Since he had worked late the previous night, Justin had the morning off from work. He took advantage of the time off and slept in a little later than he normally would. As he was cooking breakfast, the telephone rang.
"Hello. May I speak with Audrey Jordan please?"
"She's not here right now. Shall I take a message?"
"Yes. This is her boss. I wanted to know why she isn't in the office this morning."
"She's not there? Could you hold for a moment?" Justin asked before setting the receiver down on the desk. He went back to Audrey's bedroom and knocked. When there was no answer, he called out, "Audrey?" and opened the door. As he had thought, the room was unoccupied.
Justin went back to the living room and picked up the telephone. "No, she's not here. I haven't seen her this morning."
"If you hear from her would you have her give us a call?"
"Of course," Justin said with a thoughtful frown and returned the receiver to its cradle. He was about to go back into the kitchen when he noticed the card sitting next to the bouquet of roses on the desk. Audrey had been out when he came home the evening before and she was gone after he got up in the morning. He had assumed she had been out late on her date with Lawrence and had left again while he was still asleep. But he hadn't actually heard her come in the night before . . . maybe she had been out with him all night.
Justin shrugged and went back into the kitchen. He thought it odd that she hadn't shown up for work, but Audrey was a grown woman and if she chose to spend the night with a man that was her own business.
Lauren sat her desk, her eyes darting back and forth impatiently as she rapped her fingers along the surface of the desk.
"Why did I even come in to work today," she thought to herself. "I so don't want to be here. There's so many better things I could be doing, like working on the next phase of my plan."
She watched R.J. as he walked towards his desk and decided to make her move.
"R.J. I'm not feeling well. I must be coming down with flu or something. I think I should go home and get in bed."
R.J. wasn't buying into her theatrics. "Go home if you want, but if you do, don't bother coming back."
Lauren pouted. She did want to go, but she still needed her job and she knew she was already on thin ice with R.J. "Fine, I'll stay. But I hope you'll at least call a doctor for me if I pass out or something!"
"How did it go, honey?" Amanda asked anxiously as Andrew returned from the boardroom.
"Really well. I think they were impressed with me."
"That's great," she said, giving him a hug.
As Lawrence walked past on his way to the boardroom for his interview, Amanda glared at him.
"Good luck, Arrendale," Andrew called after him.
"If he gets promoted over you, I swear I'm going to scream," Amanda said in a low voice once the door closed behind Lawrence. "It's not fair that he gets everything just handed to him while the rest of us don't even get what we're entitled to."
"You're still upset about Vanessa?"
"Yes, I'm upset! It was bad enough when she got everything in Mother's will. I could accept that. But for her to start giving it all away and not even think of us, just doesn't make sense. It's not right."
Andrew shrugged. "Try not to worry about it. We're doing alright financially and we'll be doing even better once I get this promotion."
Amanda frowned and gazed towards the boardroom. "I still hope he doesn't get it."
"I don't think he will. And even if they do choose Lawrence. Better him than Hector."
Hector paced nervously in his cubicle. Andrew had just come out of the boardroom smiling that obnoxious cocky smile of his and Lawrence had gone in his place. Hector knew he was next and he was feeling the pressure, the desperation to do something, otherwise he would lose everything.
"What can I do?" he asked himself. Lawrence had him trapped. If he made one false move it would all be over. He had to find some way to get around Lawrence's threats.
He knew Lawrence wasn't keeping quiet about this for his own benefit, that just wasn't his way. He had no reason not to tell what he knew . . . unless Eileen didn't want him to.
With that thought, Hector's desperation seemed to fade into the background. Maybe there was hope for him to salvage something. His confidence restored, Hector was able to compose himself and focus on his upcoming interview.
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