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“Oh yeah. I remember now. You’re doing good work with Forever Fitness. So good, in fact, that I think you’re not being challenged enough. I’m going to give you the Forever Fitness supplement divisions to run, too. How’s three hundred thousand a year on top of your current salary sound?”

“Three hundred thousand?” he sputtered.

“Do you believe this guy, Jenna?” I shook my head. “I don’t know whether to fire you for being arrogant or admire your moxie. All right, you drive a hard bargain. Four hundred k it is. You’d just better deliver results, or you can join the unemployment line with the guy from Welshie Subs.”

“Yes, sir,” he said, clearly overwhelmed but also with eyes gleaming from the opportunity.

“Next,” I said as I went back to my reps.

“There’s nobody left to make a report, sir,” Jenna replied.

“There’s you. How’s our master plan working so far?”

“Your brand recognition and total equity valuation exceeded all estimations so far, sir.”

“That’s excellent news.”

At least one aspect of the fake wedding was working out for me, but it was cold comfort at best.

“Fitz and I think it’s important that we keep this momentum going by having you and Amanda keep making public appearances as a couple.”

It sounded like a great idea to me. “Good. Let’s bring Amanda in here, right now, so we can discuss it.”

“Right now, sir?”

“Yes, right now. She’s my wife. She can look at me in my skivvies while I work out.”

“You misunderstand me, sir. Amanda is not in the manor at this time. She left earlier today.”

Anger flared up inside of me.

“She left?” I sputtered in rage. “Without my permission? Find her. Now!”

Chapter 10

Amanda

“You just don’t understand how essential you really are, darling.”

I looked up from my eggs Benedict to Jennifer’s smiling face. Her smile belied all of the complaining she’d been doing about my absence from the charity work.

“I mean, Jake and Ramone are like a couple of wild puppies without you around. They keep trying to do things their own way, and then when I try to lay down the law, they get the sad puppy dog eyes and go ‘butAmandaalways says…’ so on and so forth.”

I chuckled and took a sip of my Mimosa. The Happy Trails Café offered a spectacular vista of the city, especially early in the morning as it faced east. We practically had the café to ourselves because of the extremely early hour. The morning sun had just peeked up over the horizon, a fat and blurry red blob tingeing the thin and wispy clouds with gold.

“I mean, it’s gotten so bad that Jake and Ramone are saying they had it better at the restaurant.”

I laughed, remembering my days as a waitress there. No way would either of those men even think about actually following through on their threats. I knew that for a fact. Food service sucked. Their current jobs allowed them to make a very comfortable living and take care of their families, and no matterhow much of an adjustment it was getting used to Jennifer’s management style, I knew they weren’t going anywhere.

“Well, don’t worry about it. Soon enough I’ll be back organizing events for the charity. I’ve had time to think about a ton of new ideas. We’re going to do more than just save the world, Jennifer. We’re going to change it.”

Her lips spread in a wide grin.

“Now that’s the Amanda I know and love.”

The smile faded, and a grimace replaced it. She put a hand over her belly and then sipped a bit of water.

“Hey, are you all right, Jen?”