“We’re open until noon on Saturdays. Come in, I’ll get your labs, have the nurse practitioner do your pap, and if my friend in ultrasound is working, we can get some pictures of the baby.” Ciana seemed wide awake now and more animated than I’d seen her all week.

Cali’s eyes brightened, and I could actually feel some of the tension draining out of her shoulders. But then the light dimmed again. “I don’t have insurance.”

“I don’t care about insurance. I can work around it.”

“You have insurance,” I cut in, dispelling my friend’s fears. “I took care of all of your information with HR and got you sorted.”

Cali’s mouth dropped open. “When? And more importantly, how?”

“Aunt Gracie had all your new identity information. I told her I was helping you get a job and I needed your social security number to get your paperwork completed. She said to tell you congrats on the new job, by the way.” I pulled out Cali’s new ID badge from my purse. “Make sure you stop by HR to sign everything, but your insurance started yesterday, as soon as you were entered into the system as an employee. You’ll get your card in the mail in about a week, but it will cover any care you have before it arrives.”

“Whoa,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes. “Nova…”

“I got your back, babe,” I said with a smile. “You start on Monday as Ryan’s personal assistant’s personal assistant.”

As her tears started to dry, doubt crossed her face. “I don’t know how to be a personal assistant.”

“Can you fetch coffee?” Ciana asked, fighting another yawn, making me wonder if she would faceplant in her dessert plate later. “Order lunch? Make copies? Yell at stupid people?”

“I’m fairly proficient in all of those things,” Cali said with a dry laugh.

My cousin grinned and gave the other girl a wink. “Then you will be perfect as the personal assistant’s personal assistant.”

“Eduard has been kissing my ass the last few days,” I said with a smirk. “Casually mention that you and I are BFFs, and I bet he will bend over backward to make sure your job is smooth sailing.”

“Why is he kissing your ass?” Ciana asked curiously. “He’s normally so…reserved.”

“It doesn’t matter, but let’s just say he’s learned his lesson.” My phone buzzed with an incoming message, and I glanced down to see my mother’s text.

Mom: Will be in NYC around midday tomorrow. Set up lunch with G, so we can surprise him. Miss and love you both so much!

I smiled and shot back a quick reply, assuring her I would take care of it before putting my phone away.

“That’s not the smile you get when you’re talking to Ryan,” Ciana commented.

“It’s my mom. Instead of flying straight home after their trip to Mexico, they’re going to visit for a few days.” Mom and I had been planning it for a while now, so that she and I could go dress shopping with Anya. I hadn’t mentioned it to Ryan, wanting to surprise him. I could sense how anxious he was to get the ball rolling on planning the wedding. Other than our brief conversation about where we should get married, we hadn’t had time to discuss any other details since.