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“Uh…yeah,” Haylee chimed in, as if finally catching the hint Cherish threw in her direction.
But what was that hint?
Cherish didn’t even know, and she was the one giving it. “Where did you find her?”
“A job site.” Haylee flicked her gaze to Febe before bringing it right back to Cherish.
Why couldn’t they look away from each other?
“What made her stand out to you?” Febe asked.
Haylee swallowed, one more glance at Febe before looking back to Cherish. What was this game they were playing? Haylee pulled her lower lip between her teeth before letting it pop out and answering. “She doesn’t have a lot of experience, I know that, but she has drive.”
“Drive?” Cherish pushed. She wanted to know. She’d liked the woman too from when they’d met, but this had all been Haylee, and Febe deserved to know that Cherish actually had very little to do with finding her.
“Yeah, she uh…she followed up the first interview with a thank you note. Only one to do that.”
Cherish hummed, a smile sliding onto her lips and glitter in her gaze before she focused back on Febe—who was pale. Ashen almost. Her gaze was hard as she stared directly at Cherish, all the warmth from before gone in a flash.
What had Cherish done?
Febe raised an eyebrow, the delicate dark line indicating a question, but Cherish had no idea what the question was. This time, she was left completely on her own, unable to formulate where Febe’s brain had gone. That was a first in decades. Cherish had always been in tune with Febe, no matter what, ever since Febe had dated Stuart. Ever since—
“But her first interview went really well. Did this one go well?” Haylee’s voice brought Cherish out of her panic.
“It did. If you could start the new hire paperwork, I would appreciate it.” Febe was talking to Haylee, but she was still looking directly at Cherish. That same question in her eyes.
But what the hell was the question?
“Yes, Ms. Aarts. I’ll get right on that.”
“Thank you.” Febe nodded her head slightly at Cherish, as if expecting something. But what?
Why was Cherish suddenly so unable to read Febe’s moods, her internal thoughts, the slight changes in her body? Five seconds ago, she had been perfect at it, and now? Cherish didn’t look away until Febe shut the door, and her presence left a void of energy in the room. She managed to turn her chin, to look back at Haylee who was in absolute awe.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Haylee murmured, her voice low as if Febe would overhear them from the other room.
“You’re the one who found her.”
“But you didn’t have to tell Fe—Ms. Aarts—that. You could have taken credit for it.”
Cherish tensed, her shoulders pulling together and her chest tightening. Why had she shifted the credit over to Haylee? She wouldn’t have done that before, so why now? “It’s nothing.”
She tried to play it off like it wasn’t a big deal, because she didn’t want it to be. Cherish needed the comfort and safety of her routines and patterns. This was so far outside them that it would likely cause a panic.
One she didn’t know if she would be able to come back from.
“Cherish?”
“What?” she snapped, a little too sharply. But she didn’t correct herself or apologize. That wouldn’t be her, and the hard personality she’d worked so long to create would shatter in an instant.
“Oh, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Cherish murmured, staring down at her desktop. When did that stain from the coffee mug she’d drunk from that morning appear? Cherish snagged a wet wipe from the center drawer in her desk and cleaned it up, tossing the wipe into the trash bin. Her head gave a sharp stab, and she cringed. Out of habit, she reached into her drawer for the pills she always kept in there.
She swallowed two dry.
“You don’t look fine.” Did Haylee’s voice waver? Was she nervous confronting Cherish like this?
