I slung my bag on my desk, reached for the computer, and punched in Zillow.com. I should have done this before heading over there—at least I would have been a little prepared for the shock of their house. Zillow was one of my great finds for peeking over the neighbor’s fence. You could punch in any address in the US and through a database of public records pull up the purchase price of the house from over the years. I loved seeing what the nouveau riche overpaid for their trophy pads. I’d had no guilt when I came back from Lauren’s and looked to see what she’d paid for her new house ($1.8 million!).

Punching in Dave’s new address, I only had to wait a few seconds to see that the house was currently in escrow for $3.3 million. All the air and energy went out of me. I leaned back from the computer. After all the open homes I’d gone to with Dave, after all the combined-income calculations I’d come up with, Dave and the Hollywood Princess had paid a price higher than I’d ever even hoped for. I’m sure they were buying the place with a little help from her dad.

Dave was getting married. He and I had circled the topic a few times and I’d had my seventh-inning-at-the-Dodgers hopes; I always counted on it happening. A year ago, I’d secretly purchased two bridal magazines, leafing through them covertly behind a closed bathroom door like an eleven-year-old with his first Penthouse. My greedy eyes soaked up the Vera Wang gowns and Ascher cut diamond rings. I’d imagined what the weight of the ring would feel like on my finger, and, knowing the bathroom door was locked, I’d delicately hold my hand against the page.

I was so lost in my misery I didn’t realize my phone had been ringing.

“It’s Dani,” I answered.

“It’s Azita,” Azita mimicked back to me. She was always so up and lively. If only she could bottle and sell all that happiness, I’d buy a case. “Hey, boss lady, Steve wants to know if you can come into the Room to work with the guys on some of the new stuff for Assistant Number Two, I mean ‘Doheny.’ Production is hoping to come up with some sort of a shooting schedule.”

Cradling the phone between by shoulder and ear, I closed out Zillow on my computer screen. Opening my work file for the episode, I scanned through to the new scenes. “Tell Steve I’m on my way.”

“Sure thing, boss lady.” Azita hung up.

Closing my eyes, I took in a few deep breaths, trying to calm my anxiety. I needed to clear my mind of Dave so that I could focus on writing for Chloe. I grabbed my notebook and headed for the Room.