“Did she fire you?” Glen asked as Spencer walked into the living room.

“Mommy!” Sammy yelled, dropping her Wii Wheel and running to her mother.

Spencer picked up the little girl and hugged her tightly. “I see you’re feeling better.”

Glen stood up from his seat on the floor and said, “She woke me up this morning, jumping on my bed, screaming Mario Kart. I welcomed the chance to extend my 50-0 winning streak.”

Sammy lifted her head from her mother’s shoulder and turned an angry face on him.

Spencer said, “It never fails to amaze me that you take pride in beating a 3-year-old.”

“This is no ordinary 3-year-old,”Glen said. “She knocks the controller out of my hand every time she’s losing.”

“Un-unh,” Sammy said.

“Don’t listen to your Uncle Glen,” Spencer said, kissing her forehead. “He’s just mad that he can’t beat me so he’s taking it out on my offspring.”

“What’s ‘offspring’?” Sammy asked as her mother put her down.

“It means you, squirt,” Glen said.   He turned to Spencer.  “You didn’t get fired did you?”

“No” Spencer said, plopping down on the couch.  Sammy immediately crawled onto her lap. “I didn’t get fired. Ashley just sent me home early.  Apparently, she’s already found my replacement.”

“Good,” Glen said.  “You can stop using up all the ink to print out resumes of every candidate under the sun.  I need to use the printer too, you know.  I am looking for a job.”

Spencer rolled her eyes at him. She really wasn’t in the mood to talk about the new girl right now.  She was still baffled that her boss had hired an assistant so quickly. Ashley had turned down nearly all of the candidates Spencer had presented to her.  It had even seemed like her boss was intentionally trying to sabotage the process to prevent her from leaving.   But in the two weeks Spencer had been gone that had all apparently changed.  Did Ashley not want her there anymore because of what happened at the hospital?

“Mommy, smile,” Sammy said, pushing up the corners of Spencer’s mouth.

Spencer pretended to bite her fingers, eliciting squeals and giggles from the little girl.

“What’s wrong with you?” Glen asked, sitting next to her.  “You should be overjoyed.  Now you can get out of your contract.  And you can’t be blamed if this new girl turns out to be a total flake because you’re not the one who picked her.”