Sherry would probably be relieved, even happy that she was free again. And with her job at the Archer, she would be fine. That’s what she’d said, right? Maybe Danielle would give Sherry a big raise and more hours so that she wouldn’t have to look for a second job. And if Madison agreed to keep paying for Jake’s schooling, he wouldn’t have to switch to another one. Sherry wouldn’t mind, would she?

The receiver in her hand felt as if it weighed a ton. “I have to…do it. C’mon.”

With a loud thump, she let the receiver fall back into its cradle. “No.” Grandmother Eileen thought that Madison had changed. And most of the credit for this had to go to Sherry. Without her, the whole illusion would collapse like a house of cards. No, it was better to wait a little longer. So long as her grandmother didn’t issue an ultimatum, Madison could forget their earlier conversation.

As soon as she’d made this decision, a weight lifted off her shoulders and she could breathe normally again.

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Sherry’s heels clicked on the polished wooden floor as soon as she stepped out of the elevator.

After the enormous lobby, she hadn’t expected that anything could impress her anymore. But the expensive wood paneling and the even more expensive-looking paintings on both walls of the hallway leading up to the huge reception desk left her in awe anyway.

She wiped her clammy palms on her pant legs and stepped up to the reception desk.

“How may I help you?” the woman behind the reception desk asked in a professional but not really friendly tone.

“I, um, was sent up from…” The man at the reception desk in the lobby hadn’t told her his name, and Sherry hadn’t read his nametag. “Downstairs.”

The woman squinted at her. “May I ask what exactly you are here fo—”

Another woman—a younger one—stumbled out of an office a few feet away from them. She tried without much success to straighten some lose strands of blonde hair back into her chignon before smoothing both palms over her wrinkled silk blouse. “It’s okay, Charlotte. This is Ms. Miller, Ms. Fielding’s partner. I was about to escort her upstairs, but I got…” She was breathing as if she’d run or maybe had had a close encounter of the intimate kind and blew a strand of hair away from her face. “…delayed. That’s why I asked Leonard to just send her up.” She rushed to Sherry. “I have to apologize for this, Ms. Miller.”

The woman behind the reception desk jumped up. “Oh, God, I’m so sorry. I should have known they wouldn’t send you up if you weren’t—”