Page 75 of Love & Other Disasters

“Where is she?”

“Who?”

“You know who.”

J.P. wasn’t in the mood for her, and too tired to deal with it. He shrugged.

“Yeah, yeah. I know in the confines of this office, you two aren’t a thing, blah, blah, blah, but the one time she missed work unscheduled, there was an issue. I’m hoping everything is okay.”

He almost laughed. That sounded like Violet. “All right, my girlfriend is at home, sick.”

A smile spread across Moniques face. “Girlfriend, huh? Maybe I misjudged you.”

“I thought you’d jumped to conclusions about her, not me.” He shouldn’t get involved, but couldn’t help it.

Monique’s smile dropped, and she gave a somber nod and left.

She’d liked that he referred to Violet as his girlfriend, and he liked it, too. Violet was surprised the first time he’d brought it up, and they hadn’t talked about it since. But at this point, he spent every night in her bed. It was safe to assume they were in a monogamous relationship. Wasn’t it?

After getting through the morning, he met with a few employees on month end matters right after lunch. Then, he called it an early day to go check on Violet. He could login from there if needed.

J.P. found Violet propped up on the sofa watching a soap opera. Her lovely chestnut hair piled on top of her head, she held a mug of what looked like hot tea.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, happy that she was at least awake.

“Like someone reheated me in the microwave.” She yawned and set her tea on the end table.

“That’s progress,” he said, pulling down his tie.

“Do you have my key?”

“Yeah, I grabbed it in case you were still unconscious. Didn’t like leaving the door unlocked. I’ll put it back on your keyring.”

“Oh, I thought you found the spare in the junk drawer. Just grab it in case…” she said, her eyes still closed.

Violet letting him have a key thrilled him more than he would have ever imagined. He moved through the house toward his bag in the bedroom floor stripping to his undershirt and boxer briefs. Before he finished putting away his things, he received a call from Bob letting him know that Agent Morales was there to interview more employees.

“We need to have HR send out the letter to employees and go public in the morning,” J.P. said.

“Did you ever speak to Ms. Murphy about her interview?” Bob asked.

Jordan paused trying to detect if Bob knew, but couldn’t tell. He closed the bedroom door.

“No, she called out sick today.”

“Is there cause for concern?”

“I don’t think so. She sounded very ill, and historically, Violet isn’t the type of employee to call out.”

“Is there a chance she’s talking to the press?”

“That’s not Violet’s style. However, it’s time to get the story out ourselves.” It was past time, but the ultimate decision fell to Bob.

“Agreed. I’ll call Deanna and tell her we’re a go.”

J.P. sat on the edge of the bed, with his head in his hands. How would this affect business? Once this notice was released, would their customers flee? This might end the company and his career. But, they had to announce it. If someone else did, it would look like they were hiding it.

He put the work issue out of his mind and made Violet chicken soup. His goal of nursing her to keep his mind off of Medi-Health didn’t work. It was on his mind while heating the soup, then while coaxing her to take bites, and while cleaning. He sprayed disinfectant spray around and found that Violet had fallen asleep on the couch.

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