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“Yes, there is.” She turned her gaze to Hudson. “Compassion.”
When Hudson frowned, Caren cleared her throat, then got to her feet. “We’ll leave you two to discuss this. Let us know what your final decision is, Kayleigh. Also, when should we meet with Liz?”
“I think we should do it this afternoon,” Hudson said. “Get it all taken care of as soon as possible.”
“I agree,” Kayleigh said. “Will one of you take care of setting up a meeting with her? This room is available all afternoon, so anytime should work.”
“Stephanie and I will do that and let you know.”
Stephanie got to her feet and followed Caren to the door, glancing back at Kayleigh before leaving the room.
“I don’t think emotions should play a role in deciding this woman’s fate as part of Remington.”
There was a hard set to Hudson’s expression as he stared at her, making Kayleigh’s heart ache. She hated to think she was disappointing him with this decision, but she knew it was the right one.
“Have you ever had to worry about paying your rent? Or having enough money to buy groceries?”
“Well… no.”
“Neither have I,” Kayleigh said. “We’re fortunate in our financial situations, but not everyone is. I can’t imagine needing something for my child, and not being able to provide it. Or, as in Jenn’s case, finally getting something that would provide for your child needs and then be faced with losing it.”
Hudson continued to frown, and Kayleigh knew that he just didn’t grasp where she was coming from or why she would even consider not firing Jenn for what she’d done.
“It doesn’t justify her actions,” Hudson said as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
“You’re right. It doesn’t justify them, but it does explain why she did it. And now I have the opportunity to decide what to do for Jenn.”
“My advice is to let her go because we don’t know that this will be the last time she causes trouble.”
Kayleigh knew she had to stick to her guns, even though it meant standing in opposition to Hudson. “I don’t want to do that. I want to take the opportunity to offer her grace. To give her another chance. I’ll let her keep her job, with the understanding that she’s on probation for the next six months.”
“What would Wilder want you to do?”
“Would you like me to make this decision based on what Wilder wants?” Kayleigh asked.
“Yes. I think I would.”
The thing was that Hudson thought he knew how Wilder would react, but he didn’t. Kayleigh was confident that Wilder would have a similar reaction to Jenn’s story that she’d had.
“Okay. We’ll talk with Wilder when he’s done for the day and tell him everything that Jenn told us. If Wilder says he wants me to fire her, then I will.”
Hudson narrowed his gaze at her. “Are you planning to talk to him about it before then? To convince him to let Jenn keep her job?”
It hurt that he thought she’d do that, but it wasn’t a surprise. He really didn’t understand where she and Wilder were coming from.
“No. I’m not going to talk to him beyond asking him to come by my office when he’s finished work.”
“Okay. We’ll do that.”
Kayleigh really didn’t like being at odds with Hudson. However, it was the reminder she needed that, at the heart of things, she and Hudson approached life from very different viewpoints. She would always view situations through the lens of her faith and what God wanted her to do.
She knew that there were people who weren’t Christians who might give Jenn another chance, but apparently Hudson wasn’t one of them. And because he didn’t share her faith, he wouldn’t understand why it was the basis of her desire to help the woman, and why she was confident that Wilder would feel the same way.
“Would you like me to order some food?” Kayleigh offered. “Since we missed lunch?”
“That would be great. I’m hungry. Are you?”
“Not really. But I should probably eat something before we meet with Liz.”
