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the dogs for massaging her temples.
    “Did Elaine tell you?”
    She shook her head and scoffed. “What? More money?”
    “Sort of?” Paula laughed. “ We’re having a fundraiser gala.” 
    Startled, Emilia stoppe d Paula’s explanation by putting her hand in mid-air. “A what?”
    “Will you shut up out there?”
    Emilia laughed, grateful that the workers listened and dispersed with the noise enough so that she could hear her own thoughts.
    “Un-huh . Apparently, it was Mr. Weber’s idea. Elaine asked his lawyer where he was staying and called to apologize—”
    “It was Mr. Weber’s idea? Are you kidding me?”
    Paula nodded excitedly. “Isn’t it exciting? Parties like this bring in a lot of revenue.”
    Emilia nodded, still dumbfounded by the news.
    “I’ve been practicing my apology to him all day. I just hope I don’t screw it up. I know Claudette and I made spectacles of ourselves. Guess no one can blame the guy for refusing to work with anyone but you.”
    Emilia walked past her and into the lobby. Clearly, two aspirin would not be enough. “Please, please tell me you’re kidding.”
    “Ah , no.” Now Paula looked at Emilia sheepishly, an evident expression of concern crossing her face. “Why would I be? You’re the only one who acted normal around the guy, and since he’s putting up another $10,000 for this fundraiser, it’s natural that he would want to participate in the planning.”
    She sighed. Was this a joke to him? A weird gag she didn’t understand? When she made him leave the night before, she felt liberated for the first time, in control of their relationship since Kasper had first ended it. It had hurt terribly, but with the pain came a raw sense of freedom that made her feel more independent than she ever had. And she had felt a lifting of the purgatory she had kept herself in for the last year. Maybe if she had told him off when he first tried to breakup with her, then it wouldn’t have hit so hard, wouldn’t have hurt so much. Emilia hadn’t realized how much she regretted blubbering and begging him to keep her in his life until that moment. At least now she had given him a taste of his own medicine—kicking him out of her home, and her life.
    But what if he was angry enough to do something cruel to the people she worked with? Build up their hopes up only to intentionally knock them down?
    “When is he supposed to be here?”
    Paula glanced at her watch, cringing as the plumber started drilling something. “About an hour. We don’t have any appointments for then, do we?”
    “No .”
    “Then why do you look nervous? Oh God, you are going to be here, right?”
    At any other time , Emilia might have laughed at the dramatized panic that came over Paula’s face, but she felt a new, indispensable amount of anger instead. It was one thing for Kasper to play games with her, for him to try and wear her down or whatever he was doing with her. But it was another thing entirely for him to hurt the people in her life. If he got bored and withdrew his money, backed out of this gala at the last minute simply because he felt like it, it would break everyone’s hearts. Yes, she had willingly given him her heart to smash, but her colleagues hadn’t.
    And she wouldn’t let him hurt them.
    She did everything she could in the short amount of time to make herself as unappetizing as possible. Working up a sweat by walking the dogs outside and mopping the floors, she didn’t bother cleaning herself up for the sake of potential new adoptees or even for herself. If Kasper wanted to try to seduce her again, she would make it as unappealing as possible.
    E milia was working in the flowerbed when he pulled up. And though she saw his car’s blinker from the corner of her eye, she failed to acknowledge him, much happier to bury her hands in mulch than deal with his mind-games.
    As usual, his steps were subtle, the result of designer shoes flexing softly against the pavement. How many times