The Best Revenge It Wasn't Even Your Child novel Chapter 361

“Lance, what’s going on?”

Catherine could hear right away that something was off in his voice. She glanced over at his office, worry flickering across her face.

There was a long pause before Lance spoke again. “It’s nothing.”

Then the line went dead.

Catherine set her phone down and tried to smooth out the frown that had crept onto her forehead.

All afternoon, Lance stayed holed up in his office with the door firmly closed. He didn’t come out, not even once.

Catherine pushed the thought aside and focused on her work. She kept her head down, only pausing when she’d finally finished everything on her to-do list. The clock was nearly at five. She realized she could actually leave on time today.

Still, Lance hadn’t shown his face.

She hesitated, then grabbed her phone and sent Sophia a message.

[You came to Eldervale and didn’t even give me a heads up?]

Sophia replied with a silly emoji. [I wanted to surprise you! How did you find out?]

Catherine wrote back, [Your transfer notice had your resume attached.]

Sophia replied, [So, dinner tonight? Your treat. You have to show me all the best food in Eldervale!]

Catherine answered, [Lance is sick. Go keep an eye on him for me tonight, will you?]

Sophia called her right away.

“Lance? Sick? That man is built like a tank. How could he possibly be sick?”

“I’m serious,” Catherine said. “He had such a high fever yesterday he took the wrong medicine by accident. I ended up taking him to the ER in the middle of the night.”

Sophia made a noise of disbelief, sounding both annoyed and amused.

“How does he manage to get himself into this kind of mess? I came here to escape, not to babysit him. Fine, I’ll give him a call and see what’s up.”

“Thanks,” Catherine said with a tired laugh. “I’ll take you out to eat another day.”

“Deal.”

Sophia hung up, then immediately called Lance.

“I’m staying at the office for a few days,” Lance replied.

Sophia rustled around on her end, clearly already halfway out the door.

“Guess that works. At least there’s security there. If you pass out, someone will find you. If you were home, you’d turn into a popsicle before anyone noticed.”

“If you don’t have anything useful to say, maybe try being quiet for once,” Lance shot back, not in the mood for her jokes. He hung up on her.

Sophia still felt uneasy, so she shot him a message reminding him to take his meds and to call if he started feeling worse.

Catherine drove home. As soon as she stepped inside, she found herself under Lorinda’s watchful stare. Lorinda hadn’t started her livestream yet and was sitting on the couch with Jasper in her arms, waiting for Catherine to get back.

The second Catherine walked in, Lorinda gave her an exaggerated once-over, eyes narrowed in mock suspicion.

When Catherine got close, Lorinda stood up, still holding Jasper, and started patting Catherine’s pockets. Then her hand wandered and gave Catherine’s curves a quick squeeze.

“Are you out of your mind?” Catherine swatted her hand away, rolling her eyes.

Lorinda grinned. “Just making sure you didn’t smuggle Lance home in your pocket.”

She said it loud enough for Jasper to perk up and mimic her, letting out a little “Ah!” as if he wanted in on the joke.