The night passed on in a naked embrace of limbs and hearts, but soon the morning light was streaming in and Jada woke alone in her bed. Old habits died hard, and Jada felt her heart pull momentarily, before she remembered that Edmund had to be at the office very early, and that he had no change of clothes here like she did. She did wonder why he hadn’t said goodbye, but it was true that he very well could have; Jada was a heavy sleeper, especially after a night like that.

It wasn’t quite time for her to leave yet, and with everything spinning around her and her true feelings blossoming, Jada decided to call her parents. The phone rang twice before her mother picked up.

“Hey, honey! How are you? It’s been a few days since we talked.”

“I know. I’m sorry. Life has been really crazy of late.” Jada sat up and pulled the covers around her bare skin, “How’s Dad doing?”

“He’s all right. He’s right here, and he’s awake.”

“Oh, that’s great. Tell him I say hi.”

The phone shuffled for a moment. “Jada says hi!” Her mother’s voice returned to the phone. “He says hi back!”

“So, there’s actually a reason for my call.”

“Yes?”

“I may have come up with a way to get the money for dad’s surgery.” The words came out in a blurted mess.

“Oh, Jada, I hope you didn’t do anything crazy.”

“Funny you should mention that. I actually got it from my boss.”

“Your boss?”

“Yes. You see, he needed to land this big deal, and to do it, he needed to marry a woman of Qaresman origin. So we made an arrangement. A deal.” Jada couldn’t believe the words as she spoke them.

“I don’t believe what I’m hearing.” Her mother’s voice had dropped low. “Did he blackmail you, threaten you? Why, if that man hurt you in any way, I’ll be on the next plane out there to give him a piece of my fist.”

Jada couldn’t help but be soothed by the love and laughed a little. “No, no. Actually, he’s been very nice, very professional. I agreed to it because he was going to pay me a lot of money and I knew it could help Dad. I just want him to be okay, and I didn’t want something to happen to him when I could help. I didn’t want him to leave disappointed in me.”

“Oh, honey, no. No. I would never want you to think that. Your father—” The phone connection was echoing, and Jada heard shuffling in the background.

“Bring the phone here. Yes, please.” It was her dad.

At some point, Jada’s mother had put her on speaker and not told her. A classic move. Now her dad, her poor dad, wanted to talk to her. Jada braced herself for a chewing out.

“Why’d you put me on speaker!”

“Listen. Listen up, child.” Her dad’s voice was soft and strained. “My greatest accomplishment in this world is you. You’re my baby girl, and I love you more than anything in this world. We both do. I’m moved beyond words by what you’ve done to help me, but it’s not right. Knowing you’re going to be okay, should anything happen, is what gets me through. You’ve done so much, my little one. You’ve grown into an amazing woman who never lets anything stand in her way. I couldn’t be prouder of you.”

Jada was crying into the receiver. Her papa was there in a hospital bed worrying about her. “I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you too, chipmunk.”

There was more shuffling on the line, and then Jada’s mother was back on the phone.

“I understand what you were doing; I do. But what do I always say about murky waters?”

Jada laughed through a fit of tears. “When the waters around you are murky, follow the pull in your heart. It will never lead you astray.”

She could barely get the words out she was crying so hard. Her mom shushed her on the other end of the line like she had when Jada was a baby, the calm words of love slowly stopping the tears.

“I love you, Mom. And really, I want to. I want to follow my heart.” Jada swallowed. “I wanted to tell you that I’ve...I’ve fallen for him. For Edmund. And I think he’s fallen for me too. I really do. But I don’t want our relationship just to be a means to an end. I want to start over, do it for real.”

Her mom chuckled. “My darling girl, just tell him how you feel. He’ll either be okay with it or he won’t, but you can’t let yourself be pinned like this.”

Jada took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “Okay. I will. I’ll tell you everything when I get home.”

“That’s my girl. Go get him.”

After a few more laughs and words of encouragement, Jada ended the call. It was exactly what she had needed. She was going to talk things over with Edmund, and hopefully he would understand.

She blew her nose and mopped up her face before getting up to get dressed. The mess of the lamp had been cleaned up off the floor, and the broom sat in the corner. Edmund must have swept it up so she wouldn’t step on the shards. She smiled to herself. Quickly, Jada got dressed and headed out to her car.

The drive to work was quick and quiet as Jada went over and over what she wanted to say to Edmund in her mind. After all, it was not ordinary to ask a man for a divorce because you loved him. God, this was all so weird. Jada couldn’t for the life of her understand where her head had been when she had decided to do this. Desperation was a hell of a thing. She walked into the office, and things appeared to be business as usual.

Passing the lunch room, Jada saw the free lunch table remained set up, and smiled. She walked quickly down the hall, nodding to her teammates and a few of the other managers, and breezed right up to her office. Sitting down at her desk, she saw there was a message on her phone, and she quickly dialed up her voicemail.

“Hey, it’s me. The Qaresma meeting is set for this afternoon. It’s gonna be you and a bunch of other managers. Should go fine. Also, I’m thinking of changing the name of the company. You know, have it reflect my real name. What do you think? Also, apparently security had a hell of a time with Evelyn. I’m so sorry again. I should have realized how nuts she was much sooner. Oh, and I found a teaching job you may be interested in. I know I go overboard. I can’t help it. This information is in your email.”

Jada laughed as the message ended and shook her mouse to wake up her computer. Sure enough, she had an unread message from Edmund Hays. The name was already changed on his account, so she assumed he was getting used to it. She smiled.

As she double-clicked on the email to open it up, Jada read the description of the teaching job he had forwarded to her. It detailed that the school needed an art teacher for next semester. The applicant needed a degree in art but was not required to have a teaching degree, which was odd, but they were short staffed. They said they would provide training and certification time for the new hire. They really just wanted to see someone who loved art and could explain the basics to some high school students. A background check would need to be completed before hiring, all of which Jada was okay with.

The opportunity truly seemed like a great idea, and Jada was impressed by Edmund’s fast work. The day was going to pass by in waves of fast and slow, she believed, and as the clock ticked on, Jada found herself pulling her hidden art supplies out of her desk drawer and setting them out on its surface.

She wanted to paint, to show others the joy of painting. It sounded wonderful. Jada decided to apply for the position and even used the letter of recommendation her “boss” had provided.

Jada’s mind flashed to the night before. He had called her his girlfriend. Edmund had actually called her his girlfriend and told her that he loved her. He definitely wasn’t like any other guy she knew. Who did those things so fast, plus all the charitable changes she’d inspired? No one did. She repeated the thought to herself. No one does that. No guy does that kind of thing. The weight of her luck hit her hard, and Jada was stunned all over again.

Later, a couple of her teammates came in with the latest gossip: rumor had it that the CEO had had a personality transplant. Jada kept her private laugh to herself and simply agreed with them. Chelsea asked about the art supplies on her desk. Was she going to design a print campaign without the use of their amazing software? No, she responded, telling her team that she loved to paint and sketch and was lately getting back into it. They seemed happy for her and told her to show off anything she completed so they could see it.

Jada was a bit touched by her coworkers’ enthusiasm and sighed as they left. Those women and a few more of her teammates in the office had always been nice, and she feared she would miss them if she got the job with the school. She had a momentary wobble, but the thought of dealing with any more asshole clients was enough to propel her forward into the certainty of quitting.

The afternoon meeting had finally arrived, and Jada followed a group of other managers up to the elevator and the top floor beyond. The top floor’s conference room was huge, and Jada sat down at a spot near some of the other managers she knew. They made small talk as they waited for the CEO and his clients to arrive. They all commented on the impact of the deal; no one outside the Middle East had ever managed to secure a deal with a Qaresman company. If JPH Tech could do it, they’d be in one of the top spots on the DOW for years to come.

After a few minutes, the CEO entered with the Qaresman contingent in tow. They were chatting amiably, and Edmund directed them to the table to sit. Jada and the other managers greeted the clients and smiled politely. For the majority of the meeting’s opening, Edmund explained what the deal would entail in terms of tech development, use of international facilities, and the like.

Jada followed along, less interested than her colleagues, her impending departure coloring her feelings on the matter. She knew how important the deal was to Edmund, however, and hoped dearly that the men sitting at the table found his proposal interesting and worth investing in. They continued to chat back and forth for a bit, and Edmund introduced the managers of the different departments, explaining how each department could help the Qaresman businessmen’s future dealings, both in their own country and in the U.S.

It all seemed to be going off without a hitch, and that was when the door flew open.

Looking less like the pristine doll than she had before, Evelyn stormed into the glass office.

“It’s a sham! A sham! Don’t sign anything.”

Everyone at the table stood at the intrusion, and Edmund dialed security on the phone near him. The faces of the entire crowd paled, especially those of Jada and Edmund. The room was buzzing with murmurs of confusion, and through it all Evelyn wouldn’t stop screaming. She paced around the table until her eyes landed on Jada.

“You! You think you can just take anything you want? He was mine! I worked on him for years!”

Her voice was shrill with madness, and Jada backed away as Evelyn jabbed at her with her finger. She was shrieking and waving around a small piece of paper like a crazy person. Security entered and tried to grab the woman and drag her from the room.

“It’s fake! Just look at this! It’s not real! His license is forfeit!” Evelyn’s voice continued to ring throughout the room as the men from the security office forcibly escorted her from the premises.

But it was too late.

The small scrap of paper that she’d thrown at the Qaresman businessmen had floated down to the table and landed on the papers in front of them. One of them picked up the paper and read it over.

“A 500,000-dollar check made out to Jada Phillips—the manager of the marketing department, correct?”

The accusation in his voice was plain, and Jada froze. The managers around them began to shuffle out of the room, avoiding the confrontation that was clearly about to occur. Edmund tried to calm the situation.

“Gentlemen, that is completely absurd. I assure you this is just a case of a disgruntled ex-employee.”

The men assembled didn’t seem convinced.

“This is your signature, Mr. Hays. We are quite familiar with it, having looked over both your marriage and business licenses ourselves.”

“Gentlemen—”

“No. There’s nothing you can say that will convince us this is just a mistake. You clearly married this woman for no other purpose than to obtain the business license, and we will not do business with someone who treats marriage so recklessly. Good day, sir!”

With that, the men stormed out of the office. Jada couldn’t believe it. The whole scene had taken place in a flash, and she had just stood there, frozen. She felt terrible for not saying anything, but in truth, she didn’t know what she would have said if she had the ability to go back in time and say it.

The entire reason she and Edmund were together had just gone up in a flaming shitstorm of smoke. After everything they’d been through, the billion-dollar deal was off the table. Everything had blown up in a matter of minutes. Jada felt terrible.

She turned and watched as Edmund fell into the chair at the head of the table. He hung his head in his hand and sighed loudly. Jada walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. After a few deep breaths, Jada broke the silence.

“I’m really sorry, Edmund. I know how much this meant to you. And I had no idea Evelyn would lose it like that. I never should have let you just fire her like that yesterday.”

“Do you honestly think you had much of a say it that?” Edmund looked up with a weak smile.

“No. You were pretty determined. Look—” Jada pulled out the chair next to Edmund and sat down. “—I know I’m probably the last person you want to see now that this has happened, and I totally get that, but I’m here for you. I know I don’t really serve a purpose for you now, with the deal gone, but I said I would be there for you, and I will be. If you’re okay with that.”

Jada had started playing with her nails and was staring at her hands. Edmund lifted up her head and held it until her eyes met his blue stare.

“Jada.” He smiled. “I couldn’t care less about that stupid deal. There’s so much more to life than the pursuit of money; you showed me that, and I’ll never forget it. Honestly, I figured they were bound to find out at some point. It just happened sooner than expected. And yeah, Evelyn seriously needs to sit down with someone and talk about things. I have what I really want. I have the love of a beautiful woman who makes me a better person every second I am with her. I don’t know where it is that I go when I’m with you, but wherever it is, it feels like home.”

Jada couldn’t hold back her cry of happiness, and she rejoiced openly by leaping into Edmund’s lap and kissing him for all the world to see beyond the glass.

Edmund pulled her tightly against his chest and returned the kiss with more of his own, not caring who saw them. It was exactly what Jada had wanted, and she didn’t even have to speak the words. She didn’t want this ridiculous deal to work out; she didn’t want to be his wife by business. She wanted to be his wife because that was what they wanted—which brought Jada’s mind back to her conversation with her parents.

“Look, there’s something else I want to tell you.” Jada lowered her eyes to his chest as she sat close to him.

“Before you say anything more,” Edmund reached to the bottom of a stack of papers and held a paper-clipped set in front of her. “I’d like you to sign these.”

Jada looked down at the forms, confused.

“What are these?”

“They’re divorce papers, Jada.” Edmund’s voice held the hint of nervous tension his body was doing a better job of concealing. “I don’t want us to start off like this. I want to do our relationship right. Then I’ll be able to ask you to marry me for real and you’ll know it’s for the right reasons. Is that…all right?”

Jada leaned in close to him, her face inches from his, and reached for the pen that was in his pocket. She clicked the pen’s top. “Honey, you read my mind.”

Turning to sign quickly, Jada dashed the pen across the paper and then returned to Edmund with a passionate kiss.