“You have a minute?”

She stood back up, and gestured for him to come in. “I do.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Better. The antibiotics kicked in, thank goodness.”

“Well, don’t push too hard. Make it a half-day if you need to.”

“Thanks.” She looked expectantly at him. “So what’s up?”

“At nine thirty today, there’s going to be an announcement. I wanted you to hear before the news broke—”

“We’ve been sold.”

Jeff shook his head. “No. Nothing as bad as that.”

“But it isn’t good news.”

“It’s definitely a change. A big change.” He hesitated. “Cormac Sheenan is closing his personal offices in Southern California, and all regional offices, creating one big corporate office in Montana.”

Whitney sat down abruptly on the edge of the chair. “What?”

“Cormac sent an email to the executive vice presidents late Friday informing us of his plans. He is going to break the news to everyone at nine thirty in a company-wide email, but he’d wanted his executive team to hear it first, to make sure we were on board.”

“Which you’re not, right? You can’t be.” She searched his face. He looked tired, and stressed. “Do you really intend to move to Montana?”

“Definitely considering it.” He shrugged. “How can I not? I have a great job. It’s my dream job, and I’m paid really well, too.”

“What about your wife? What does Susan say? Is she good with this?”

“We are all in shock, but she’s not opposed to Montana. She’d definitely rather go to Bozeman than a big city like New York or Detroit.”

“So that’s where the new corporate office will be? In Bozeman?”

“Actually, in Marietta. It’s where Cormac was raised. Marietta is a small town thirty-five miles east of Bozeman.”

Whitney closed her eyes, pressed her fingertips to her brow. She knew exactly where Marietta was. She’d grown up in Bozeman. Had played her fair share of volleyball games in Marietta and Livingston. Marietta was a small town. A very small town…

“This is a tough time to move, with the holidays approaching,” Jeff added. “And Cormac realizes he can’t expect everyone to move over Thanksgiving and Christmas, so he’s giving people the next sixty days to prepare for the move, with the expectation that staff be in Marietta at the start of the new year. Those who don’t choose to relocate will receive a severance package.”

“He’s moving hundreds of people to Marietta?”

“I think he anticipates most will go, and then he’ll fill in the gaps once we’re in Montana, hiring from the community. I’m sure HR will start reaching out to headhunters in the coming weeks as well.” Jeff paused. “I know it’s a shock, but you’re going to go, too. Right?”

Whitney didn’t even need time to think about her answer. She was from Bozeman.