Reggie clapped his hands together in glee. “Girl, you know I would! Oh my gosh, but it starts at 6:30. That only gives me five hours to plan what I’m going to wear. Ooh, Quinn is going to be over the moon.” Reggie jumped up, walked over, and gave Dominique a big hug. “Don’t let them see you sweat, Miss Dom. You’ve got this.”

“Thanks, Reggie. Have fun tonight.” Reggie started toward the door, busy texting away as he walked. “Oh, and unless it’s an emergency, hold my calls for the remainder of the afternoon.”

For the next two hours, Dominique buried herself in more facts and figures. She buzzed Reggie several times, having him bring in various reports on the competition, trends in the industry, and the like. For the most part, she felt satisfied with the information she’d have to present in any forthcoming meetings on her performance. But there were a couple of potentially problematic areas. Dominique sighed. This is going to be a long night.

Dominique reached for the phone. “Tessa, it’s me. Can you stay a few extra hours? I’m going to be working late.”

“No problem, Dominique.”

“Thank you.” Before she’d replaced the office phone on its receiver, her cell phone rang. “Hello?”

“Hey, baby. It’s me.”

“Hey, Jake.”

Jake immediately sensed tension in Dominique’s voice. “Whoa. What’s wrong?”

Dominique gave him a brief rundown of her day.

“Then what I’ve planned is right on time.”

“What’s that?” Dominique asked, her voice wary.

“I’ll tell you tonight ... at dinner.”

“Ooh, baby, that sounds great. But I have to work late. I just called Tessa so she could stay with Justin.”

There was a pause before Jake replied, “Okay.” And then he added, “Last night you said you were going to start focusing more on yourself and your family.”

“That was before today’s luncheon!”

“So now the workaholic is back, with no thoughts to what happens outside of the office?”

“That’s not fair, Jake. My career may be at stake here,” Dominique said, continuing when Jake didn’t respond. “This situation is temporary. There is another meeting with the investors soon and Solveig Ericksson, a good friend of mine who is a supporter and also on the board, will be there. She knows exactly what François is up to and, believe me, neither one of us is planning for his shenanigans to succeed.”

“All right, then. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay.” Dominique replied, though she didn’t think things were okay at all.

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