Two days after the incident at Gage’s house, Echo died. Yesterday, he and all of his upper management had gone to Jay’s funeral. Business, for all intents and purposes, had returned to normal. The credit union took a loss to the tune of ninety-four thousand dollars. Gage, as well as his board and upper management, decided that was best instead of submitting an insurance claim.
He sat at his desk, thinking. He felt bad those two got caught up in the dream that money cured everything. It didn’t. It never would. He had formed a relationship with both of them and he had a hard time getting past what they had done. He was pissed they had deceived everyone at the credit union and yet, he felt bad that they thought stealing was something they had to do. And in the end it hadn’t gotten them anywhere. It had gotten them both killed.
For God’s sake, Brian had killed Echo himself, even though it was accidental. And Jay. Jay was an innocent man just doing his job and he had lost his life, too. What a fucking mess. Gage couldn’t imagine getting Amber involved in something like that. You didn’t do that to people that were important to you.
Everyone at work was quiet. Doing what they needed to do to get the job done, but the hallways were quiet. The break room was quiet. He knew it would take time to heal the wounds that Brian and Echo made. The friendships they had formed with other employees who had put their trust into them which were now broken and there wasn’t anyone around to take the blame. He wished he could change that feeling...for him, for all of his employees.
“Hey Gage, Amber’s closing is finished. I just thought you would want to know.” Lisa stood at his doorway.
“Lisa, thanks. I’m glad they lowered their asking price.”
“Me too. She seems to be doing pretty well. She said it helps that she’s not alone at night. Are you ever going to go back to your house?”
“Maybe. I haven’t decided yet. It’s all cleaned up but still seems like a nasty place to go and live.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking. I knew you guys would end up together. Before all of this,” she gestured with her hand, “I had a bet with Nate about you guys winding up together. Now, it seems so silly.”
Gage laughed, “That obvious, huh? We are definitely in a better place than we were, considering the crap that’s happened.”
She started moving away from the door, “Yeah, well...see you tomorrow. Don’t beat yourself up over their mistakes, okay?”
“How do you even know I am?”
“Cause you’re a good boss, Gage. That’s how.”
Gage took a deep breath. Almost time to go home. Home. Was it his home? He’d been staying with Amber while his house was out of commission and he could go back to his house at any time. But he hadn’t yet. And Amber made it clear she didn’t mind having him at her place. But surely she would get tired of not having her house back to herself. He needed to make a decision about going back to his house or putting it up for sale. At the moment, neither seemed appealing. It had become just a house that he lived in. Waking up next to Amber every day and enjoying her companionship at night had him not wanting to be alone. He knew he wanted to be where she was, but he wasn’t sure if she was ready for that. It wasn’t yet time to leave but he shut his computer down and left anyway. He had to find Amber. She had become his home.