Ash walked into Jill’s office with Gwen trailing behind her. “Ms. Taylor is here to see you.”

Jill nodded and Ash walked out. “Where’s Ms. Murphy? I wasn’t notified that I’d be meeting with you instead.” Jill crossed her arms and stood tall behind her desk. “Is she avoiding me or something?”

“Why would she be avoiding you?”

Fuck. Would Reagan have told Gwen they kissed? Gwen would have asked her something different if she knew. “I thought I might have done…um, said something to offend her.”

“How surprising,” Gwen mumbled.

Jill bristled at that. Gwen didn’t know her or her relationship with Reagan. Not that there really was one. “Did you have something to say?” Jill snapped and didn’t let Gwen answer. Instead, she came back with more anger since that seemed to be what everyone expected out of her. “This is the second occurrence of a switch. I just think it would be a little more professional for Reagan to show up when she said she would. If this is the level of—”

“Her dad just died.”

Jill’s arms dropped to her sides instantly and her shoulders deflated. “When?”

Gwen visibly swallowed before clearing her throat. “A few days ago.”

Poor Reagan. A barrage of questions flooded Jill’s brain. What happened? Was she okay? Should she call or text to check in on her? But Jill didn’t let herself ask a single one. She didn’t know Gwen, and it seemed clear that Gwen didn’t know about anything between her and Reagan. Gwen would probably think it was weird or creepy for her to ask any of that, especially if Gwen had the image of her as a bitch. Gwen also seemed to be upset and she didn’t want to make that worse either. So, all she said was, “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.” Gwen took a breath and slowly released it. “Now if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to go over the menu one more time so we can set up the options you and your mother will want to taste.”

“Yes, of course.” Jill gestured to the conference table. “Please have a seat. Did Ash offer you something to drink?”

“They did. I’m fine.” They sat at the table and Gwen pulled out a stack of papers. “It’s a nice touch having their pronouns on their nameplate. I didn’t notice that last time. Was that their doing or yours?”

“Mine. I respect my employees. I’m not a complete asshole.”

Quietly, but not quietly enough, Gwen mumbled, “Could’ve fooled me.”

“Excuse me?” Jill asked.

Gwen stared for a moment. “Nothing, Ms. Jacobs. Shall we look at the options?”

Jill waited a beat, taking her time to size Gwen up more than she had the first time they met. Jill sat back in her chair and replied, “Very well. Show me what you’ve got.”