She watched as Beth listened to the caller and made notes on a pad of paper, doodling along the edges as the call continued. “Okay, Rob. I have you down to meet with Gwen next Tuesday at three. Have a good day,” Beth said as she hung up the phone.

“What did our wonderful real estate agent want? How many times did he bring up his cats?”

Beth grabbed her chest as she let out a gasp. “Jesus, Reagan. Maybe announce yourself next time.”

She leaned against Beth’s desk. “Why should I do that? You totally wanted to scream, didn’t you?”

Beth slapped her thigh. “No. Well, okay, maybe. What are you doing here? No offense. I miss seeing you but I didn’t expect you in today. I would’ve made a fresh pot of coffee.”

“No worries. The nurse stopped by and my mom pushed me out of the house so I could have some time to myself.”

The joy in Beth’s eyes dimmed. “How’s he holding up?”

She shrugged. “Good days and bad. You know.”

“I do,” Beth whispered. Her mom had died when she was fifteen.

She provided a tremendous amount of support to Reagan, in addition to being an amazing employee. She often went above and beyond by dropping off cookies or movies she thought Reagan’s dad might like.

Reagan nodded toward the phone. “What did Rob want?”

“He has a new building to show Gwen. Just off Mass Ave. He said it’s a prime spot and won’t be on the market for long.”

She bit the corner of her lip and nodded. Once she had stepped away from work almost two months ago, she had promised Gwen her focus would be on her family and not the company. But when big decisions like space for a new restaurant came into play, it was hard to sit on the sidelines. She pulled out her phone and looked at her calendar. “You said Tuesday at three?” Beth nodded. “Shit. I’m looking after my dad that day. Mom has her monthly get together with her friends. I can’t ask her to skip it. I’ll, um, talk to Gwen about it later.” She clenched her phone and sighed before straightening up and putting it in her back pocket.

Beth squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. She understands. I’ll be going with her. We can handle it.”

“Oh, I know you can. I wasn’t implying that.” Reagan trusted her opinion, but she struggled with needing it. She wanted to be there to look at new properties, help Gwen with menus, or even check emails daily. It was tough not to have enough time or energy to help with her dad and contribute at work. Reagan sighed. “It’s just hard.”

“I get it.”