I woke up the next morning feeling silly and weak. I couldn't believe that I'd let myself behave in such a way with Mary; the wine had nearly gotten the better of me. But as I showered and got dressed that next morning, I resolved to put up some very necessary boundaries between her and I. Mary and I were not simply former lovers; we were now boss and employee. Any sort of fraternizing would serve to accomplish nothing but make our working relationship more difficult. And I knew that this had to be a decision made unilaterally; what else could I do- sit down with her and say that under no circumstances should we become romantically involved?

Once I was dressed, I started out towards Gracie's room to begin the process of getting her dressed and ready for school. However, when I stepped into the living room, I saw that she was already up. Not only that, but she was with Mary. The two of them had sat down to a pancake breakfast and were enjoying it on the balcony.

At least the two of them seemed to be getting along, I thought.

I stepped out onto the balcony, the mild, pleasant air serving to wake me up.

"Good morning," said Mary with a warm smile.

"Morning, Papa!" said Grace, her face beaming with a smile.

"Morning," I said, keeping my voice even and professional.

"There's some pancakes in there for you," said Mary.

"No thank you," I said. "I believe that we'd best be getting off to work. Gracie, darling, are you ready for school?"

Mary's eyebrows flicked up a bit at my curt reply. I told myself it was for the best.

"Yes, Papa," she said, dipping her fingers in the puddles of syrup on her plate.

"Now darling, don't make a mess unless you'd like another bath before school," said Mary.

As much as I was concerned with establishing boundaries, I couldn't help but feel a warmth as I watched Mary and Grace eat together. Mary had an easy way with her, and it made me wonder why she thought she had no skills with children.

"Come now, girls," I said.

The two of them grabbed their plates and headed back in. I poured myself a thermos of coffee and collected my things. After dropping Grace off, we were off to work.

"I had fun last night," said Mary.

"Yes," I said. "It was a nice evening. But let's get our thoughts focused on the day ahead; we've much work to do today."

"Oh, sure, of course," she said, her tone a little defeated.

We soon arrived at work, and once up in my office, we set to work on the tasks at hand. First order of business would be getting our first trip to New York sorted out. We'd surely be going back and forth over the next few months, and I figured that scoping the place out sooner than later was the best first step. I knew that zipping over the pond would be quite a stressful affair, and that I'd likely have to bring Gracie along at some point. My stomach tightened as I thought about the conversation I'd have to have with Evelyn about all this; she looked for any way she could to throw the large place in my life work took right in my face, and telling her that our daughter would have to be out of the country for a week here and there would certainly only add fuel to this particular fire.

"How long for the trip are you thinking?" asked Mary, looking up from her laptop.

"Not sure," I said. "Probably a weekend at first; that way I can leave Gracie with her mother. It should be enough time to see the city, get a sense of what the business climate there is like."

"Have you ever been to New York?"

Now we were back to casual conversation. Before I opened my mouth to speak, I remembered my decision to keep things professional between Mary and me.

"Not once," I said. "I've never even been to the states."

Mary's eyebrows raised. "Really? Then it sounds like you're about to be on my turf."

"Should I be worried?" I asked.

"Well, not unless you count the whole country as my turf. I've been, but just for a couple of quick day trips during my time at Harvard."

"It appears that we're both about to be equally out of water," I said, my eyes on the documents spread out on the desk in front of me.

"Yeah, looks that way," she said, picking up on the distance that I was attempting to put between us.

It pained me to act this way, but my mind kept going back to last night. God, I'd come so close to kissing her. And what a mistake that would've been. When I first saw that Mary was going to be my new assistant, I had had nightmare visions of just how this all might go. I was worried that our previous relationship would sour a potential professional one. But I took it as a challenge of sorts, thinking that it would give me an opportunity to show how much I'd changed. And damned if she wasn't the most qualified out of all of the candidates; I would've been a fool not to take her.

But keeping this all in mind didn't make what I was doing any easier.

However, despite all this, I was pleasantly surprised as to how good of a team the two of us made. Mary was efficient and diligent, and over the course of the morning she seemed to have an almost supernatural sense of anticipating my needs. I could see that she was putting her education to good use, and that she was indeed a wise hire.

"OK," she said. "I've got a weekend trip to New York next weekend lined up. We can pop in for a few days, meet with some representatives from a few of the financial firms in the city, and be back in time to start the week here."

"Sounds great," I said. "Though I'm not looking forward to the jetlag."

"What's the matter?" she asked, a sly grin on her face. "Afraid of being a little sleepy?"

"We'll see if you're still whistling that same tune when you're up at five in the morning wondering why you can't sleep."

"I'm a tough girl," she said. "I can manage."

"Alright, tough girl," I said. "Make the arrangements."

"This is a little exciting," she said, typing away on her computer. "I've always wanted to actually spend some time in New York; when I was getting my MBA I was never able to justify taking time off to take a trip there, and when it was break my family wanted me right back home."

"Don't you worry," I said. "We'll have more than enough time to get acquainted with the city."

Mary smiled once again before turning her attention back to her computer.

Why the hell did she have to be so goddamn beautiful? I found myself wondering. Even in her simple work clothes, she was an absolute magnet for the eyes; I could barely focus on my work with her sitting there. And the way every now and then she'd move her pen along her lips as she considered one thing or another, and how she'd flip her hair back before setting off on typing again…well, I wanted a test, and I got one.

But before I could consider the matter further, a knock sounded at my office door.

"Yes?" I asked.

One of the other executives poked his head into the office.

"Greetings Sam, Mary," he said. "A few of us are heading off for a quick lunch. Care to join us?"

"Lunch sounds great," said Mary, closing her computer and turning to me. "Shall we?"

"No," I said, "I've too much work at the moment; can't really afford to sacrifice the hour. But Mary, you go on ahead."

"Are you sure?" she asked. "I'd feel terrible going out while you're stuck here working."

"I insist," I said.

"Well, I'll bring you back something good," she said, setting her computer aside and heading out.

"Sounds lovely," I said.

Then she shut the door and was gone.

As soon as she left, I sat back in my chair and let out a long sigh. Once that was done, I rose from my seat and headed over to my coffee maker, prepared myself a cup, and walked over to the window and looked out as I drank.

This is harder than I was thinking it was going to be, I considered.

We'd only been working together for a short time, and I was already beginning to remember just what it was about Mary that I'd fallen in love with so many years ago. Aside from her obvious beauty, there was a certain warmth to her that I felt whenever I was in her presence. And her smashing skills as an assistant were a little extra on top. I knew that it was going to take all I had to make sure that this relationship stayed professional and nothing more.

I was jolted out of my thoughts by the ringing of my phone.

"Yes?" I called out.

"Mr. Huntington, it's Evelyn on line one," came the voice of one of the girls out front.

My stomach tensed upon hearing her name.

"Very good," I said.

Thought it was anything but.

I plopped in my chair and took a bracing breath before answering.

"Yes, Evelyn?" I said, pressing the button for line one.

"Sam," she said, her voice extra prim.

This couldn't be good.

"It's actually good you've called," I said. "There's something I need to discuss with you."

"I can't wait," she said.

"But I assume you called for a reason; go on ahead."

"Why thank you," she said, the sarcasm plainly obvious. "I wanted to discuss taking Gracie for next weekend."

"Ah, perfect timing," I said. "I'll be going out of town for the weekend, and I was going to ask if you'd be kind enough to take her. I know it's my time, but I didn't want to have to subject her to a flight over the pond if we're only going to be staying for a few days."

"Glad I could help."

I gritted my teeth and shook my head. Even when things worked out with Evelyn and me, she seemed to take a sick pleasure in adding an element of tension.

"So, I suppose you'll be going with that little hussy that's living with you presently?"

Ah, right to the heart of the matter, I thought.

"Yes, I'll be going with Mary. And I'll thank you to not refer to her in such a way."

"Please," said Evelyn. "I'm sure the criteria for a ‘personal assistant' that you had in mind were easily filled by a certain type of figure."

"Now, I'm happy that you'll be able to take Gracie, but I'm not going to sit here while you subject me to a barrage about my personal assistant, a woman you've met only briefly, I might add."

"I know all that I need to know about her. Nice job you have, by the by- considerate of them to allow you to hand pick your little ‘helpers' whenever work's getting a little…stressful."

"Now, Evelyn, I hope that you didn't simply call in order to give me the business for my new assistant happening to be an attractive young woman."

"Ah, just as long as I know that you've realized her good looks."

Walked right into that one, I suppose, I thought as I took a sip of my coffee.

"Evelyn, is that going to be all?"

"Not quite," she said. "I had some more matters I wanted to discuss with you, and I felt that in-person would be a more suitable venue."

"Really?" I asked.

This was unlike her. Usually, Evelyn wanted to keep as much distance between the two of us as possible and to make sure that whatever interactions we had were as terse and uncomfortable as possible, it seemed.

"Yes," she said, her voice softening. "Especially with you visiting New York. There's a chance I might be taking a client there soon."

"Really?" I asked. "After a life in London, you're thinking of picking right up and heading across the pond?"

"It's something I've been thinking about for a while. I think that it might be good for me to get out of the country, at least for a little while."

This was strange for a multitude of reasons. For one, it wasn't like Evelyn to be so open about something that stressed her. She was usually the type to put up an icy exterior unless it was otherwise necessary. And something about the tone of her voice…it seemed softer, like she was hoping for some kind of comfort from the conversation.

"Really," I said. "Well, that certainly is a big decision."

"But there's Gracie to worry about and…well, everything else that comes along with a decision such as this."

"Of course."

"So, what do you say- a little lunch for old time's sake?"

Something about all of this seemed off. But if a decision like this was on the horizon for Gracie, I had no excuse to not begin discussing things over with Evelyn as soon as possible.

"Sure, sure," I said. "Let me check my schedule and get back to you as soon as possible."

"Very good," she said. "Looking forward to it."

"Bye, Evelyn," I said, hanging up.

Out of some strange reaction, I shot up out of my chair and began pacing the room. This was all so bizarre; it simply wasn't like Evelyn to wish to spend time with me like this. I couldn't help but let the more cynical part of me take over and wonder if she had some sort of ulterior motives for everything about the conversation, from her gentle tone to her appeal to our bygone relationship. If Gracie weren't in the picture, I'd simply say no.

Taking my cup of coffee, I stood back in front of the mirror, letting the brilliance of the sight of London at midday under a cloudless sky calm me. It seemed that my life was arranging itself in a matter as to be as complicated as possible. A new assistant, a new project, and now an ex-wife who suddenly wanted to make things copasetic. And all I could do was keep a clear head and do my best.