"Emma, I'm thinking…about calling off the wedding."

Emma's face froze, her confident smile locked into place, as she tried to process what Annie was saying.

"Emma?" Annie asked tentatively, biting her lip uncomfortably at Emma's persistent silence and now slightly maniacal grin, deteriorating quickly into something more like a determined grimace.

The expression remained plastered on while her mind raced.

Nineteen out of twenty. That's still, what? Nine times five is forty-five, carry the four…She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Ugh, whatever. Math is boring. Regardless, I'll tell you what nineteen out of twenty is NOT—a hundred percent success rate. And I already had new business cards made up with the tagline "Emma's Vision is 20/20." She thought wistfully of the dip-dyed cards in their neat box in her desk.

"Emma?" Annie's voice had grown even smaller.

"Emma!" Alex voice boomed warningly from behind. Emma's mouth dropped open as her eyes darted to Annie's on the screen and then towards Alex's palpable disapproval rolling in from the doorway.

"Haaaaaaa…" Emma exhaled in an effort to stall. The staccato pat-pat of Alex's sensible lace-ups measured his approach, and Emma panicked. "Call you back in sec, sweetie—bye!" she exclaimed brightly and then clicked off the Domino app.

She hated his seemingly innate ability to exasperate her—though she tried her damndest to suppress any outward showing of it.

If she was being honest, she sometimes failed.

"Alex," she began breezily. She ignored the little vein pulsing in his temple. "So sorry about earlier—I guess Domino is still working out some glitches! I'll email Gigi and let her know."

She turned her back to him, pulled up a new email, and began busily composing. Alex drew nearer to her until thigh was almost touching her shoulder. She paused in her typing and clenched her fingers.

"Yes?" she asked tightly.

"You hung up on me," Alex stated bluntly. Emma chuckled sheepishly and started to make an excuse but Alex cut her off—"And you have to make a short list of candidates for the PA position. Today," he added in response to her half-concealed eye roll and audible sigh. He held up a sheaf of résumés before smacking them down on her desk with a flourish.

"There are some really good ones in there, Emma," he said firmly. "I think Robert Martin sounds particularly promising."

Emma was incredulous. "Robert Martin? Seriously? I don't want a male personal assistant."

"And why not? Weren't you telling me something about mannies over brunch last weekend? You said they were the new "it" accessory for the stylish working mom. Same principal, right? Besides, he seems more than capable." Alex ruffled through the papers until he found one printed on thick cream paper in an utterly uninspired Helvetica.

"See? Look, he worked nights in college to supplement what expenses his scholarship didn't cover, which shows he has a strong work ethic. He speaks three languages and is proficient in both photo and video editing."

Emma breathed in sharply through her nose and shook herself a little. "Sorry, I must have dozed off there for a second. Three languages, how fascinating. Do go on." She batted her eyes at him expectantly.

Alex bopped her on the nose with the folded résumé and then tossed it on top of the pile. "Choose whomever you want, Emma, but I'll want your final three by five. I'm done fielding your phone calls. I've got important, boring stuff to do, remember? That is what you pay me for." He turned on his heel and walked out of her office.

Emma sighed again and then began disinterestedly flipping through the pile, until a flash of apricot caught her eye. She pulled out a decidedly flashier résumé than Robert Martin's, "Harriet Smith" printed in Lobster in a contrasting Prussian blue.

She paused for a second, and then held the paper up to her nose before taking a delicate sniff.

Wait a second..is this…scented?