Succubs on Top Page 0,116

grin returned. "You bet it does. I think Maddie might be joining your ranks. She won't get out of my apartment."

I laughed. "Doesn't she have to go back to her job?"

"Womanspeakis run out of Berkeley. She was already telecommuting, so she's just doing more of the same. She says she wants to keep an eye on me."

"That's sweet."

"Dude." Doug gave me a droll look. "I'm trying to be a rock star, and my sister lives with me. That's not sweet. "

"Working hard as always, I see," a smooth voice said.

We both looked up from our banter. "Paige!" I exclaimed delightedly. I would have hugged her, but we'd never exactly had a touchy-feely relationship.

Our long-absent manager stood in the doorway. She almost looked casual in loose black slacks and an empire-cut pink maternity blouse. Her stomach had grown even more in the last month, and seeing it made a little fuzzy spot tickle in my chest. I'd been unable to conceive a child while mortal and could not now as an immortal. That knowledge still stung on a personal level, but I never held it against those I knew. I loved pregnant women and babies. I was happy for Paige, happier to see her back and looking well.

A smile played on her glossed lips as she took in the two of us. "Georgina, could you come to Warren's office? We want to talk to you. It won't take long."

"Sure," I said standing up. Doug quietly hummed the Jaws theme.

Paige, Warren, and I sat down in his office with the door closed. I didn't really think I was in trouble, but being with them like this felt kind of intimidating. Especially since both seemed to be watching me expectantly.

"So," began Paige, "we've been looking over all the accounts of what happened while we were gone. We've talked to some people too." She paused purposefully. "You've been busy."

I smiled, relaxing. "It's always busy here. If I wanted a slow store, I'd go down to Foster's."

Warren laughed. "I heard he offered you a job."

"Yeah, but don't worry. I'm not going anywhere."

"That's good," Paige said crisply, "because I understand we now have some sort of annual event you've got to plan. Lorelei Biljan sent me e-mail asking to be invited back to next year's Emerald Lit Gala."

"Fest," I corrected. "It's a fest."

"Whatever. The point is, what you did was remarkable...if a little unorthodox. To pull that together so quickly and then turn over such amazing sales stats." She shook her head. "It was superhuman."

I squirmed at the adjective. "It needed to be done."

"And you did it. Just like you've been doing a number of other remarkable things around here. Things that we're very impressed with."

"Hey, now," I said, suddenly uncomfortable with the way they both watched me, "don't think that was an ordinary day. It was kind of an exception. I can't do that kind of stuff all the time. I was just having a good day, that's all."

"You've had a lot of good days, Georgina," Warren spoke up. "You haven't had a full staff here in weeks. You've come in on your days off. You've run this place when no one else was around to do it. You've handled crisis after crisis - and not just the Fest thing. I'm talking about the whole situation with Doug too."

I sat up straighten "What are you going to do? You aren't going to fire him, are you? Because it wasn't all him...I mean, there were extenuating circumstances. He's better now. He's the best employee you've got."

"We've spoken to him," said Paige calmly. "And he'll stay on for now, although he understands he'll sort of be on probation."

Relief coursed through me. "Good. That's really good."

"I'm glad you think so because you'll be the one who's supervising him."

"I - what?" My train of thought derailed horrifically, and I looked back and forth between their faces, waiting for the punch line.

"This pregnancy is proving more difficult than expected, as you've probably guessed. The baby's healthy, and I'm still on track for a normal delivery, but I need to eliminate certain risk factors. One of them, unfortunately, is working."

I stared. Paige had hired me. She couldn't leave. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I can't keep working here."

"But...after the baby...you could come back, right?"

"I don't know, but I'm not going to put the store on hold while I figure that out. I'm resigning, and we want you to take my place."

"As manager," added Warren, like that wasn't perfectly obvious.

"I...I don't