I smiled at Sienna. She stared back, her expression frozen somewhere between confusion and panic.
The thing is, I hadn’t planned to come to this retreat at all. Marcus had mentioned it weeks ago—his company’s annual fall getaway, some resort in the Poconos.
Spouses were invited, but it was during the kids’ school week. And honestly, I had zero interest in making small talk with a bunch of tech bros and their wives while pretending to care about quarterly goals.
But then Marcus got weird about it.
Not in an obvious way. He didn’t suddenly become secretive or defensive.
It was subtler than that. He just seemed relieved when I said I probably wouldn’t go. Too relieved.
The kind of relief that makes you wonder what someone’s relieved about.
So, I changed my mind, called my sister to take the kids for the weekend, packed a bag, and showed up Friday evening just as the welcome cocktails were starting.
Marcus’s face when he saw me walk into the lobby.
I filed that away for later.
“Jen, I thought you— I didn’t think you were coming.”
He recovered quickly, pulled me into a hug that felt slightly too tight.
“This is great. I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Managed to work it out,” I said lightly. “Where’s everyone gathering that first evening?”
I observed.
That’s what I do. I’m a project manager. Observation is literally in the job description.
I watch patterns, notice when things don’t align, identify risks before they become problems.
And I noticed Sienna immediately—not because she was doing anything obviously wrong.
What happened next changed everything… FULL STORY on the next page.
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