“He said he’d call you later,” Jules said, “on your private phone.”

“Thank you.” Vivian’s tone implied anything but gratitude.

Jules left the office and sat down so hard in her chair that it probably bruised her tailbone. Thank God Allie was making copies somewhere so she couldn’t see her bird-smacked-into-the-window impression.

Those phone calls when Vivian had been laughing but hadn’t wanted anybody else to hear. Those lunches. And they’d been planning to get together tomorrow evening.

Jules knew what it meant when a straight man and a straight woman got together in the evening. And Vivian had lit up like a Roman candle just at the mention of it.

She inhaled sharply. No—this couldn’t be the special project Vivian had mentioned, could it? Getting Jules to coordinate an affair because she could be trusted?

No, Jules told herself, even though all her instincts told her it must be true.

Vivian said to talk to you if I ever couldn’t reach her.

Stupid. Stupid. Vivian’s glow—because of a man. An absurdly handsome and available man. Well, of course it’d have to be something like that instead of some lowly assistant who brought her coffee and scheduled her doctor’s appointments. What the hell about Jules could possibly make her glow?

Jules was, yet again, an idiot.

Chapter 32

Chapter 32

It was February 17, there was dirty, slushy snow all over the ground, and London Fashion Week was less than one week away. Like everyone else, Jules was thrown into frantic preparations while also trying to train Allie to hold the fort while they were gone.

Vivian wasn’t slowing down either. Their morning rides had no more silences; Vivian talked from the moment she got in the car to the moment she sat at her desk.

The good news was that now Allie was the one responsible for getting Vivian’s morning coffee to her. The bad news was that now Jules arrived at the office with Vivian every single morning, and people had started to notice.

Jules felt the sting of raised eyebrows and muttered comments. Now she understood what Vivian had meant at Christmas about disliking passive-aggressiveness. What was the big deal? So Jules showed up to work with her boss. Who cared?

It wasn’t as if anything inappropriate was going on. At all.

It was actually refreshing when a wide-eyed Allie asked her right up front, “Why do you always arrive at work with Vivian? Do you have it timed that well?”

Typical. Allie had come to be in awe of the way Jules kept up with Vivian.

“Er, no,” Jules admitted. “Ben picks me up every morning before he gets her. It’s so she can start giving me instructions right away.”

“Wow,” Allie breathed.