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this a generous offer.” Indeed, she had pushed the package ten percent higher than Hal’s recommendation so she wouldn’t have to feel guilty about forced terminations. “But we don’t have a choice about these numbers. If we can’t hit our quotas throughout the company we’ll have to resort to layoffs, and those people won’t be eligible for severance because they’ll be entitled to unemployment.”
    It sounded threatening when she put it that way, and by the fear on her managers’ faces they thought so too.
    “Look, I know people are scared. But we have to present this as an opportunity for folks to take that step they’ve been thinking about, like going back to school or starting a small business of their own.” She was glad to see several heads nodding in approval. “Some people might want to feel like they have control over what happens to them, that they aren’t just sitting back waiting for whatever life hands them.”
    After Nancy finished her remarks, Anna took a handful of questions. Then she adjourned the meeting and waited until all but her brother-in-law had left the room.
    “What was that about?” Hal asked. “You looked like you were off in dreamland.”
    “Guilty as charged.” It was no use playing dumb since he had caught her in a full-on smile, but she couldn’t tell their secret. “I was thinking how nice it would be once we get things back to normal here so we can get home to our families on the weekend.”
    He looked at her sheepishly. “I have a confession to make. I’ve been sneaking out of here after lunch on Saturdays for the past month.”
    “You straighten your desk and turn out the lights in your office, Hal. You call that sneaking?” Since joining her business four years ago he had become her right hand, the person she depended on most. That didn’t mean she expected him to work the same long hours she did. “My sister would kill me if you didn’t show up at home once in a while.”
    “I’m surprised Lily doesn’t come down here and drag you home.”
    “I’m a little surprised too.” Anna smiled again, thinking once their baby arrived, someone might have to drag her to work.

    Lily cinched the backpack around her waist as Anna gathered the remnants of their picnic lunch. Andy had already started down the trail. With luck he would make it all the way back to the car on foot, sparing them the chore of carrying him piggy-back, along with his child-sized backpack. These mountain hikes were few and far between, but still one of Lily’s favorite ways to spend time together as a family. Even Anna, born and raised in Beverly Hills, had come to appreciate what nature had to offer.
    Having Anna along on a Saturday hike was a rare treat these days. She had been spending more weekends at work, but seemed to be breathing easier now that some of her employees were coming forward to claim severance and retirement benefits.
    She smiled to recall their first hike together, a short jaunt to the falls at Temescal Gateway Park. Anna had joked that no one should have to walk up a mountain when there were perfectly good four-wheel-drive vehicles to get you there. Now she was an old hand at hiking, decked out in sturdy trail shoes, knee-length nylon pants with zippered pouches on the side, a long-sleeved T-shirt with built-in sunblock, and her dark ponytail tucked through the opening of her favorite Dodgers cap.
    “What are you thinking about?” Anna asked, falling into step beside her.
    “The first time you came hiking with me.”
    “I remember that. You made me sleep in a tent, and then you laughed at me when I fell out of the canoe.”
    “Oh, the weekend at Kidz Kamp. Actually, I was thinking about the time it was just you and me and we went to Temescal.”
    “When you dragged me twenty miles to that waterfall? I thought I was having a heart attack.”
    “It was only three miles and I didn’t drag you…although I do remember you asking me to fetch the car for you. It’s