard you’d worked for your job, and figured you weren’t going to put up much of a fuss. It just goes to show how Jim Anderson and all of the rest of them don’t really know you at all.” Debbie stopped her ranting to take a long swig of the drink in front of her, something fruity and strong that Samantha couldn’t remember the name of.
“I stayed because I’d put too much time and energy into everything to realize what was actually going on, Deb. It just took me having something else in my life to finally notice it.” Sam finally got to thinking about everything that had been going on in the last few weeks, and it suddenly hit her that if she hadn’t had Reid in her life, she wouldn’t have ever had anything to prioritize above work. She had her morals, but they were hard to remember when the most important thing to you was getting ahead at work. Reid had made her realize there was more to the world than that job.
“And I’m guessing that something else is tall, handsome and fills out a pair of jeans very nicely?” Debbie grinned at Sam over the glass, toying with the straw before she took another long swig. “I know he’s gone back home and all, but he was good for you, Sam. I’ve never seen you that happy in the entire time I’ve known you. You
deserve to be happy like that all the damned time. I hope you know that.”
Samantha knit her brows together and studied the drink in front of her. Part of her knew that Debbie was right. Another part of her wasn’t quite sure what she deserved or how to make it happen. She knew what she wanted, but what she wanted was living hundreds of miles away in a place that seemed like another world compared to what she was used to.
“Whatever you say, Deb. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’m kind of glad to be rid of that place. I guess both of us have some figuring out to do. At least I’ve got some money saved up. I don’t have to make any decisions for a while.” She suddenly felt guilty about her friend quitting her job at the same time she had. Sam had no idea how this was going to impact Debbie financially.
“What about you?” Sam took a long swig from her glass and looked over at her best friend hopefully.
“I mean… I’ve got some savings, and I’m pretty sure I know about a dozen other places I could get a job right now. But I was kind of hoping we could figure out something together.”
“I’m sure we will make it work one way or another, but I really have no ideas right now.” That was only half a lie. She had an idea, but it involved going to get on a plane and heading out to Reid. It had only been two days, but she was already over being apart from him. Maybe she wasn’t ready for the two of them to move in together, but she did want to be where she could see him every day.
That meant only one thing — moving— and Sam wasn’t certain she was ready to move. But, she hadn’t been certain she was ready to quit her job either, and she’d done that anyway. Maybe now wasn’t the time to worry about the consequences of everything and let the fact that it was all something she wasn’t used to hold her back. Now was the time for trying new things. She downed the rest of her drink when the idea hit her before nearly slamming the glass back down on the table and grinning across at her friend.
“I have a big idea, but it’s going to take some work. It’s something we need to talk about, because I don’t think I can do this alone.”
Debbie returned the grin with a laugh and a shake of her head.
“I’m not sure if I’m going to hate this idea or love it, but count me in. I’ve got nothing better going on, so whatever this big idea is must be worth a shot. Besides, the last time you got an idea it involved quitting your job. The time before that landed you in Reid’s arms. I’m starting to think you need to listen to your impulses more often. They’re working in your favor.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Damn it, Reid. Take a break already! You’re going to wear me plum out just watching you.” Matty’s voice rang out across the open grass of the pasture and echoed off the tree line before Reid paid him any attention.
He had a point, though. Reid had thrown himself into work as a distraction, but it only worked for a while. When he stopped, everything that was weighing down on him came back like a crushing weight.
Three days. That was all it had been, but it had felt like an eternity. He’d gotten far too used to waking up to Samantha in his arms and falling asleep to her gentle rhythmic breathing at night. Now all he had to sleep to was the sound of Matty snoring on the other side of the cabin. Reid would have given just about anything just to be able to have dinner across the table from her one more time instead of sitting in the chow hall at the ranch with all the other hands and having a conversation with whoever happened to sit across from him.
Maybe it was because things were so fresh. He was telling himself it would fade with time, and that he’d get a chance to see her again. He was just going to have to make do until the two of them could steal some more time to see each other. He didn’t care if that meant he was using up all his vacation time this year to spend time with her. He’d saved it up for ages because he’d never hand any good reason to use it. Sam was more than reason enough to cash it all in now.
Besides, he’d heard from her yesterday afternoon that she’d quit her job. He had to admit that he was more than a little proud of his girl for walking out of a job that was asking her to do something she didn’t agree with. He just wished she’d done it sooner, and a big part of him wished that she wasn’t so damn far away now that it wasn’t looming between the two of them.
He looked over to Matty and shook his head before wiping the sweat off his brow with the sleeve of his shirt. They were best friends, but it wasn’t exactly the kind of relationship where you could pour your heart out to a guy over splitting logs for fence rails or the coffee that Cook made strong enough to stand a horseshoe up in every morning.
“Yeah, yeah, man. It’s just because I’m working harder than you and making you look bad. I know it must be exhausting to watch me run circles around you and everything.” He could joke around, but Reid was pretty sure that the truth was obvious to everyone around here. There was only so long that he could go around denying it while he mooned around the ranch like a lovesick cow. They were letting him get by with it for now, but he was just waiting on the moment someone was going to call him on it. Something about the look on Matty’s face told him that moment was coming sooner than he expected.
Matty walked over, clearing the empty space between the two of them and folded his arms across his chest after he pushed his dark hair back off his forehead.
“And you just keep telling yourself it’s all about getting the job done better than the rest of us instead of keeping your mind off that damned girl back in the city if you need to, but eventually that’s going to come and bite you in the ass when you run out of shit to distract you. You’re not stupid, Reid. I’m not stupid either. We both know you miss the hell out of her. I can’t blame you there. I can’t say anything. I mean I don’t have a woman, but if I did, I can promise you this damned job wouldn’t be the reason I’m in a whole different area code than she is. I can promise you that.”
Reid shook his head again and just laid the axe he was holding down on the ground next to his feet, looking up at his friend. He knit his brows together and slid his hands in his pockets, carefully considering his response.
“It’s a little harder than all of that, man. The city is a real different place than I’m used to, and I’m going to be honest, I don’t think I’d last a month there without losing my mind. There’s too many people, too much going on. It’s never quiet, not even at midnight. You can’t see a star in the sky when the sun goes down. It’s all kind of too much for me to handle. Sam’s got her life there, and I don’t know where I fit into it all. I want to be a part of it. I really do. I just don’t know how either one of us is going to make it work. I’m not cut out for that life, and I don’t know if she’d be miserable in a place where she couldn’t get Chinese takeout at two in the morning or had to do more than walk five blocks to get a decent cup of coffee. That’s the life she’s used to, and it’s not fair of me to ask her to leave it.”
Reid knew he was babbling, but he’d been holding it all in for so long that it just came pouring out of his mouth without any kind of off switch now that he was able to talk to someone. He figured Matty was going to call him a moron and just walk off, but he wasn’t exactly prepared for what came out of his friend’s mouth.
“Y’all are both stubborn as mules.” His Southern accent got thicker when he was mad, drunk or fussing. It always amused Reid to hear him get started on one of his tirades, except this time it was focused at himself.
“Go ahead and get that damned look on your face, Reid, but you know I’m right. You’re too stubborn to go to her. She’s too stubborn to go to you. And the two of you are going to miss out on something big just because you think you can’t make it where the other one is. Something’s got to give, or someone, because if she’s half as moony as you are, then both of you are absolutely insufferable. I’m about damned ready to toss you into the hog sty if you don’t stop moping around and get something done. That’s all I know.”
The irritation was evident in his friend’s voice, and Reid recognized th
at maybe he hadn’t been doing as good of a job keeping himself level as he’d imagined he was. Matty had a point. Something had to give. He wasn’t going to be able to keep this up, no matter what he kept telling himself, and he could tell from the sound of Samantha’s voice every day on the phone that she was in the same place. The two of them were going to have to come up with some kind of plan to make all of this work, even if he didn’t have any idea what that could be.
“You know you’re right. We both fucking know it, but I don’t know what’s going to have to give, Matty. I’ll figure it out, eventually, but until then, could you get off my ass and just let me work myself in the ground so I don’t have to think about it?” Reid gave up on the conversation without another word and just turned to walk away. He had a lot running through his mind, but he didn’t know how to fix any of it. No matter what plan he came up with, they were always ending up in the same spot. He didn’t think he could live in the city, and he was pretty sure Sam wasn’t going to give that up for him.
She might have left her job, but it was just a matter of time until she found another one. Every law firm in the city was going to want her when they found out she was available. They’d have been fools not to, and she was just going to move on to the next job and the next corporate ladder to climb. Things would carry on just like they had before.
He wasn’t going to admit to anyone how his heart had jumped up into his throat when she’d told him she quit her job. This tiny little part of him held out some kind of hope that she was going to take this as the opportunity to pack her bags and come out here to be with him, but what did he have to offer someone like Sam? Nothing. He was in a job that didn’t even require a high school diploma doing grunt work around someone else’s ranch. Maybe if he’d owned his own ranch it would be a different story, but he was just a peon. He didn’t know what someone like Samantha saw in him anyway. It was probably just a matter of time until she realized it too and took off for greener pastures.