He straightened, his eyes narrowing. “Dinner.
And when were you going to tell me about that?”
Never, and as soon as she thought it, Emily
recognized how odd that was for her. She and Ron were good friends. Beyond just
their professional bond, they socialized as often as Ron could convince her to.
She’d even told him a little bit about Pam, and that was something she never
shared. But she hadn’t planned on telling him about Derian. What could she say?
Nothing she wanted to put into words, not only because words might not do
justice to exactly how unique the evening had been, but perhaps—like the fear
of reducing the brilliance of a sunrise to the ordinary in a photograph—she
didn’t want to put words to the experience lest she fail in her description and
tarnish the memory.
“It must’ve been a very interesting dinner,”
Ron said at length.
Emily blinked. “It was pleasant, and like I
said, she was very gracious.”
“If you say so. I just hope she’s not too
gracious when she comes in and boots Ms. Interloper Agnelli out from behind
Henrietta’s desk.”
Emily’s heart plummeted. “I don’t think
that’s anything we should wait for.”
*
At eight thirty a.m. Vonnie appeared in
Emily’s doorway, arms folded over her chest and thunder in her eyes. “Ms.
Agnelli wants all of the senior staff in the conference room now, please.”
She spoke so stiffly her face barely moved
with her words.
Emily recognized rage and hurried to her
side. Keeping her voice low, she said, “Don’t worry. Whatever’s going on, we’ll
handle it until Henrietta returns.”
“I’m not taking orders from her,” Vonnie said
through clenched teeth. “I swear, I’ll quit first.”
Emily grasped her arm. “You most certainly
will not. None of us can get along without you, and I need you to help me sit
on Henrietta when she comes back to work. It’s going to take both of us to get
her to slow down without realizing she is.”
Vonnie’s lips curved for an instant and she
let out a long breath. “If I didn’t love this place and most everybody in it, I
swear…”
“I know, I know. It’s horrible right now, but
we’ll get through it.”
“We sure don’t need any help from some
outsider to handle things.” Vonnie glanced over her shoulder and huffed. “She’s
asking for all sorts of confidential papers.”
“Do you know her?”
Vonnie shook her head. “No, but she got a
call from Mr. Winfield. I couldn’t hear what she was saying before she shut the
door, but they sounded chummy.”
Emily hadn’t expected Henrietta’s brother to
take an active role in the agency, certainly not so soon. She wasn’t at all
sure that was a good sign. “I’m sure someone will fill us in soon.”