She didn’t bother with hello.

“I’ve got them right in front of me,” Michael said.

He took a thick stack of coffee-stained quarterly budget sheets out of his briefcase.

He spread them across the counter beside the sink.

“The regional audit starts on the fourteenth,” Carla said.

“We’re short on prep time, and the operating margins are extremely tight this year.”

A steady tapping came through the speaker.

Carla always tapped her red pen on her leather notebook when she went over schedules.