Chapter 8: The Layoff

I read the text twice, and then I went back into the kitchen with my phone in my hand.

Gail was at the island pouring orange juice.

Brooke stood beside her, still holding her phone sideways.

"Where did the layoff come from?" I asked.

"Honey, nobody is judging you," Gail said.

"Where did it come from, Gail?"

Brooke's thumb moved on her screen.

"Colin told us," she said. "In January."

"He said the hospital let you go right after New Year's," Gail said. "He said you were too proud to say so, and we weren't to bring it up."

"That's why we've all been so careful with you," Brooke said.

I thought of the grocery gift card that had come at Easter, in a card with a lamb on it.

Colin had handed it to me and said it was from his folks, and I had put it in a drawer without asking why.

"I run the pharmacy," I said. "I've worked there nine years. In March they made me director."

Gail's smile stayed where it was, but her eyes went to the doorway.

"Colin said you were between positions."

"Colin said a lot of things."

Brooke's husband stood in the hall behind them with the empty coffeepot still in his hand.

"Brooke," he said. "Take the post down."

"I only posted what I was told."

"Take it down now."

She did, with a loud sigh, and she did not look at me.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"On the dock," said Gail. "Jenna, honey, he's been under a lot of strain."

Keep reading free with an account. Start Six Rooms at the Lake, But None for My Parents from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.