Page 97 of Love and Cherish

“Damn it, Cherish.” Haylee frowned. “Come on.”

Cherish moved slowly, but Haylee did manage to get her in for the appointment, tucked in at home, and was back to the office in just under two hours. She was going to have to stay late that night to make up for the time and to prepare for some of what Febe was asking her to do for Allegra.

She hadn’t seen Febe since she’d gotten back, and according to the calendar, she was still in her meeting. Though it was lasting a whole lot longer than it should. Haylee couldn’t wait much longer to talk to Febe, either. She had to tell her that she’d taken Cherish home with a raging migraine.

The phone rang, and Haylee answered it. “Wellbeing Works, this is Haylee speaking.”

“Hi, um, this is Jacqueline.”

“Hey.” Haylee immediately recognized the name of one of the therapists, one who was pregnant and due soon.

“I’m in labor.”

“Oh my gosh!” Haylee grinned. “Congratulations!”

“Yeah, so I’ll need to cancel the appointments for the next three weeks. I’m a bit early.”

“I can take care of that. You go have that baby and let us know when they arrive.”

“Will do.”

Haylee got off the phone as quickly as possible and immediately pulled up Jacqueline’s client schedule. She was completely scheduled out with extra appointments in there. Haylee gnawed on her lip. This was going to take her hours, and she had to get to the clients for the next two days immediately before she left.

She had no choice. She was going to need help to get this done, otherwise she’d be there until midnight trying to make all of the calls. Haylee stood up, and walked to Febe’s door, knocking swiftly before opening it and stepping inside.

Febe was leaning over the chair, her mouth plastered to Allegra’s, hands in her hair, tangled. Haylee cringed and immediately turned around, walking right back out.

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck.

She stood at the edge of her desk, her hand to her mouth, her eyes closed. What the hell was she supposed to do now? She’d literally just walked in on her boss, tongue deep in the woman Cherish was convinced Febe hated.

Fuck.

The woman who was also supposed to be her new boss. She’d suspected at lunch the other day that something else was going on, that there was more to their relationship than what was on the surface. But this?

Fuuuuuuuuuck.

“Haylee,” Febe’s voice was so cold and calm.

She didn’t want to turn around. She really didn’t want to look at Febe or even begin to discuss this, but she had to. Because she couldn’t just walk out and not tell Febe what was going on. She had a responsibility to make sure that the office ran smoothly. She’d promised Cherish that when she’d taken her home for that day.

“Haylee,” Febe tried again, a hand on her arm.

“Don’t talk about it.” Haylee winced at her tone. She sounded so upset, and she was, but not because of what Febe might think. She was mad. Cherish loved this woman, and Febe had to go and pull this? Cherish was going to be devastated.

“We need to talk about it.”

Sucking in a sharp breath, Haylee raised her gaze and met Febe full on. “No. Not right now. Jacqueline just called. She’s in labor.”

“She’s early.”

“About a month, with three weeks of clients to cancel and reschedule. She wasn’t prepared to be gone and hadn’t transferred everyone to a new provider yet.” Haylee clenched her fist, watching as Febe’s face went from concerned to annoyed.

“I told her to start on that weeks ago.”

“Well, she didn’t. So now I need to make calls, but—”

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