“Wait, you worked the Jacobs party a couple months ago, right? That was for my stepfather.” The guy looked vaguely familiar, but her memory of that night was filled with Reagan and the shit show of her mother’s, not Gwen’s employees. She figured it’d be worth a shot to ask, though. It would at least let him know she was a client and not some crazy stalker.

“Ah, right. Follow me.” He led her to the back of the restaurant and pointed down the hallway toward the open door at the end. “She’s in there.”

“Thanks.” She took a few calming breaths before she knocked on the open door. “Hey, Gwen.”

Gwen looked up from her desk and glared at Jill. Placing her palms on the desk, she stood up slowly. “Jill. What the hell are you doing here?”

“I need your help.”

“If you’ve come to secure our services again, then I will politely ask you to get the fuck out of here.”

Jill held up her hands. “No, I didn’t come here for that. I need your help with Reagan. I need to talk to her.”

“She’s the last person in the world I should help you with. I fucking told you not to hurt her and you did. Horribly. Why should I help you?”

She stepped into the room and tentatively sat in the chair in front of Gwen’s desk. Her eyes burned and tears threatened to fall. “I know I don’t deserve it. Or deserve her. I made a terrible mistake. I see that now. Fuck, I saw it then too. I was just too blinded by success and the chance for promotion that I let the best thing that has ever happened to me slip away. My world has been upside down since she left. She’s the only person who wanted to know me, the real me. And I messed it up. I miss her so much, Gwen.”

Gwen stayed silent for a moment. “You need to tell her that.”

“I know. I want to so badly. That’s why I need your help.”

“Why? What do I have to do with any of this?”

“I-I don’t think she ever wants to hear from me again. I texted her at Christmas but never got a reply. I thought maybe you could help by getting her in the same room with me. Please.”

“How do you expect me to do that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe say you need her to meet you at Gale’s? And then I can be there waiting for her.”

“Why Gale’s?”

“That’s where we met,” Jill replied with a slight upturn of her lips.

“Hmm. Okay, kinda romantic.” Her soft expression turned again to a frown as she crossed her arms and stared down at Jill. “So you want me to lie to my best friend?”