Gwen eventually went to her office to be alone for a few moments. She'd naively expected Jocelyn to either say yes or no, not for her to negotiate. Of course she would negotiate, Gwen reasoned. Jocelyn was a talented chef, and she didn't want to waste her skills.
She took a deep breath, then another. She hated conflict. She hated when people were upset with her. Even though she knew that, logically, her discussion with Jocelyn had been just that–a discussion–she still felt that familiar anxiety surfacing.
Her ex-husband had loved conflict, or at least, that was what it had felt like to Gwen. Tim had liked to pick fights with not only her but anyone else close to him. At the beginning of their marriage, Gwen had tried her best to keep Tim happy and to avoid any possible conflict.
If it h
