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Gray was in his office. He knocked on the open door and entered before his friend looked up. Seth prepared for a battle, since the subject would be a difficult talk about replacing Jessica, which they needed to do quickly.

“Hey boss. How was the conference?”

“Fine. I didn’t have a single percentage of signal while I was out in the boonies though. Did you try to call me?”

Gray narrowed his eyes. “No. I figured you needed some time off. I left you alone. Besides I was pretty busy.”

Seth nodded. “Good. How are things going here?”

“Excellent. It’s been a full house all week. We’ve been running at full speed, with little or no hiccups. It’s been great actually.” Gray was happiest when things were crazy busy.

Seth nodded, surprised that Gray hadn’t taken his head off about Jessica’s departure.

“Isabelle, the night manager, is working out okay, right?” he asked.

Gray nodded. “Yes. She’s great. In fact, I’ll put her on days whenever Jessica is gone. She’ll work out perfectly.”

“So…Isabelle is staying then?”

“Yes. Why wouldn’t she?”

Seth shrugged. “No reason.”

“Do you know something I don’t know?”

“No.” Seth guessed Barrington’s generosity of job offers didn’t extend to any other employees of his dismissed in the wake of his bad decision. “However, we will have to find a replacement for Jessica quickly, won’t we? Have you started looking yet?”

Gray, looked up sharply. “What? Why? Where is she going?”

Seth opened his mouth, confused by Gray’s surprise. Hadn’t he just said he planned to put Isabelle on days to cover Jessica being gone?

He drew in a deep breath to explain in lengthy detail how Jessica deserved her old job back and how he planned to support her and also desert Gray to join her in Chicago, but Gray held up his palm. “Never mind. I figured it out on my own.”

Seth pushed the air from his lungs and said quietly, “I know you’re upset.”

“You’re damn right I’m upset.” Gray pushed out a long anguished sigh. “Did I or did I not see this coming? I can’t believe this. Things were going so well, too.”

“I’m sorry, Gray. You must know by now that Barrington offered to give her old job back including a big fat raise. She deserved to have that job. We told her last week that she should absolutely take his generous offer. In fact, I just got home and she’s already moved out.”

Gray’s eyes widened appreciably. “Why would you ever, ever tell her that? Why?”

Seth didn’t want to have this conversation with Gray. “She deserved to take her old job back. We all agreed.”

“I didn’t agree.”

“I’m sorry.” Seth decided to change the subject. “So have things been flowing well this past week? I mean, I’m sorry to leave you shorthanded and then be out of town while you dealt with it all.”

Gray’s eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about? We’re fully staffed. At least until two minutes ago.”

“No.” Seth tilted his head to one side. “Jessica left last week to take Barrington’s offer.”

Gray snorted. He then shook his head perhaps to add validity to his words. “No. Jessica did not take his offer last week, Seth!”

“What?”

“I’ll say it again. Jessica didn’t take his offer. She’s been here all week. Working.”

“Sure she did. I just got back home and all of her things are gone. I thought she’d give two weeks’ notice, but perhaps Barrington insisted she start right away.”

“Have you been drinking?” Gray crossed his arms and one brow went north.

“No. What is going on?”

Gray uncrossed his arms and seated himself back behind his desk. “Jessica told me last week the day after you left that she liked it here. She told me she loved her job and hoped she could keep it forever. She told me she was grateful for this job, and that she truly enjoyed working with me and Isabelle.”

“But she moved out of our house sometime last week.” Seth didn’t mean to sound so obtuse, but what the hell was going on here?

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