“Miss Audrey, when did you get back?” Carmie asked, her tone overly eager, almost syrupy—like she was trying too hard to insert herself into the moment. She had been in the company for barely a year, yet she was already acting as if she had a close relationship with my sister-in-law. What was that about? Just because she had seen Audrey’s picture on the company profile, she suddenly thought she had the right to latch on and play familiar?

“Just recently,” Audrey replied, lifting ...