Vivian was staring off into space, as white as chalk. She was biting the knuckle of her right index finger, her eyes wide. She looked petrified. Jules’s stomach twisted at the sight of it.

She cleared her throat.

Vivian jumped at the sound and stared as if she’d forgotten Jules was in the office.

Jules set the glass on Vivian’s desk, trying not to let her hand shake. Vivian looked at the glass as if she’d never seen anything like it before.

“Here you go,” Jules said brightly.

Vivian looked up at her with even less comprehension than she had at the glass.

It took every ounce of self-control not to ask, Are you okay? You never asked Vivian Carlisle stupid questions that had obvious answers. Clearly, all was not okay.

Then Vivian spoke. “I…” she said and dragged one shaking hand across her forehead. “Thank you.”

Thank you? She never thanked people for doing the basics of their jobs. Jules’s hands started to get cold from nerves. What the hell was going on here?

Vivian took a careful sip. Then she set the glass back down, swallowed hard, and hid her face in her hands, breathing deeply.

“Vivian!” Jules gasped, but Vivian held up one hand for silence. Jules realized that she was trying not to be sick.

How long had this been going on? For that matter, had Vivian even eaten dinner tonight? Jules realized that she hadn’t been dispatched to get any food that evening and that Vivian had canceled her lunch, which meant she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. If she’d had breakfast.

Vivian lowered her hands, taking another deep breath. “Well,” she said.

“Do you want me to call a doctor?”

“No, not yet.”

The “not yet” made Jules’s heart start racing in panic.

Vivian rubbed her hands over her face. “God. I haven’t even had a moment to myself in…I haven’t been able to…”

Jules waited. When nothing else seemed forthcoming, she blurted out, “Is there something I can do?”

Vivian glanced at her.

“I mean, get you something to eat, or…?”

Tapping her fingers on her desk, Vivian stared off into space again. The haunted look was back in her eyes.

Jules’s insides started to squirm like snakes.

“I need you to go to the store for me,” Vivian said quietly after a moment.

Jules was trying to work out whether she meant Hermès, Blahnik, or Tiffany’s—and how to tell Vivian that all three were closed for the night—when she realized Vivian had paused.

“Okay,” Jules prompted after Vivian hadn’t spoken in nearly thirty seconds.

Vivian drummed her fingers against the desk again and appeared to finally come to a decision. “Bring me back a pregnancy test.”

The room seemed to dip and sway for a second.

Vivian darted her a quick, sharp look.