Unfortunately, the next morning allowed no more leisure time. Jules was up at six thirty, directing porters as well as various minions who’d come at the last minute to drop off goodbye gifts from designers and friends.

Vivian—up, dressed, and perfect by seven—strode around the house with a wireless earbud, barking out constant instructions to poor saps all over the world. When they were within twenty minutes of leaving, she breezed through the living room where Jules was frantically packing up the gifts to be shipped back to New York.

“David Yurman said he’d sent me some carnelian earrings,” Vivian said. “I’m sure you saw them in there. They’d go well with this outfit.”

Jules couldn’t refrain from looking said outfit up and down. She hadn’t meant to do it suggestively, but Vivian’s breath caught anyway.

Jules held back a smile. She kept her voice analytical. “Yeah, I can see that. They’d pick up the accents in your scarf.”

“Excellent,” Vivian replied before walking away quickly.

Jules grinned but then drooped as she looked back at the huge pile of gifts. Vivian might think Jules had perfect recall, but she had no clue where those earrings were. What a pain in the…

Vivian poked her head back into the living room. Her earbud was still in, but she said, “Don’t forget to select something for yourself” before leaving again.

Jules blinked. Select something for yourself? She was used to scoring the occasional sample or castoff at Du Jour. It was different to be set loose in Vivian’s personal stash of goodies. That was pretty freakin’ cool.

She zeroed in on an unlabeled box and opened it to find no earrings but a medium-sized brooch—a gold-plated snake with malachite eyes. It wasn’t Jules’s usual thing, but it was gorgeous and she set it aside immediately.

Shortly after that, she found the carnelian earrings. Just in time too. At that moment, more porters came, and Jules told them with relief to haul the rest of the loot away. It was time to head to the airport.

Vivian returned with her handbag, earbud out and already wearing her coat. Jules told herself she was not disappointed that she didn’t get to help Vivian into her coat today, that there would be many other opportunities.

“Here you go.” She offered Vivian the earring box.

Vivian snapped it open and slipped the studs into her ears with Olympic-level speed. Predictably, they looked fantastic. “What did you choose?”

Jules showed her the snake brooch. “I loved this one.”

Vivian raised an eyebrow.

“Unless it’s too nice,” Jules said quickly.

The other eyebrow went up.

“Oh. It’s too nice, isn’t it?” Jules started to panic. The damn snake was probably worth a thousand bucks or something. “I didn’t know. Here—it’ll look good with your shirt. You should—”