She remained in bed.
At 5:45, her phone buzzed.
Rosa.
Margaret answered.
“You awake?”
“I hate you.”
“Good.”
“You sound normal.”
Margaret smiled.
“What’s happening?”
“Claire is here.”
“Eric isn’t.”
“Did she say why?”
“Review.”
Rosa paused.
“Your station is untouched.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“I don’t know if I’m coming.”
“I know.”
Another pause.
Then Rosa said:
“Come for coffee.”
“You don’t have to work.”
“Just come sit.”
Margaret looked toward Peter sleeping beside her.
“I’ll think.”
At 7:10, Margaret walked into Hawthorne & Finch wearing jeans and a gray sweater.
No uniform.
No apron.
The front counter employees smiled carefully.
Nobody knew whether to mention yesterday.
Rosa placed coffee in front of her.
They sat in the corner.
“Wedding?”
Margaret asked.
Rosa smiled.
“David sent a photo.”
She turned her phone.
Emily and Nathan stood beside the cake at the reception.
The peach roses glowed under warm ballroom lights.
Margaret stared.
“She looks happy.”
“She does.”
Rosa swiped.
Another photo.
The cake after cutting.
Three clean tiers.
Perfect filling.
No structural problems.
Margaret exhaled.
Rosa looked at her.
“See?”
Margaret smiled.
“See what?”
“Your hands.”
Margaret shook her head.
“You’re annoying.”
“Thirty-eight years in kitchens.”
“I’ve earned it.”
Claire approached.
“Margaret.”
“Morning.”
“Can we talk?”
Margaret followed her to the office.
Claire had spent much of the night reviewing records.
What she found was not enormous.
But it was not nothing.
Three employees had previously complained about Eric’s tendency to assign blame publicly.
One junior baker left six months earlier after an argument over a mislabeled allergy-safe order.
At the time, Eric claimed the baker had ignored his verbal correction.
There was no written record proving either side.
Another employee reported Eric changing production notes without initialing the edits.
No customer harm resulted.
Claire had treated those incidents separately.
Now they looked connected.
“He has been managing uncertainty by controlling the record.”
Claire said.
Margaret listened.
“Did you know?”
“Not like this.”
Claire looked ashamed.
“I knew he could be harsh.”
“I told myself pressure came with production management.”
“That was lazy leadership.”
Margaret did not rescue her from the admission.
Claire continued.
“Yesterday was not just a bad tone.”
“He changed an order record without customer authorization.”
“He failed to disclose his own entry error.”
“He blamed you before verifying.”
“He ordered destruction of sellable work.”
“And then tried to force you to admit incompetence publicly.”
Margaret’s jaw tightened.
Hearing it itemized made the event sound worse.
Claire said:
“I have suspended him pending a formal employment review.”
“He will not return to production while that is active.”
Margaret nodded.
“Okay.”
Claire looked at her.
“Do you want to return?”
Margaret stared through the small office window toward the kitchen.
She could see her station.
Stainless table.
Turntable.
Piping tools.
The apron Rosa had hung neatly on the hook.
“I do.”
Claire waited.
Margaret continued.
“But I’m not coming back because anybody feels sorry for me.”
“I know.”