“Why are you sitting on the couch upside down?”

Jules’s footsteps stop by my nose. She peers down at me.It’s kind of hard to look her in the eyes with my head tipped back toward the floor. “I don’t know. I thought maybe a little more blood to the brain could get me out of my funk. That’s a thing, right?”

“I’m not sure it’s a typical cure for broken hearts, no,” Jules says, sounding amused. She sits down beside me. “Is it working?”

“No. Mostly it’s just making me feel dizzy.” I turn the right way up and sigh. It’s been two weeks since Max left me on that rooftop, and my heart still hurts like it was five minutes ago. “This is ridiculous,” I wail. “I hardly knew him. Aren’t there rules about that?”

“I think it’s a month of grieving for every year you dated,” Jules says, looking amused.

“So I should have been over him in, like, two hours.” I slump lower.

“So you haven’t heard anything at all from him?”

“No,” I say mournfully. “He thinks I screwed him over. Which I didn’t. I mean, I screwed him, but—the good way.”

Jules muffles a snicker. “Yeah, I had gathered that part.”

I kick the cushion, which probably isn’t fair, since it’s never done anything to me. “What’s wrong with me? I knew from the start he was too charming for my own good. No strings, Mr. Love ’Em and Leave ’Em.”

Except that wasn’t the real Max. No, the man behind that devastating smile was kind, and funny, and sweet . . .

I turn and scream into a pillow.

Jules pats my head sympathetically. “I’m sorry, babe. I never thought you’d lose your head like this. Or your heart.”

“It just . . . happened.” I sniffle. “It seemed like he was feeling the same way. Like there was something real there.” My heart still aches, just remembering the betrayal on Max’s face right before he walked away from me.

“Maybe it was real,” Jules says gently. “He wouldn’t have been that angry with you if he didn’t care.”

I don’t know what to believe. “Either way, it’s over. He still thinks I sold him out.”

“Well, the truth is on your side,” Jules says. “Maybe it’s weird for me to say this as a lawyer, but sometimes that does matter, no matter how much other people try to bend it. The truth will come out, and then he’ll realize what a mistake he made not trusting you.”

“That’s the part that really hurts,” I admit. “I mean, I know it looked bad, with what Artie said. But part of me feels betrayed too. He should have believed me.”

“So, don’t let this guy keep you down,” Jules says brightly. “Get out of the apartment. Take a walk. And maybe take a shower first.”

“Is that a hint?” I ask wryly.

She grins. “Hate to break it to you, babe, but those sweatpants are crying out for the laundry.”

I look down and grimace. “Maybe you’re right.”

There’s a knock on the apartment door. Jules goes to answer it. A guy in a courier uniform is standing on the other side. “Delivery for Hallie Gage,” he says, brandishing a thick envelope. “I need your signature.”

I sign his clipboard and look over the envelope. There’s no sender address on it.

“Well, open it already,” Jules urges.

I tear open the seal and pull out the papers inside. There’s a statement of contract fulfillment—and a check for fifty thousand dollars, signed by—

“Max Carlisle.”

I gulp.

“You still got paid!” Jules crows. “At least something good came out of all that craziness.”

“But . . .” I shake my head. “I can’t take this. I can’t believe he even paid me after what happened.”

Jules shrugged. “He probably didn’t have a choice. If his contract with The Agency was half as good as yours, it was watertight. You spent a week with him as his fake girlfriend. Job fulfilled.”

Maybe so, but the check still doesn’t feel right, clutched there in my hand. I grab my purse and shove it in. “I think I’ll take that walk.”

---

I shower and change into something vaguely human, and head uptown to the Agency. Approaching the brownstone building, my stomach ties in knots. If I hadn’t run into Olivia—if I hadn’t taken her up on her offer—I never would have gotten involved in Max’s whole crazy life. He would be a hot, steamy memory from the wedding, and nothing more.

But I was the one who said yes, I remind myself. And kept saying it, despite all the lines I was burring.

And even after everything, I can’t regret him. Not one moment.

I hit the buzzer. Alice’s chirpy voice carries through the intercom. “The Agency. Who’s calling?”

“It’s Hallie,” I say. “I need to talk to Olivia. Is she there?”

“Come on up, Hallie,” Alice says without hesitation. Huh. I wonder if Olivia was expecting me to come calling. I haven’t talked to her since everything fell apart with Max. I figured he’d fill her in on the story however he wanted to. I don’t really enjoy the thought of hashing it out all over again, but I head up the stairs all the same. Like before, Alice opens the door before I’ve reached the top. She gives me a bright smile. “Hi, how are you doing? Did you change your hair? I like it.”

“Um, thanks.” I step into the office, immediately surrounded by understated luxury. Thor even comes over to batter my calf with one of his affectionate head-butts.

Olivia’s office door opens. “Hallie.” She beckons me over, and I brace myself. Why does it feel like I’m visiting the headmaster’s office? Maybe something about how effortlessly elegant Olivia looks, ushering me to a chair and carefully pouring us tea.

“So,” Olivia says. “I hear things with Max Carlisle didn’t end too well?”

“Understatement of the year.” I cringe. “I’m sorry. I know you warned me, but I didn’t follow your rules. I didn’t even follow mine,” I say sadly. “But I swear, I don’t know what he told you, but it was a misunderstanding. I never went behind his back about anything.”

“I never said you did,” Olivia says calmly.

“But what am I supposed to do with this?”

I pull out the check, and put it on the polished coffee table between us.

“Deposit it?” Olivia arches an eyebrow. “I assume he’s good for the funds.”

“You know what I mean. I let the lines get blurred! I was trying to stay totally professional,” I add. “But . . . he grew on me. Like fungus. I really liked him,” I add miserably. “And . . . one thing led to another. A few times.”

Olivia eyes me carefully. “Casual hook-ups have been known to happen in this business, but it doesn’t sound like this was so casual.”

Suddenly I’m wondering exactly what Max told her. But that’s not a healthy path for me to go down. “No,” I admit. “I fell for him. That sounds pathetic, doesn’t it? You told me to remember it wasn’t real and I went head over heels anyway.”

“I’m sorry,” Olivia says, “I threw you in the deep end with this assignment. Perhaps I should have found someone else, someone more experienced.”

“With resisting playboys, or jet-setting treasure hunts?”

Her lips quirk in a smile. “Perhaps both.”

“Either way, I can’t accept this.” I nudge the check closer to her. Olivia’s brow knits.

“But it’s yours,” she says. “You earned that money. Why on earth shouldn’t you take it?”

“Well . . .” It seems so obvious to me, but now that I have to put it into words, I’m fumbling. “It just feels wrong. The time I was with him didn’t feel like work. I wanted to be there. And then the way things ended . . .”

Olivia takes the check, puts it back in my hand, and closes her fingers over mine. “Hallie,” she says, looking me straight in the eyes, “you deserve this. I know you’ve had an upset here—”

Understatement of the year.

“—but the best thing you can do now is move on,” she finishes. “Go ahead, build the photography career you were dreaming about. That was the point of all of this, after all.”

A very compelling argument. I waver, but I don’t know how to argue with the full force of her firm gaze on me. “I’ll think about it,” I finally agree.

Olivia smiles. “Now, I have an appointment coming . . .”

“Of course.” I bob up. “And thanks, for everything. I know I made a mess of it, but I appreciate you trying to help.”

“My pleasure. And chin up,” Olivia adds. “Love happens to the best of us.”

Love?

I make it down the stairs and out the front door before the word catches up with me. My legs balk. I sit down on the front steps, clutching my purse. I feel stranded, and I don’t know what to do.

Is this really how I want to start my photography studio? I know it’s different, but somehow using Max’s money feels just as bad as if I had scammed him out of his inheritance.

I can’t make up my mind either way. Finally, after a few minutes, the door whispers open behind me.

“Enjoying the view?” Alice asks.

“Sorry, am I blocking the entry? I’m just trying to make a decision that could change the whole course of my life,” I sigh. “It’s a lot of pressure. There really should be a guidebook or something.”

She sits beside me. “You know, whenever I’m in a bind, I always think of what my dad used to say. ‘You already know the answer.’ ”

“I really don’t.”

Alice laughs. “I know, that’s what I would always reply. But, he was right. Annoyingly so.”

I pause. Maybe she has a point. I mean, I already know I can live with being poor and scraping my way up the ladder. I’ve done that already. I don’t think I can live with leaping to the top of that ladder knowing I only got there with a boost from Max Carlisle, with him hating me the whole while.

“Thank you,” I say, standing up. I hand her the check. “Tell Olivia I appreciated her advice, but I really can’t accept this. I’d like her to send it back to Max.”

“Are you sure?” Alice looks stunned.

“Completely.” Just like that, a weight is lifted off me. I take in a deep breath, feeling almost okay for the first time in two weeks.

I’m halfway to the subway when my phone rings. I fish it out of my purse. “Hello?”

“This is Lydia Burns from Carlisle Publishing,” the crisp voice on the other end says. “Are you available to come in for a meeting today, Miss Gage?”