LITMIR.BIZ

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made an idiot of herself in the process. He’d only been watching out for her safety. There was nothing personal in his concern; he probably felt that way with all his employees.

      She swallowed and sat down again, knees definitely wobbly. Should she listen to his advice? Leave when she’d just arrived—without even proving how competent she was? She couldn’t do that. She had too much riding on this job.

      “Guess I tried too much. Jackson suggested I’m suffering from altitude sickness. Can I use the phone in the office to call my doctor? Just to check in?”

      “I can take you to the hospital in Julian,” Jeff said instantly.

      “Maybe, but first I’ll check in with my regular obstetrician. I’ve heard of pregnant women fainting—although it’s never happened to me before. Maybe Jackson is right and it’s just a reaction to the higher altitude. Which means I’ll have to take it easy until I get used to being at this elevation. But I need to get some exercise. I can’t just sit at a desk all day.”

      “Are you sure you don’t want me to run you into town to be checked by a doctor?”

      “Let me check in with mine first.”

      Jeff escorted her to the office, which was miraculously empty. Thankfully, Mandy sat behind her desk, glad she didn’t have to face Jackson again so soon. She dialed the phone and spoke to the answering service, leaving her number. Hanging up, she looked at Jeff.

      “They’ll track the doctor down for me. I’ll just wait here until she calls back. Don’t let me keep you from anything. I’m feeling fine, truly. I’m not going to keel over. Even my headache is fading.”

      “I’ll sit with you. Maybe Jackson was right. Maybe this is too much to expect of a pregnant woman,” Jeff said thoughtfully.

      “Don’t you start! We’ll find out what happened and see it doesn’t happen again. I need this job, Jeff. Please don’t fire me.” She hated having to plead to keep her job, but she could understand how, after this, they were uncertain she could last.

      He looked uneasy. “I don’t know if this will work, Mandy.”

      “It will.” She wished she felt as confident as she had the day before. Had she placed the doubt in Jeff’s mind? She needed his support!

      He settled in behind his desk, leaning back in his chair, his feet on the desk as they waited for the doctor’s call. “Are you going back to Denver when the baby comes, or are you originally from somewhere else?” he asked.

      “I have no family and no ties to Denver.” Especially after Marc’s final rejection. “I might check out Julian over the next few weeks and see if I like it. I can settle anywhere. And won’t you need secretarial help again in the spring?”

      She kept in touch with only one of her foster parents, but they weren’t close. She had two friends from the building department and one longtime friend from high school. They all had busy lives and wouldn’t miss her as much as she’d miss them. Maybe she could start over in Julian. Find a niche for herself and her baby.

      She’d long been used to knowing she was alone in the world. Having a job to look forward to in the spring would help pass the long winter months.

      Jeff smiled. “You thinking about coming back when we start up again?”

      “Maybe.”

      “And the baby?”

      She looked around the office. “I think a playpen would fit in here by my desk. How long will you take to finish the project?”

      “End of next summer should do it, if we keep on schedule and the winter doesn’t last forever. Sorry, Mandy, girl, Jackson would never allow a baby on the site. It’s too dangerous.”

      “Not in the office.”

      “It’ll never happen, Mandy. I’d back him on that decision. In fact, I need to know you’ll be safe now, or I’ll change my position on your staying.”

      “I’m fine.” Frustration was building. She wished she’d never gone on that blasted walk!

      The phone rang.

      Ten minutes later Mandy hung up, feeling hugely relieved.

      “The doctor said it sounds like altitude sickness. I’m to take things easy and drink a lot of fluids. If anything else happens, then I’m to see a local doctor immediately. I was planning to set up an appointment anyway, so I’ll do that first thing in the morning.”

      “You’re sure?” Jeff asked. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

      She nodded, warmed by his concern.

      Hadn’t Jackson also been concerned?

      The warmth she felt around Jackson had nothing to do with concern.

      “I was so excited to have someone competent come out, I guess I didn’t think things through all the way,” Jeff said slowly.

      “Don’t even start thinking that way. I’m competent and capable. I’m not sick. Today was an anomaly. I can do the work, Jeff. I’ve burned my bridges behind me. If you fire me, where would I go?” She prayed this tactic might work with softhearted Jeff. It never would with hard-as-nails Jackson Witt.

      “Anyway, I think Jackson overreacted,” she said.

      “Understandable.”

      “Why?” Did Jeff hold insight into his partner, something that, if shared, would enable her to better understand the man? To better deal with him? Could Jeff help her find a way to work around Jackson’s antagonism and be allowed to remain?

      “His wife and child were killed a few years ago. It eats at him that he wasn’t there to save them. He probably feels he can at least make sure your baby is properly taken care of. And face it, Mandy, a construction site isn’t the safest place in the world. I should have thought through the situation more before hiring you. But we need help as much as you need the job!”

      She was stunned by the information about Jackson’s family. How tragic! She tried to imagine a loss of that magnitude. Protectively, her hands covered her stomach. The worst fear of any parent was to lose a child. And he’d lost both wife and child?

      “How were they killed?”

      “Random shooting at an elementary school. Sara was a teacher there, and Sammy had just started kindergarten.” Jeff’s voice was heavy with grief.

      “Oh, Lord.” Mandy swallowed, unexpected compassion and sympathy for Jackson suddenly blooming. No wonder he was such a hard man—he’d have to be to survive such a devastating loss. “How awful!”

      She wanted to weep—for the loss, for the man who must have been so devastated, so angry at fate to lose his family in such a senseless manner.

      Jeff looked out the window, toward the skeleton of the lodge. “He’s never been the same. He and Sara grew up together. Don’t think he ever dated anyone else. And they doted on their little boy.” Jeff shook his head sadly. “Tragic time.”

      He turned and looked at Mandy. “That’s one reason he drives himself now—to forget, I think. If work is all-consuming, there’s no time for memories.”

      “How long ago did it happen?” Her throat ached with unshed tears. Her heart went out to the man. His attitude could be excused, explained. Maybe he felt genuine concern for her and her pregnancy.

      “Three years ago this month. It happened over in Fort Collins. That’s where I had my company. Jackson was my foreman at the time. Afterward, he had us push for bigger jobs, remote sites, shorter time schedules. He became my partner. His ideas are great, and we’re doing better than ever—but I miss that town. I don’t reckon Jackson will ever go back. He hasn’t seen his folks since the funeral. Or Sara’s parents. We all lived in Fort Collins.”

      “I am so sorry,” Mandy

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