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Afternoon breakdown

Shea was halfway through her afternoon coffee, laptop open, emails blinking at her like impatient children. The apartment was quiet except for the low hum of traffic several floors below. She'd just finished reading the deposition from the teenaged grandson of a woman being sued by her maid for wrongful termination, and she was glad she'd been hired by the maid. Her lawsuit winning streak would continue.

She was grateful to have grown up in a life that also included a part-time housekeeper, but neither she nor her family would have dreamed of treating her as poorly as her client was.

When her phone rang and she saw her mother's name, she smiled.
Until she heard the silence on the other end.

"Mom?"

Jessamyn’s breath hitched. "Sweetheart…" Her voice cracked, soft and uneven. "It’s your dad."

Shea stood up too fast, the chair scraping back across the floor. "What happened?"

There was a pause. The longest pause Shea had ever experiences. She was about to check the screen to ensure the call was still connected when the whisper came: "He’s gone."

The world narrowed. No sound, no air. Just two words ricocheting around her skull.

"I... he was in his office. He was working but then there was this noise..."

Shea's knees gave, and she sank onto the edge of the couch, the mug slipping from her hand and spilling onto the rug.

"No. No, he was just..." She couldn't finish.

Jessamyn was still talking, gently, shakily, but the words came from far away. "The ambulance came. There was nothing they could do. They think it was his heart."

Shea pressed her hand to her chest like she could hold her own heart still. Her father's voice rang in her ears: teasing her about politics, praising her work ethic, reminding her that legacy wasn't about power, it was about people.

"Okay," Shea finally said, though nothing felt okay. "I'll be right there."

She hung up before she could break.