A/N Well thank you all for the lovely response to the first chapter of this story, and all the reviews, favourites and alerts. I hope you enjoy this one just as much!

Disclaimer: It's much harder to pretend they're mine now I've given Sookie back her original accent :)

It was pretty easy to see that Arlene was rattled by the morning's events, and I could hardly blame her. After all, she was supporting her two kids all on her lonesome now since their daddy ran out on her a few years back. I was fond of Arlene's kids, but they sure gave me a couple of real good reasons to be careful with my heart. No way was I going to throw away my affection on a man who'd only leave me holding the baby when times got hard.

Not when I had my plan, anyway. And I didn't need a man for that.

In the meantime I was stuck facing Arlene and her increasing distraction. She filed a nail, chewed her gum ever more noisily and shuffled a lot of papers, a lot of times. And then she would sigh, and begin all over again.

I began to suspect that there wasn't much likelihood of me being able to concentrate this morning, and even less likelihood of Arlene doing any work. Even the fact that Jannalynn had only been in Sam's office for no more than five minutes and was now back at her desk tapping away on her keyboard, hadn't helped to persuade Arlene that there wasn't anything sinister going on, and that, in fact, it was all just business as usual.

Lots of business. Business that it was our business to attend to. But Arlene was just hell-bent on finding herself a distraction.

And soon enough she got one. "You know," she announced, after a few moments of tapping at her keyboard. "I still can't print my emails. Half of the writing just isn't there on the page. Look!" She walked to the printer and came back with a page she waved at me. I glanced up at it, and then back down at my own work.

"You want me to take a look at it?" I asked. I was pretty good with the IT stuff, and around here, they were grateful. Alcide hadn't had enough good words to say about me that time I showed him how to set rules on his email, so it went into little folders when it arrived. Well, he'd been grateful up until that Debbie had shown up in the sales office where we were standing and had started asking Alcide if he was "…done with showing his staff how the computer system worked?"

I'd waited for Alcide to say something to let Debbie know it wasn't like that and meanwhile she'd followed it up with a laugh that was way too girlish for the way she was staring daggers at me, but in the end he'd just said "I'm ready now, Debbie," and he'd left, with only a nod in my direction.

Still, mostly people were grateful. Except today Arlene shook her head. "No," she said. "No, I think it needs a new setting up…or something. You know?"

Well I had some ideas, but more than likely they were quite different to what Arlene was imagining. "And it still ain't right when you print on the big paper, is it?" she asked me.

I had to give her that one. Our printing was a little out of alignment occasionally, but it didn't stop me loving our printer any the less. I'm sure for a lot of people getting a new printer in their office wouldn't count as a red letter day, but let me tell you, not having to deal with constant paper jams and ending my days covered in ink was a real blessing as far as I concerned, and I was very grateful to Sam who'd taken it upon himself to plead our case to Mr Herveaux, who wasn't particularly interested in the problems we faced up here as long as the work got done.

Still, I was reluctant to suggest we investigate further, because I knew what was coming next. "You think Bill's around Shreveport today?" Arlene asked.

"I couldn't say, Arlene. I don't know what his plans were." I hoped I sounded like I didn't care either, because as far as I wanted it to be known, Bill and I were a closed chapter.

He was my ex-boyfriend, and in the way of small towns everywhere, I guessed, he was also my closest neighbour out in Bon Temps. Things between us were…well, probably as settled as they were ever going to be in that although I knew in my heart we just weren't suited, it didn't stop my brain from occasionally wandering into the dangerous territory of thinking about what might have been.

I knew that was just loneliness, though. Bill, on the other hand, well I don't know what his excuse was for sometimes popping up when I least expected it and reminding me that, actually, he'd be perfectly happy to pick up where we left off. I just wasn't sure how that realtor, Selah Pumphrey, who he was dating now, felt about that.

And I tried not to think too hard about how I felt about it either. I had moved on, and that was the way things had to stay. Getting back with Bill was just, simply, not part of any plan I currently had.

"You could give him a call, couldn't you Sookie?" Arlene asked.

"It doesn't seem that urgent." It didn't really. "I'm kinda busy here…" I trailed off, hoping Arlene would get the hint that I just plain wasn't interested in calling a guy I used to date simply because Arlene was distracted and didn't want to do any work.

I was not here for the sole entertainment of Arlene Fowler.

"But it's Thursday, Sookie. And isn't Thursday when Bill normally drives over and does that thing for that other place? You know? The insurers?"

I shrugged. I knew, but giving away that I knew seemed like a confirmation that I cared more about the movements of Bill Compton than I wanted to admit, even to myself. "I'm a little busy here, trying to reconcile the payments for Salton's. Maybe you should call him if you're not doing anything else?" I suggested.

"Oh, I got plenty to do," Arlene said. "But I wanted to print out this email to put in the file, and then I couldn't. So my work ain't really getting done now, is it?"

I didn't think Arlene really needed an answer to that question, and then Jannalynn called out "Rec's done," anyway.

"Thanks, hon," Arlene called over to her, and Jannalynn nodded and went back to her other work. I was glad the bank reconciliation had been completed because I was hoping I could locate some outstanding payments that I was sure had been paid and but which the company still thought we owed them. I just wasn't sure that Jannalynn should be doing the reconciliation.

Not because she was Jannalynn, I wasn't that plain uncharitable. No, it was because of what the accounting books called separation of duties. It meant that the person who opened the cheques and banked the cheques shouldn't also be reconciling the bank account. Sure, it'd been that way when I'd had Jannalynn's job, but I knew I could trust me and I knew I wasn't going to steal any money. Since then I'd taken a book on accounting practices out of the library and done some study.

I'd taken my new-found knowledge to Sam, and he'd looked thoughtful. "I just think it's a risk, is all…" I'd said. Sam had nodded and smiled. "Well, strictly speaking, you're right, Sookie," and I'd felt pleased as punch at hearing that. I wasn't just some girl who was happy to walk to the bank, I actually knew something. I was capable of figuring out how the stuff they had in those books actually applied to the work we were doing here.

I was mighty proud of myself.

But Sam had continued on. "I think, though, Sookie, in this case we can make an exception. That's quite common in a smaller workplace, and I'm confident that the managerial oversight I have over what goes on here will negate the small amount of risk of having someone do both jobs."

I'd felt a little less pleased with myself after that because, after all, wasn't Sam just saying that I shouldn't worry, he'd take care of it? It wasn't the first time I'd had a man tell me that, and it really didn't matter whether it was Bill or Sam speaking, the result was the same.

But then Sam paused and looked at me, straight in the eye. "But you know, Sookie. I don't think it's a bad idea to shake things up a little. What say we rotate the reconciliation so you and Arlene take a turn as well? Say…one week a month one of you takes over?"

I stopped feeling quite so deflated and beamed back at Sam. For once in my life someone actually listened to me because they thought I had something worth saying. "I think that sounds like a great idea, Sam!" I'd said to him, and he'd replied "Well, I can't take credit for all of it. I think this was a team effort."

It felt great to be part of Sam's team, it was just a pity that team included Arlene, who'd been less than pleased about getting what she termed 'extra work that ain't really my job' and Jannalynn, who just muttered something about how some people just liked to have their fingers in every pie.

I didn't care, though; I had bigger fish to fry, after all. And right now, that fish involved trying to figure out just what had happened to the payments that had gone out for Salton's. I was sure I'd prepared the payment file on the previous Monday, but they'd sent me a statement showing some of our invoices were overdue. I knew they'd been later than they should have been; Mr Herveaux had wanted to 'discuss' the amounts we were paying with his contact at Salton's, but I'd still managed to get the payment out.

Hadn't I?

I checked the system, and sure enough, the payment file was still just sitting there, as it had been for two days now. Well, that made me mad.

"Jannalynn! You remember I asked you to be the second authoriser on that payment for me on Monday?" She turned to face me. "What?"

"The payments? When we were here late on Monday, and I said if you authorised it too, it could go out? You didn't do it."

Jannalynn screwed up her face. "I don't know what payments you're talking about." She looked at me like I had a screw loose. Well, I didn't. I knew for a fact I had a very good memory and I could sure as hell remember as far back as Monday.

I looked at Arlene, who just shrugged.

"I'll do it now" Jannalynn said, as she turned to look at her computer. I don't think she quite understood just how mad it made me. I wasn't that sloppy. I didn't just leave things half-finished, and when I promised a customer I'd put through a special payment because they'd missed the billing cycle, well then I damn well did that.

I didn't sit there like Jannalynn and pretend I'd never heard anyone mention it before. I felt such a white-hot rush of rage at her that I was half-afraid I might get out of my seat and hit her over the head with her own desk-stapler.

But I didn't. I took a deep breath. And then I looked at the next item on my neatly written out to-do list. That made me feel a little calmer. I was on top of my job, and I wasn't going to let Jannalynn's sloppiness and devil-may-care attitude drag me down with her.

We might all be a team, but that didn't mean I couldn't still shine in my own right.

I worked steadily until it was nearly noon, and then I carefully locked my computer and picked up my purse out of my desk drawer. "Going somewhere nice?" Arlene asked, as I gave my hair a fluff and ran my fingers through the ends, trying to separate out the curls.

"Just meeting Tara." I started to walk toward towards the door of the office.

"That sounds nice," Arlene sighed. "I could do with a break." I couldn't imagine why, she'd barely worked all morning. I pretended not to know she was fishing for an invitation and I headed out of the office, down the hallway to the back stairs, and outside into the parking lot.

The sun was high in the sky now, and I paused just outside the door to pull my sunglasses out of my purse. As I did so I heard Alcide's deep voice say "What brings you out into the noonday sun, Sookie?"

"A lunch date," I replied, turning to smile at him. "You?"

"Same." I might've guessed he was waiting on Debbie; she liked to keep him on a short leash far as I could tell.

"Well. I hope you enjoy it." I started to walk off, when Alcide spoke again.

"And if I don't?"

I stopped walking, and turned back around. "Don't what?" Alcide was gazing at me intently and I was thankful I had my sunglasses on so he couldn't read my expression. I wasn't quite sure what kind of an affect Alcide was aiming for, but he was sure doing a good job of having me hang on every word he said.

Any minute now I was sure he was going to ask me if I'd thought about replacing my sofa.

"If I don't enjoy my lunch," Alcide explained, taking a step closer to me. "Should I come find you, Sookie?" He took another step and I fought the urge to step backwards, but then wondered if the fact I didn't was an admission of some kind.

Well, damn Alcide and his attempts at charm. And double-damn my insides for getting all flippy and excited by it.

Now I was just annoyed, but not as annoyed as Debbie was. Her sleek, silver convertible pulled up and the tinted window rolled down enough that I could see her lips were set in a thin, hard line.

"Well, if you're still hungry I left my sandwich in the refrigerator," I said to Alcide. "It's PB and J. Homemade. Should fill you right up. Well, gotta run. See you round, Alcide." And without lingering, or glancing at Debbie again, I strode right to my car.

I waited until Alcide and Debbie had left and then I started the engine and drove out of the parking lot and down the street for a couple of blocks. I pulled into the parking lot of the diner where I'd agreed to meet Tara and saw that her car was already there. Hustling through the door and into the clean, crisp, air-conditioned air inside, I found Tara sitting at a booth, glaring a guy who was sitting at another booth, looking intently at his lap-top.

Uh-oh.

I slid into the seat opposite Tara. "I can't believe all these people!" she said, in lieu of a greeting. "I mean, it's lunchtime, can't they put those damned things away for five minutes? I'm pretty sure the world won't stop doing interesting things even if no one is watching it streamed live on YouTube."

"Well, no." I mostly agreed with her, but I would have liked to discuss something else over lunch. The waitress came over and poured us both a cup of coffee. She must have heard Tara's little speech because she nodded at the guy with his laptop and said "We gotta give them the Wi-Fi or else they all go down the street to Starbucks."

"Life just used to be so much simpler without the internet," Tara muttered darkly. She blamed the internet for the failure of her clothing store, which had been situated in a strip mall just outside Bon Temps. She wasn't completely incorrect in her reasoning, after all, why buy from Tara when you could buy direct from a big chain store and they'd ship direct to your door? Tara just couldn't compete with the prices those retailers were offering, especially when she had the rent and overheads from her store to cover. Rent that she paid to Bill Compton, who'd decided to invest in property and was now probably regretting that due to the high-turnover in those stores. Last I'd heard, someone had wanted to open a tattoo parlour in the store that had been Tara's Togs, and Bill was seriously considering it.

Luckily the waitress was hovering beside us and Tara had to move on to give her order. She had the chicken salad and I opted for the meatloaf, reasoning that if I ate a good lunch I could have a small dinner, maybe even my leftover sandwich, and that way this wouldn't be such a burden on my finances.

See? I was a born accountant.

Over lunch Tara and I talked about what we'd been up to, which, in short, wasn't much more than we'd been doing the previous week, or the one before that. It seemed like both of us were treading water at the moment, although at least I knew why that was the case for me. I was waiting to put my plan into action.

Tara, however, well like a lot of people she was just trying to get by. "How's JB gettin' on at work?" I asked, as I finished up the last mouthfuls of meatloaf. It had been very good, but nowhere near as good as if I'd made it myself.

That made me a little sad. After all treats were supposed to be special, weren't they?

"Oh, he's fine," Tara said, picking through her salad. "I mean…he enjoys it. Working at the gym. The ladies who go in there just love him. But I keep saying he should ask his daddy for some work at the auto-parts store…he doesn't want to, though. That kinda work just ain't JB, I guess." The du Rone's owned the auto parts store in town and they seemed to be keeping their heads above water because in this economy who could afford to replace a car?

Tara sighed and stared at the window. JB was a good man, but he was never going to be a dynamic go-getter and maybe that was just dawning on Tara. I was trying to figure out what to say, but then Tara looked like she remembered something and she picked up her purse and started looking through it. "But he did say a new client came in the other day…" she said, somewhat mysteriously.

She pulled out a sheet of paper that looked somewhat familiar and put it in front of me. It was another flyer. For the burlesque dancing classes. "She's opening up the old dance studio again, and she's doing these classes in the evenings. Look like fun, don't they?"

I wasn't sure what to think. "Isn't that just stripping, Tara?" It wasn't that I had anything against it, in theory, I just had no desire to be one of those women getting drooled all over at Hooligan's in Monroe while they showed a room full of men what exactly that had under their clothes. I wasn't a prude, but that just wasn't me.

"No! It's classy, not slutty. It's burlesque, anyway. You know, like that woman? One married to that weird guy with the makeup?" I shook my head, I had no idea. Tara was always better at keeping up with the celebrity gossip than I was.

She gave me a disappointed look. "You need to get out more. Didn't you see the movie? Anyway, it's not taking your clothes off…it's dancing, but sexy. And it's exercise. JB thought I might like it more than using the Stairmaster at the gym. That gets kinda boring. And I do love to dance. So do you. Remember that routine we did at school?"

I did, and I still felt a little embarrassed to this day. There had been nothing wrong with our execution of the dance Tara and I had learned for the school talent show, in fact, we'd been damned good. But we'd been a little young, and hadn't quite figured out that the moves we were doing, moves we'd copied from a hip-hop music video, were a little too provocative for a pair of girls still in training bras.

The teachers had been disapproving, the boys had taken it as a sign we were far more experienced than we were and the girls, some of them, anyway, had been downright mean about it. I was fairly sure that some of the difficulties I'd faced at high school had been in part due to that stupid dance routine we never managed to live down.

But now I'd got somewhere with my life, and I wasn't about to step backwards and be that dumb blonde girl who could shake her booty again.

"I don't think that's me," I said to Tara, before she could ask me to join her. It was too late, because that's where she'd been heading. Her face fell and I felt mean. "Well…I mean…" I back-tracked. "Maybe. I'll think about it."

"Classes are on Wednesday nights, Sookie," Tara said, as though everything was settled and I'd answered yes. I guess in her mind, I had.

"I'll have to check if I'm free those nights," I murmured, and Tara looked at me sharply. "You started night-school?"

"Well, no." I didn't really want to confess to not wanting to shift my library night. "But I got things on."

Tara looked sceptical, but she was good enough not to call me out.

We parted ways, with me still promising to think about the classes and Tara trying to tell me what I had to wear when I showed up the following week, and I drove back to work. There was no Alcide in wait for me this time, which was a relief.

When I got to the office though, Bill was there. I wasn't sure if that was better or worse. I guess Arlene's need for a distraction had gotten too great and she'd finally called him herself.

Well, that wasn't so bad, was it? I mean, he could hardly think I'd used it as an excuse for him to come and see me, when I wasn't the one calling and I wasn't even here when he arrived.

But then Arlene saw me walk in and said "See, Bill? I told you she'd be back soon. She knew I was gonna call you and she'd be mighty sore if she missed you." Arlene winked at me, like this was some kind of a set-up that I was in on.

I glanced at Jannalynn, who rolled her eyes at us and turned back to her work. Well, of course now she was Little Miss Diligent. For one thing, Sam was hovering near her desk, looking through some files. The files that were normally locked away, all the personnel records and important things like that.

He was concentrating real hard on whatever it was he was doing, but it didn't stop Jannalynn hoping he'd turn sideways and notice her. I could see her eyes flick his way several times.

But she was out of luck, as he took a file, locked the cabinet and walked back to his office.

I tried to concentrate on my work too, but Bill was sitting at Arlene's desk, using her computer, and the effect was downright disconcerting on a number of different levels. I looked at my to-do list and willed myself not to look up. I failed, and I caught Bill glancing at me. "How's work these days, Sookie?" he asked and his voice was as smooth as it ever had been and the warmth in it made me feel as though I could just tell him everything.

But I couldn't. It wouldn't be right. Not after all this time.

"It's just great, Bill." I unlocked my computer and hoped that was the end of the matter. Or I told myself it was the end of matter, anyway, as internally I shouted down the stupid little voice who was telling me that Bill cared about me, and wasn't that something that we should appreciate? Maybe even reciprocate?

Stupid little voice. Maybe I'd get her a cat.

At least Arlene was on hand to talk to Bill. "I just don't know why it ain't working right," she said. "I thought when we got a new printer it would all be OK from the get-go, but we ain't been able to print those big sheets since it came now, have we Sookie?" I nodded, realising that Arlene didn't require much more from me that.

"Well you could have called the customer service people. The ones who installed it," Bill said, managing to keep any trace of annoyance out of his voice. I was always impressed by how he did that. It took a lot to ruffle Bill, and I had to admit that when I'd pushed and pushed at him to find out just what it did take, it had been a hollow victory.

"Oh. But they ain't you, Bill!" Arlene said. "And we'd rather have you, wouldn't we Sookie?"

Before I had a chance to say anything to that, Bill spoke. "Oh, I don't know that that's exactly how Sookie feels, Arlene." He looked straight at me and dared me to contradict him.

Well, nuts to Bill. If he'd come here hoping that I'd admit I'd been wrong to let him go, he had another thing going. "You've been very helpful, Bill. Although I did say to Arlene that I could take a look at her email for her. I'm sure I could have helped her with that."

"Undoubtedly, Sookie," Bill said, as he stood up and held out Arlene's chair for her to take his place in it. She tittered appreciatively, and gave me a look across the desk, one which suggested she couldn't understand why I wasn't happy with Bill and all his gentlemanly ways.

"Well, see you round, Bill," Arlene said, as Bill picked up his laptop case. "Don't forget to send your bill to Sookie!" She giggled like that was a huge joke.

Bill wasn't laughing though, and neither was I. He stopped by my desk, and placed one hand on mine. I was tempted to jerk it back, but his hand was gone again before I had the chance to react, or tamp down the unwanted jolt of desire that hit me as soon as Bill's flesh touched mine.

I cursed myself for reacting that way to Bill, just as I'd cursed myself for reacting to Alcide earlier in the afternoon. I was better than some alley cat who'd throw herself at the first tom she found yowling on a fence, I knew I was.

But I was lonely, all the same. And a new Nora Roberts book could only fill so much of my time.

"Goodbye, Bill," I said, as firmly as I could.

"Goodbye..." Bill dropped his voice so the others in the office would have difficulty hearing him. "…sweetheart." Then he turned away before I could give him the look that said I didn't appreciate him still using that endearment. "See you around, Sam," he called out.

Sam's voice called out "Bye, Bill." Bill and Jannalynn both ignored each other, and then he left.

"I don't know why you threw him over, Sookie," Arlene tutted at me. "You surely can't go wrong with a good man like that."

I didn't respond, and Sam rescued me anyway by coming out and handing me a piece of paper. "Can you look into this, Sookie? The CFO from PackMaster called me while you were out at lunch, said we've been short on the last few payments."

"Sure, Sam." He nodded and walked back to his office. Well, that was odd. I was sure I'd paid them too.

I started looking through their accounts. And then I pulled out the bank reconciliations, and the bank statements so I could tally up all the payments. I rang their accounts receivable department, who all seemed to be having a long lunch break, and I was still on hold with them when I waved Arlene off for the day and when Jannalynn came back from a trip to the bank complaining about how hot it was out there.

Finally the woman I got on the phone confirmed that no, they definitely didn't have our money. She sounded quite grumpy about it, which was unfair. It wasn't personal, it was business.

"I gotta take off early," Sam announced to Jannalynn and me.

"OK." I didn't begrudge Sam the time. Goodness knows he worked enough hours when it was required. At the end of the financial year he practically slept in his office as we worked to get all the accounts finalised and tax time, well let's just say we all bore our scars from that.

So Sam leaving early, that was nothing. Jannalynn leaving early, though, about ten minutes after Sam, that was a little odd.

"Dentist," she said, and she bared her teeth at me, which was just downright disconcerting. And then she put her purse over her head so the strap hung down across her body and walked out the door.

So it was just me, and the mystery of what happened to all the money we'd paid PackMaster for the packaging products they'd sold us.

I flicked through the screens of payments again. I'd entered the invoices. I'd prepared the payments. The payments had been authorised. We had money going out of our bank account which matched those payments. None of that money had been returned.

It was incredibly odd. And frustrating. And just a tiny bit exhilarating. I loved the hunt, chasing down the numbers, figuring out what had happened and how we were going to fix it.

And there was always a reason, wasn't there? Money didn't just disappear into the great beyond.

I thought it through again. Invoice, payment, payment goes out, payment goes to…

I checked the information we had stored for PackMaster; their address, their phone number, their tax details, their email contacts, their bank account number.

Sure enough, a couple of months earlier, we'd updated their bank account number or, from looking at the user I.D logged in the system, Sam had updated their bank account number.

I guess he'd just had it wrong? Which seemed unlike Sam, but there was no other explanation for it, and he wasn't there to ask anyway. There was nothing I could do but pack up for the day and head on home.

I was just pulling into Hummingbird Road, with my driveway almost in view when it hit me. Why hadn't I seen any statements saying we were so overdue with our payments? Why hadn't PackMaster contacted us earlier?

Something about the whole matter didn't feel right, and I almost turned around and headed back to the office to dig some more. But I couldn't really get anything done that night, and it would still be there in the morning.

I was confident in my abilities to figure it all out. We'd find the money, we'd apologise, our credit would still be good and Sam would be pleased I'd helped him out. Again.

I was looking forward to that moment, the moment where I could hand it to Sam and know I'd done a good job. I just didn't know that I was looking forward to something that was never going to happen.

My night at home with my book was like many nights I'd spent home alone. I listened to the sounds around the house, the animals and insects out in the woods beside the old farmhouse I lived in. To some people it might seem isolated, even a little creepy. But to me it was home. I'd lived here since I was seven years old and my parents had died in a flash flood. My Gran had taken me and my brother Jason in and raised us up despite the fact that things weren't always easy for her.

Gran had passed away two years previously; her heart had given out in the end. I missed her every day. But I stayed on in the house she'd left to me, Jason having moved into our parents' old house when he turned 18, and I felt that being here, in the house where Stackhouse's had lived for over 100 years now, kept me close to her. I liked my house, even though it was expensive to maintain and the old tin roof could keep me awake at night in heavy rain, even though nothing in it was new, or fancy, and some of it wasn't even that pretty to look at.

But if I was going to be lonely, I might as well be lonely and comfortable at the same time. It was the same line of reasoning that led me to take a shower for as long as the hot water held, and put on my oldest and softest nightgown before I hopped up in the high, old bed which had belonged to my grandparents.

I was home. I was safe. I was in a good place.

The next morning I drove to work anxious to begin on the PackMaster reconciliation all over again. My plans went awry, however, when Sam called me into his office before I'd even switched on my computer.

I hoped he hadn't had the people from PackMaster on the phone again, complaining about us. "I think I've figured out what the problem is…" I started to say as I walked into the office, but Sam cut me off. "Shut the door, Sookie."

I did as he'd asked, with a sense that things were not at all well. "Take a seat." Sam nodded to the chair on the other side of his desk.

I sat down. And waited, even though I was anxious to know when exactly Sam had received the notification to change PackMaster's bank account, and whether we still had it on file.

"Sookie," Sam began. "As you know, times are tough at the moment, and Mr Herveaux has asked all the departments to look into where we could cut some costs."

I nodded, and felt slightly guilty about the new printer. If they had to lay off one of the guys in the dispatch department because of that, I would be mighty upset. A few paper-jams were nothing when compared to a family losing its breadwinner.

"That includes us, Sookie," Sam continued. I started to feel a little queasy. What if Arlene was going? What about her kids, Coby and Lisa?

But Arlene would be OK, wouldn't she? Same as I would. Jannalynn, though, that was another matter.

"It's been a, uh, difficult decision, Sookie. One of the toughest I'd ever made. I like to think we're a team, and when a team loses a member…a valuable member at that…" Sam stopped. "Oh, hell Sookie," he said, which came as a bit of a shock. What could be that bad?

"I'm afraid I have to let you go."

Thanks for reading!