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right. She had a daughter? A school-aged kid? Taylor couldn’t be more than

twenty-five or twenty-six herself. “Don’t you have someone who could

watch her?” Christina finally forced out the tactless question.

Taylor rolled her eyes. “Not exactly. I didn’t grow up here. My family

lives an hour away. Although, that is an idea. I could call my parents and

see if they’ll watch her. They’re right in the middle of harvest though, so

that’s probably a no-go. Maybe— I do have a friend who might be able to

do it, but it would depend on if they’ve had it and if their son has had it.”

“Don’t most people want their kids to catch it so that they have it young

and not when they’re old?”

“Uh— I don’t know. Anyway, I have to go get her. I’m taking the rest of

the day off. You want to be here and help out? Make sure everyone knows

that if they haven’t been vaccinated or had it, then they can’t come here for

the week. Even if I found somewhere for Chloe to go during the day while

I’m here working, I’d still have been around her and I might transfer it or

something. I don’t know how it works, but I do have to be here, and I’m not

willing to risk endangering someone else.”

“It’s just chicken pox. Not the plague.”

“That’s not cool.” Taylor crossed her arms. “Just let everyone know.

And for a week. Make sure they know that. I don’t want people to have to

go home, but I can’t take the time off. I need to be here supervising and

getting things done.”

Christina could see that Taylor’s mind was already made up. She was

worried about her daughter, that much was clear, and she was digging her

heels in. She probably wasn’t thinking clearly— since there wouldn’t be

any harm in her working from home, doing calls and taking care of

marketing details and all the things that didn’t require her to be at the

building. Christina could have told Taylor that, but she also figured that

Taylor had spent every minute of every single day at the building since

she’d got the keys, and for her, taking a week off, letting someone else run