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ladies’ room—the card Jake had pressed into her hand with his cell number on the back now warming in her jeans pocket—that she learned he was also married with a pregnant wife at home. David had warned Reese while Amelia was on the dance floor.
    “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Her jaw dropped as she looked at Reese in the mirror. “What a prick. Surely he knew I’d find out?”
    Reese grimaced. “Maybe he didn’t think you’d care.”
    She shook her head. No wonder I don’t get out much. Men couldn’t be trusted. Frowning at her reflection, she glanced over and caught a glimmer of that worried look Reese had given her earlier in the day.
    “I don’t care,” she said. “This is how much I don’t care.” She yanked the card out of her pocket and ripped it into four pieces before tossing it in the trash.
    She forced out a laugh and opened the door to the loud, pulsing rhythm of the nightclub.
    “C’mon.” She tugged on Reese’s hand. “Let’s get back out there.”
    As they threaded their way through the bar, Amelia spotted her old work friends. They’d staked out a table near the door, which stood wide open, encouraging the partiers outside to commit to a location. Katie Anderson, Amelia’s old boss, waved her over and patted the chair beside her. She slid onto it as Reese rushed off to find David.
    “Congrats, Mel,” Katie said for at least the fifth time that night. “I still can’t get over this movie thing. This is so huge .”
    She leaned over in her chair and gave Amelia a sideways hug, pressing their cheeks together and in the process snagging a thick strand of her unruly red hair in Amelia’s earring. Extracting it proved difficult after three hours’ worth of liquor. It involved several minutes and a lot of giggling.
    “Have I told you how awesome it is to see you?” Katie said once she’d separated her wavy, auburn locks from Amelia’s stick-straight, chestnut-brown ones. She wiped her eyes. “We’ve missed you at the office.”
    Amelia ignored her pointed look. “I’ve missed you guys, too. A lot.”
    “Yeah, I’m sure you think about us nonstop while you’re lounging around in your PJs, knocking out bestsellers,” said Becca Strazinsky in a dry voice.
    Amelia plastered on her best Southern transplant smile. Becca had been vying for her spot at Katie’s boutique PR firm ever since Amelia had taken an extended leave to write. So far Katie hadn’t promoted her, and Amelia knew she didn’t want to. Her creative director position remained unfilled, her old office empty.
    “I’ll bet she does think about us,” said Carrie Stockton, an account manager who deserved the promotion more than Becca, in her soft Memphis drawl. Amelia’s smile reached her eyes as she turned from Becca to Carrie. “I bet she misses all the drama.”
    “Yeah, seriously. What’s going on? I’ve been seeing the news on Maxwell. You guys have had your hands full,” Amelia said, eager to shift the subject away from herself before Katie, or especially Becca, could ask her how the book was going. She didn’t want to lie.
    Katie’s eyes sparked, and she launched into a five-minute description of the old, familiar client crises. Amelia was completely drawn in, forgetting how removed she’d been from the office in the past few months as she slid into her old role of problem solver.
    “I really miss this,” she said, her voice wistful and her chin in her hands.
    Katie shot her an expectant look, and she cringed.
    “Weeeell, you can come back any time, you know. I’d love it if you came back. And if you’re thinking about it…that must mean you’ve finished the book, then?”
    She blanched. Luckily Reese and David chose that moment to appear beside her, Reese drooping against her fiancé’s side in a dramatic display of exhaustion. Amelia pushed her chair back in relief and hugged her friends good-bye before following Reese toward the door.
     
    * * *
     
    Out on the street, she glanced