Page 73 of The Hang Up
“It’ll make for good PR. I can have the First Impressions team leak it out there to the press, how Urban Trax is looking out for its employees.”
“Maybe,” he said as his brain flashed on an image of Miriam. “That’s not why we did it, though.”
“Of course not. But the PR won’t hurt. Sorta like when REI made headlines for giving all their employees the day off on Black Friday.”
“Sure. Why don’t you run it by the First Impressions team? See what they think about it. They’d know better than we would about the pros and cons from the PR side of things.”
“I will,” Pete said. “I’ve been in touch with them a few times over the last week. That idea I brought up in the meeting—the one about employee testimonials? That was all Miriam.”
“Miriam,” Jason said, and the sound of her name sent a pang of longing through him. It didn’t surprise him she’d had the idea. She was smart. And passionate. And funny. And successful. And sexy as hell.
But she was more than that.
Or rather,hewas more because of her.
Miriam didn’t make him less able to look out for other people. Hell, she made him more of a man. The kind of man who’d spent the last two weeks getting to know the employees of his company. The kind of man who might struggle a little to balance career and family and taking care of all the people he loved, but felt damn determined to do it anyway.
Jesus. What the hell had he been thinking breaking things off with her?
“I’m an idiot.”
“Sir?”
He blinked at Pete. “Uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
But he did need to say something out loud.I’m sorry, for starters.I fucked up,for another. Maybe there was still a way to show Miriam they belonged together. That he could be the kind of guy she deserved.
“Sir, where are you going?” Pete called as Jason began walking toward the door. Walking—hell, he was running, flat-out sprinting if you wanted to get technical.
Being in shape had its advantages.
“I’m not done fixing things today,” he called as he hurled himself against the door.“There’s still one more thing to do.”
CHAPTER16
Miriam bent forward to wring the mud from her hair, conscious of the fact that it was a futile effort.
Her shirt was covered in mud. Her shorts were covered in mud. Her face was covered in mud. Did a little mud in her hair really matter that much?
What she needed right now was a shower. She scowled at her front door and sighed. Okay, so she couldn’t unlock her house at the moment. She’d lost her keys and phone when she’d rolled her new kayak in the pond a few miles south of town. Thank God for the magnetic hide-a-key on her car or she’d be out there still, sitting on a log and wondering what the hell she’d been thinking taking up this silly new pastime.
Before she knew it, she was grinning.
Okay, so it was crazy. A dedicated city girl buying a kayak and teaching herself to paddle with YouTube videos and a lot of trial and error? That sounded nuts.
It was also a lot of fun.
She’d definitely been enjoying herself, even after she’d rolled at the edge of the muddy bank. Her paddle had gotten away from her, so she’d had to drag the kayak through a knee-deep mud bog trying to reach the shore. She might have fallen in once or twice, losing any hope that her white Donna Karan T-shirt would ever be white again.
But she’d gotten the damn paddle back, and she’d even had a little fun doing it. Out there on that pond, she’d thought about her dad a lot. She’d remembered his laughter, the way his cheeks would glow pink and dimpled after a long bike ride. She remembered the way he used to come in with snow in his beard and light in his eyes and a big hug for his only daughter.
This is living, baby girl.
She got it now.
Which still didn’t get her into her house.
She sighed and stared at her front door. All this standing around grinning like an idiot wasn’t getting her any closer to a shower. She could just knock on a neighbor’s door and ask to borrow a phone. Holly had an extra key to her house, so that might work.
