If this was her attempt at flirting, I’d hate to see how she’d act if she genuinely didn’t like me.

“So, Frankie, what brings you into town. Skiing? Snowboarding? Just a visit with your sister?”

She snorted. “You wouldn’t catch me dead skiing or snowboarding.”

I clutched my heart and winced as if she’d inflicted some sort of irreparable damage on me.

Her eyebrows shot up. “What? Are you big on those things?”

Was I big on those things? I wanted to laugh. My entire life revolved around extreme sports. It was the sole reason I moved to Colorado in the first place. “I just came over here from Denver to be a snowboard instructor.”

Frankie gave a knowing smirk. “Of course you did.”

Her words should have rubbed me the wrong way. They came across as elitist, and I couldn’t help but get the feeling she might be looking down on me in some way. But it didn’t bother me. I liked who I was and how I chose to live my life. My brother, Nathan, said I’d never grow up. Maybe that was the case, but what was so wrong with my lifestyle? I loved things the way they were. I didn’t want to weigh myself down with the unnecessary burdens of the world.

I folded my hands in front of me and waited for Frankie to continue. When she didn’t, I pressed, “What are you here for, then?”

She sighed and squeezed her eyes shut, as if whatever she was about to say was physically difficult for her to talk about. “I got fired.” It came out as a whisper.

“Fired, huh? You do a crappy job or something?”

That caused her scowl to return, like I knew it would. Man, she was fun to mess with.

“I did a fantastic job, for your information.” She tried to infuse venom into her words, but she just sounded defeated. “I gave everything to that company. I was the best person on my team, and they knew it. I was the only one willing to stay late and I never missed a deadline.” She exhaled sharply. “But they didn’t care. In the end, I was just a number to them. An expendable person they could dump like a piece of garbage so they could improve their numbers.”

She looked genuinely upset by this. No—heartbroken. This was more than being worried about money or something like that. She actually cared. I couldn’t even imagine loving a job that much.

“I’m sorry,” I said, with as much sincerity as I could muster. Just because I didn’t understand the corporate grind, didn’t mean I couldn’t see that she was in pain over this. “That sounds tough.”

Frankie clenched and unclenched her hands. “I was shocked when it happened. I just stood there like an idiot when my boss told me. I didn’t even register it at first. I asked him if he was ready for our Q1 presentation.” She sniffled, and I hoped she wouldn’t cry. Getting deep didn’t exactly make me comfortable. I was the fun, carefree guy. Not the guy you stayed up late with and told all your secrets to.