“And where did that get you?” He stabbed his knife in the air at her as he made his point. “Now you’re working two jobs for the price of one.”

“Less than one, but who’s counting?” Angela felt the need to add. “Come on, Justine. You can do better than that. Why do you let them step all over you?”

Justine seemed to sink in her seat as her family continued to berate her. Xavier tried to keep his opinion to himself, but the poor woman would end up sliding right under the table if their badgering continued. He couldn’t take it anymore.

“I think Justine did what was right for her in the moment.”

Everyone stopped talking and looked at him.

“It’s not as easy as it seems to disagree with one’s boss when you’ve been trained to respect authority your entire life, as is clearly the case here.”

Lyle raised a brow. “Oh?”

“You’re a strong parental figure. You and your wife are the boss at home. You raised all three of your daughters to respect authority. So it’s no surprise when Justine acts true to form at work. She’s smart, does her job well, and is a team player. Unfortunately, her boss is taking advantage of her assets.”

“Assets?” Lyle took a sip of wine, mulling the word. “I suppose you’re right. She’s clearly intelligent, organized, logical—for the most part.”

Justine remained quiet, focusing on her plate while she pushed her food around. She acted like a completely different person with her family than the funny, assured person he knew her to be.

Her father continued, “She seems to have missed the advice we gave our girls about standing up for herself.”

“Seriously, Justine.” Angela nodded. “That was the first thing I learned at Ferrera-Hind working for Dad. Especially working with men.”

“That’s so true,” Mallory chimed in. “I mean, I’m still learning.” She glanced at her father, saw his nod, and continued. “But I never let anyone talk down to me or treat me like less than I’m worth.”

Considering what Justine had said of Mallory, Xavier knew that to be less than true. He glanced at Justine, but when she remained focused on her food, he spoke up for her. “She did question Frank about her new job. I think she gave him the benefit of the doubt by waiting for him to admit she wasn’t getting a raise. When he didn’t, she decided to take the time to consider her options. Which, if you asked me, is much smarter than flying off the handle in rebuttal to some jackass who can’t lead his way out of a paper bag.”

Incensed on her behalf, he added while looking at her, “Justine is worth ten Franks any way you look at it. Eventually she’ll get where she’s going. Sometimes it takes a little time to get there, is all.” He looked over to see her father’s slow grin.

“Fired you up, eh, Xavier?”

“I don’t like to see her upset. And you all seem to be piling on.” He paused and couldn’t help adding, “If I’m being Frank about it.”