Josephine stared at me as I walked past her desk doing my best to ignore her. She was practically bouncing with anticipation, her mouth firmly closed as if she were trying to stop herself from asking what happened, if I’d gone through with meeting and picking up Anna from the airport. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of knowing and kept my stride until I made it safely in the office. But it wasn’t long before the door swung open and my peace was shattered.

“Why are you smiling?” she asked from across the room.

“I’m not.”

“You so are. You look happier than I’ve ever seen you.” Josephine stepped closer and peered at me, scrutinizing me like I was a lab rat, her little experiment.

“Josephine, get out of—”

“Oh my god, you did it. Picked her up and… you two got along, didn’t you? You liked her!” She waggled her finger at me, her eyes lighting up. “What happened, did you pick her up at the airport and it was all love at first sight?”

“Grow up. Don’t you have some work to do?”

Jo ignored my question and sank into the chair opposite me. “So what’s she like? Tell me everything.”

I clenched my jaw and counted to ten, letting out a slow, long breath. She would be like this all day, annoying me, if I didn’t tell her. And she was the only one I could talk to about it. She was the only one who could know the full extent of where Anna had come from.

“Fine,” I said irritated and tried not to smile. “She’s very nice. Quiet but nice.”

“Because of the no-talking-English thing?”

“Yeah, no shit. I’m not sure how this is going to work. Anna’s obviously come here thinking she’s going to be my bride. God, this is all your fault. Meddling when you shouldn’t have.”

“It wasn’t meddling. It was payback.”

“Either way this is wrong on so many levels.”

She shrugged. “You both get what you want, she gets out of the country, sees a new one for a while as well, gets some money, and you get a date like you asked for.”

I rubbed my face, this was a nightmare, even if I was secretly buzzing from meeting Anna. I looked up. Something about Josephine’s earlier comment snagged on the edge of my mind. “Wait, what money?”

“Oh yes… shit.”

“Jo,” I growled.

“Don’t freak out. I just forgot to tell you.” Josephine jumped from her chair went out to her desk and was back a minute later. “Here, you should give that to your new housemate.”

I took the envelope she’d slid over to me on the desk. It was thick with hundred-dollar bills. Josephine stepped back a foot or two away from the desk as if it were about to catch fire.

“What the hell? What is this?” There had to be at least a thousand dollars inside. Crisp bills, all new.

“Her weekly allowance. What, you don’t think someone’s going to come all this way without some assurances, do you?” Josephine said as she rubbed her thumb and forefinger together.

“But where did you get this?” I groaned, figuring out the answer almost immediately.

“I took the liberty to draw it out of your expense account,” she said with a grin. “You can always pay it back from your own pocket when you get a chance.”

“Jesus, Josephine.” I stood and paced behind the desk. “Sit down. You’re going to tell me everything. No more surprises.”

“That’s it, I swear. You promised your bride a weekly allowance in exchange for the whole getting married thing.”

“She’s not my bride, Jo. What else?”

“Nothing! Oh, but you did have a phone call earlier.”

“Let me guess immigration want a word with me?”

Josephine chuckled. “No silly. Much worse. Sarah called.”

Hell, what did she want? After seeing her at the airport, then the kiss that had driven her away, I never expected to hear from her ever again. But she was a jealous soul. Maybe she’d finally realized what she’d lost after all.

“Well?”

“She didn’t say much. Just asked for you to give her a call back when you could.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah, she wasn’t exactly chatty. Sounded pissed. Well, except she did mention seeing you at the airport. Hey, she didn’t see you and Anna did she?”

I began to usher Josephine out of the office. “Go do some work.”

She was stubborn and dodged my advance. “Wait, she did see her, didn’t she? Did you two talk?”

I squeezed the bridge of my nose. Since when did I start spilling all my secrets to my secretary? “Yes, if you must know, she did see Anna, and yes, we talked.

Josephine’s eyes went wide. “Does Sarah know?”

“All she knows is that Anna is supposedly my fiancée. Which doesn’t exactly help me try to get her back. I could throttle you for messing this up.”

“Hey, don’t look at me, you’re the one who screwed it up with Sarah in the first place. Thought you moved on anyway, especially after the rumors I heard… about your performance.” Jo waggled her eyebrows. I glared at her until she stopped. “Well, I suppose if you want Sarah back, maybe this is the way you do it? Kill two birds with one stone… and by stone I mean a ring.”

Rounding my desk, I sank back into my chair. This was getting out of hand. The lies, the confusion… but maybe Josephine had a point. Maybe this all could work out for the best.

“What exactly do you suggest I do? Buy Anna a ring and let Sarah think I’m officially engaged, make her jealous, then kick Anna to the curb once Sarah comes crawling back?”

“Yes! Exactly that. If you want Sarah, you do what you have to to get her back. You pretend your ass off, let Sarah see that you’ve moved on. It’ll drive her mad. Trust me. This will totally work.”

“I have no idea why I listen to you. You hate my guts.”

“Because you know this could work.”

I nodded. “Okay. Do you know any good jewelers? I think I’m in the market for an engagement ring.”

Josephine grinned like a Cheshire cat. “As a matter of fact, I do. I know the perfect place.”

“Good. Get me the details.”

I paused, running over everything in my mind, trying to figure out if there were any flaws to my plan. Of course, there was a big one, I knew right away. And she was already in my apartment. All the others involved would get what they wanted. I would maybe get Sarah back. Everything would go back to the way things were. Gerard and his fiancée would get the wedding of their dreams, with the right number of supporting cast members, Josephine would get her bonus…

But Anna, who albeit was a total stranger and who was completely in the dark, would end up with the short end of the stick with a plane ticket back to Russia. Could I do that to someone else, be so ruthless so I could end up happy for a change?

There was only one way to find out. I would have to roll the dice and hope to god I didn’t lose everything.