Page 33 of Naughty Heart

“No?” There was a bit of disbelief in her tone.

Disbelief and curiosity.

“I met her on Saturday.”

My mom rolled her eyes, and my dad sighed with disappointment. In an instant, I realized they’d gotten the wrong impression.

“I met her in a coffee shop downtown,” I clarified. “It was during the day. She isn’t some random girl I met at a bar or club. I didn’t seek her out and work with her to formulate some evil plan to deceive the two of you.”

“You met her at a coffee shop?” my mom asked, the tone of her voice suddenly sounding intrigued.

I nodded. “Yes. Admittedly, I had originally gone there trying to figure out what I could do about this situation. I’d been feeling aggravated at the conversation I’d had with the two of you a few days before, and Evelyn had walked in with a stack of resumes, looking for a job at the coffee shop.”

“And you just happened to be paying attention?” my father questioned me. He obviously knew me well and was assuming I would have quickly noticed a woman like Evelyn the minute she stepped inside.

“No. Unfortunately, as she was leaving, two little boys had been running around the shop and ran into her. While her resumes went flying everywhere, she had fallen backwards into my lap.”

My dad lifted a brow.

Now, it was my turn to roll my eyes. I couldn’t say I didn’t understand why he looked at me that way. Before they’d shown up at my place last week, I could think of no better icebreaker than to have a woman fall into my lap. “I was far too ticked off to say anything clever. In fact, I was initially a bit rude to her. It was clear I’d hurt her feelings and embarrassed her more than she already was, so after she scrambled to get her resumes picked up and ran out of the shop, I saw she’d left one on the table. That’s when an idea popped into my head. So, I chased after her, and I asked her if she’d like to come in for an interview.”

So much had happened since our encounter in that coffee shop. It felt like it had happened months earlier, not less than a week ago. And ever since then, I’d learned a lot more about her, things I hadn’t expected to learn.

Or maybe it wasn’t so much I’d learned things I hadn’t expected to learn so much as it was that I’d learned things about her and still wanted more. That was the unexpected part of it.

I’d gone into this thinking I’d be able to do enough to prove to my parents I was responsible enough to take over this company, and that I could be trusted not to not do anything that would jeopardize the reputation generations of Westwoods had built.

But I hadn’t anticipated Evelyn being all that she was.

I thought I’d have a woman here who’d free up some of my time, so I could really focus my effort on doing some things over the next few weeks that would benefit the business. As a bonus, the woman would be gorgeous.

I didn’t expect someone as humble, gracious, and smart as Evelyn.

I tried to rid my mind of those thoughts immediately, because I didn’t need it affecting my ability to have this conversation with my parents. If they had the slightest inclination that I was interested in Evelyn being here because I liked her as something that went well beyond her simply being an employee, they’d deliver the company to my sister.

“What did she used to do? Was she already working a job that she wanted to leave?” my mom pressed for more information.

“She was a factory worker in the warehouse at Hilborne Art Supply. The day before I met her, she was terminated from her position, along with everyone else on the shift with her.”

My mom gasped. “Oh, that’s awful.”

“And right before the Christmas holiday,” my dad muttered.

Though they understood business and the need to make tough decisions at times, it impacted them to think about how the lives of individuals were affected in situations like this. It was just as Evelyn had said to them moments ago. They had not just their personal family, but the people who worked here at The Westwood Company were also like family.

“Did you offer her a good salary?”

My lips twitched.

This was what I needed. Instead of them wanting to challenge my decision at every turn, I wanted them to support my choice to hire her. If I was able to make that happen by getting them to be sympathetic toward her, so be it.

“She’s making more than double what she was making at her last job,” I confirmed. “And I’ll note that they were paying her like shit.”

“Different types of work results in different paygrades,” my dad reasoned.

I lifted a brow and pursed my lips. “Maybe. And I’m well aware of how it goes. But that woman is brilliant, and she wasn’t being paid what she’s worth. Perhaps that’s because she wasn’t working a job that gave her the opportunity to meet her full potential. Regardless, at this point, I’m honestly not even sure I’m paying her enough after all that she’s done in just a few days here.”

The silence stretched between the three of us once more. I’d said all I could and was willing to say. Things would have to play out as they would.