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That evening, after Jo told Emma she could go home, Emma hovered in her doorway for a moment.

“Happy birthday, boss,” she said quietly.

Jo wanted to tell her she loved her. Wanted to tell her she was sorry for everything.

In the end, all Jo said was, “Thank you, Emma.”

19

EMMA

Emma had narrowed down the pool of candidates for Jo’s next assistant to four. It was weird, picking her own replacement. Weirder still doing it in the wake of... everything.

Of realizing she had a crush on Jo and then almost kissing her and then imagining how things could work, only to have Jo invite hergirlfriendout for a week. Jo and Evelyn had gone out to dinner with Sam, Jo’s former coworker, and the tabloids might have taken it as confirmation of Jo and Sam’s relationship, but Emma knew better. She knew those weren’t the two dating at that dinner.

Of course Jo had a girlfriend. Why wouldn’t she? She was gorgeous and successful, funny and kind. All the reasons Emma was interested in her were all the reasons she obviously already had a girlfriend. It made sense, even if it hurt.

Emma wished Jo would’ve just said she wasn’t interested in her. Instead, Jo had her girlfriend visit like she was pointing out she was off-limits without having to have the conversation with Emma. What was worse was how Jo offered to promote her early—like Jo wanted to put distance between them, like she no longer trusted Emma to be professional.

But whatever. Emma was being professional. Things between her and Jo were fine—normal, almost. Emma was hiring her replacement.

All of the candidates she found were qualified. Any of them would probably do fine. But she wanted better than fine. Jo deserved better than fine. If Emma hired the perfect assistant for Jo, it would prove this stupid crush didn’t affect any of her work. Her palms sweat every time she looked over the candidates’ résumés.

The only interview Emma had left was Phil. She was surprised he’d applied. He’d been on the show a year longer than she had and had never switched departments or, really, shown any desire to advance. When she was on props with him, he was the jokester. They’d gotten along because he made her laugh, but he was always more likely to go for a joke than to volunteer for extra work. Jo could use someone laid-back, though, so Emma set up an interview.

Phil grinned as he shook her hand.

“Let’s get this over with so I can get my promotion,” he said.

Emma bristled. “Phil, I’ve interviewed three other really strong candidates. This isn’t a formality. You don’t automatically have the job just because we’re friends.”

“Of course I shouldn’t have the job because we’re friends,” Phil said. “But you know I’d be great at it.”

“And why is that?” Emma tried to pivot to a serious interviewer tone. She sat at the conference table and gestured for Phil to sit across from her. “What do you think you’d bring to the job?”

“Emma, it’s just an assistant position. I think I can handle it.”

Emma raised her eyebrows. “You think my job has beeneasythe past year and a half?”

“No, of course not,” Phil backtracked. “It’s just not like you’re guarding nuclear launch codes.”

Emma chuckled along with him, but seethed inside. People always acted like being someone’s assistant wasn’t hard, like it was all ordering lunch and picking up dry cleaning. Phil should’ve known better. Emma folded her hands on the table in front of her.

“How would you deal with the more difficult aspects of the job?”

Phil must have recognized the frustration in her voice—he seemed to flip a switch, taking everything more seriously. It ended up being a pretty good interview. Emma was going to have a hard decision ahead of her. After, they slipped back into their roles as friends, chatted about nothing important—Emma and Jo’s upcoming trip to Calgary and what Phil was doing over the winter break.

“Do you have any questions for me?” Emma asked before officially ending the interview.

“Can you give me tips to keeping her happy, you know,behind the scenes?” Phil waggled his eyebrows at her. “I want to make sure I get as good a recommendation out of this as you got.”

It was a joke. Emma knew that. But the words chafed against her skin.

“I appreciate you taking the time to interview,” she said, straightening the notes in front of her. “Unfortunately we’re going to be going in a different direction.”

Phil guffawed at her. “You’re kidding.”

“I don’t think it’s appropriate to insinuate that your interviewer has been sleeping with her boss,” Emma said. “I can’t imagine any situation where you’d expect to get the job after that. I’m sure Aly will appreciate not having to find another PA for the second half of the season.”