Dominique rested a weary head against her plush, cherry-red leather office chair. What a day! It had been a long one, both excruciating and exhilarating at the same time. Her team had pulled off the miraculous, and it wasn’t their first time. The cover shoot with Kirstie Alley had gone fabulously, making the crew wish they’d thought of her first instead of the temperamental no-show who’d been such a pain. And as if that weren’t enough, she’d received an e-mail stating that up-and-coming actress Gabourey Sidibe, as precious as she was capricious, had agreed to be their cover girl for the June issue. They’d been working with her publicist for weeks and had finally gotten the official yes. A contented smile came to Dominique’s face as she stretched and sat up. Her eyes widened as she looked at the time. Was it really seven o’clock? It was definitely time to go home!

As if to underscore this fact, Reggie bounded from the chair in front of her desk. “I sure hope we’re done for the day, Miss Dom, because I gotta go.”

“Yes, Reggie. It’s a wrap. Thanks for your hard work. I’ll remember this at the end of the year, when the holidays roll around.”

“Thanks, Miss Dom. See ya!” Reggie pranced toward the door but stopped short when he reached it. “Wait a minute. Don’t you have somewhere to go as well?”

Dominique shook her head. “I cancelled the date, Reg. But don’t worry about me. I’ve got a long soak in a hot tub and a glass of wine with my name on it. Justin is still in Inglewood so I’m looking forward to some me time.”

“If it were up to me,” Reggie said, “you would be doing something more meaningful with your footloose-and-fancy-free evening.”

“Then it’s a good thing it’s not up to you, huh? Now get on out of here before I think of more work for us to do.”

Reggie shrieked and was gone.

Dominique laughed out loud as the door slammed. Reggie could be a handful but when all was said and done he was the best assistant she’d ever had—organized, pro-active, could sell snow to an Eskimo and make Scrooge smile. His background wasn’t pretty but her assistant was proof that one could take life’s lemons and make lemon icebox pie. You could follow my lead sistah-girl, and have some dessert yourself. Dominique laughed again. “Get out of my head, Reggie,” she said aloud, reaching for her cell phone in the process. She saw that she’d missed a call. Her heart skipped a beat when she read the number. Jake. She pressed the button to hear what he had to say.