Chapter 10

Tasha was in her office on the Friday the week after she returned from Canada, looking for her stapler under stacks of papers and plastic folders on her desk, when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," she called out, pulling out the old stapler from under the rubble.

It was Ellen Dunlop, one of her colleagues. Ellen just joined the staff seven months ago, and they were fast becoming close, which Tasha loved so much. Her twins; Liam and Lilla were Tyson's age mates, so her boy had added two more playmates.

She hadn't gotten the opportunity to have a close friend like Phoebe since she came to Berkeley.

“Tasha, hi," Ellen stood at the door. “Are you ready for the meeting?"

A circular for an impromptu faculty meeting slated for later in the evening, after everyone would have finished teaching for the day, was just passed in the morning.

“I don't understand this late hour meeting,” Tasha grumbled as she stapled some pieces of papers together. “I‘m ready, anyway. Let me just pin t