Someone was miserable.
“Well, she’s without her husband,” she said. “That tends to make a lady cranky, while the clit has cobwebs.”
He grimaced.
And it made her laugh.
How could it not?
Ian wasn’t having it.
Oh, he understood, but that didn’t mean you could take it out on everyone. Plus, Duke had it far more difficult. He had both kids with him, and his stepfather was dying.
In his opinion, the word‘cunty’stood.
“Yeah, well, Duke is managing,” he said. “I just don’t like to be barked at,” he stated.
Elizabeth had been making amends and covering for Axelle for two weeks now.
And it was exhausting.
Since Duke flew back, picked up Abby and Charlotte, and then returned, Axelle had been on a tear.
No one was safe.
When Johanna and Noah complained, she knew it was getting tense back there.
She was going to have to step in and say something before HR was called into the fray because of what had happened. They were now beyond keeping this on the DL.
Once Elizabeth got involved, Axelle would likely go nuclear.
It was difficult enough being a woman in the workplace, but when you were bitchy, that was the one thing singled out and that everyone focused on.
It could ruin a career.
She was trying to help Axelle, whether she believed that or not.
Yeah, she understood missing her family.
When she’d been on Oracle duty for the president, she was gone for months. It hadn’t been easy, and everyone was miserable, but it was her job.
Duke was just doing his, while trying to cut her a break. Axelle told him to come get the kids, and he did.
In her gut, she felt like this was about to go sideways, and she hoped it didn’t.
Duke deserved happiness, and so did Axelle. Only, she felt the tension between them for months before this.
Something was up.
She only hoped they could work it out.
“I’ll talk to her when I get a chance,” she stated. “I’m sorry she growled and was surly. I’ll handle it,” she added, putting one more thing on the plate to deal with later.
It was a big plate too.
Truth be told, Ian hated burdening her.
“I wouldn’t say anything if it wasn’t a problem. Noah said she was waiting for them in the bullpen, and when they weren’t there by eight, she started texting. Then, she tore them all a new one.”
