Taydelaan by Rachel Clark Page B

chubby, expensively clad foot, waiting for an answer. Heat traveled up Kayla’s neck, coloring her face. Embarrassment, at both her current situation and the possibility she’d given away her attraction to her friends, clawed its way through her.
    “Why would Jessica resign when we need her the most?” Kayla watched her boss’s fury begin to escalate. “Why would she have lunch with you and then leave soon after? Why would she resign the same day?”
    “I—I don’t know,” Kayla stammered. “I knew she went home sick after lunch, but she never mentioned anything to me about resigning.” A sharp ache had begun in her chest. She considered Jessica and David her closest friends. Why wouldn’t they tell her about Jessica leaving?
    “Well, I expect you to find out and fix it. I will not get through tax time one accountant short. You will fix this, Kayla.” There was no real threat in the words, but her tone held a much more sinister meaning. Jessica was an experienced and talented accountant, and Kayla was an average secretary. If there was a problem between the two of them, there was no doubt whom the boss considered expendable. The woman gave her one more furious look, turned on her wobbly heel, and marched back to her office.
    Kayla rubbed her temples against the suddenly blinding headache, closed her eyes and tried to reconstruct the events of yesterday. She’d been concerned when Jessica went home ill, but not overly worried. Jessica had said it was nothing serious, and David worked from home, so Kayla knew her friend wouldn’t be alone when she got there. She’d spent last night going over and over the lunch that they’d had together and had convinced herself that it had all been imagination.
    But why would Jessica resign? It made no sense.
    It was a big office. Jessica and David could easily have avoided her if that had been their wish. Hell, judging by the boss’s furious reaction, Jessica could’ve gotten her fired quite easily. Kayla rubbed a hand over the ache in her forehead. Jessica wasn’t like that. If she had a problem with Kayla, surely she would have said something. They’d known each other for months and had been close friends for most of that time. Even if Jessica had noticed Kayla’s attraction to David, surely Jessica and David were secure enough in their relationship not to be overly concerned. Kayla was just their lonely friend they should pity. She was certainly no threat to their marriage.
    She knew them well, didn’t she? Memories of the last man she’d trusted stabbed at her brain. Did she really know Jessica and David at all? Lord knows, she’d been wrong before.
    Kayla spun her chair around, suddenly very anxious to get answers. She needed to see them both, to ask them why this happened, find out why they hadn’t discussed it with her or at least warned her it might occur. She needed to know if she truly was so bad at choosing friends, again.
    She didn’t bother telling the boss where she was going. She just left via the stairwell, too agitated to wait for the elevator.

    * * * *

    “David?” Jessica spoke softly into the small communicator. “That’s the last one. They’re ready for transport.” She glanced around the room packed with boxes. They were taking far more than they should, but these items held so many memories that she felt unable to part with them. Earth had only been home for a little over two years, but she’d come to think of it as the step toward the future she and David wanted, not a step back into heartache. Now, without their Taydelaan, they were back to square one.
    She headed back upstairs to make certain they’d left nothing behind. The truck had already taken the furniture and other items to the charity they’d chosen, so the only things left were the boxes she’d stacked in the living area. David would arrange for them to be transported via a type of wireless energy transfer, the sort of thing human sci-fi fans called beaming