A Marriage Left Behind novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Concerned

Judith set the casserole on the corner of my desk.

"Chicken and wild rice," she said. "I made two. One's for your team."

The billing office had twelve desks in it, and eleven of them had stopped working.

Kylie stood a step behind her mother with the phone still raised.

"Judith," I said. "You can't record people at work."

"She isn't recording, honey. She's taking a picture of the dish."

"The red light's on," Bev said, without turning her chair.

Kylie lowered the phone, but not all the way.

Judith put her hand on my arm and lowered her voice, which made it carry.

"We're worried about you, Maura. Brady is beside himself."

"I'm fine."

"Of course you are. But you've canceled things, and moved money, and you haven't been yourself since Friday. I told him I'd come and see you in person, because that's what a mother does."

Somebody's chair creaked.

Two of my coworkers had their eyes on their screens and their ears on me.

"This is the most thoughtful thing anyone has done for you all week," Kylie told the room, brightly.

"It's a lot of food for twelve people," I said.

"We brought plenty."

"Judith, why are you here?"

"Because you're overwrought, dear. It happens at the holidays. We only want to help."

She said it to me and to the room, in the soft clear voice she used on the church flower committee.

I saw what she was doing.

She was telling my team I was unwell, kindly, so no one could argue.

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