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York seems stumped, too. She recommended Sam see a psychologist. That was the doctor’s appointment we came from earlier.” He punctuated the admission with a shake of his head. “At this point, I feel like Ozzy Osbourne’s a better parent than I am. He may have beheaded bats and urinated on a monument honoring the Alamo’s fallen, but he’s also stayed married to his second wife for three decades and his kids and grandkids worship him. Maybe I should see if he’ll sub for me while I go off and figure out this parenthood stuff.”
    She hadn’t expected him to be so heart wrenchingly humble, so scathingly self-honest. Certainly she hadn’t expected him to have an actual sense of humor! The words complete package came to mind but she shoved them aside. She couldn’t afford to let herself like Ross Mannon. More than any other foreseeable flaw in her plan, liking this man would seriously mess with her mission—and her mind.
    “Dr. Mannon, why are you telling me all this?”
    He didn’t hesitate. “Because I want to be upfront with you about what you’re signing up for if you accept this position.”
    Heart drumming, she asked, “Are you saying the job is mine if I want it?”
    His gaze, disarmingly earnest, met hers. “Yes, Miss Gray, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” One corner of his mouth lifted in the sexy half smile that in the course of the afternoon had come to feel so very familiar. “The question is what do you say?”
    Her fluttery stomach stilled, her heart lifted. Ross Mannon was hiring her! Operation Cinderella was taking off! Whatever test he’d put her to, she’d apparently passed—with flying colors. With his gaze holding hers, she felt as if the magic wand was being waved, the coach rolling forward. Suddenly life was, if not exactly enchanted, good again for the first time in a very long while.
    She smiled and stuck out her hand. “How soon can I start?”

Chapter Four
    Macie had returned to New York that evening and gotten directly to work—packing. Once she had, all the moving parts of Operation Cinderella had fallen into place as if by magic. Her assistant editor, Terri, had just split with her roommate and was looking for a short-term place to stay. In exchange for watching her apartment, taking care of Stevie, and keeping her lone plant alive, Macie had handed over the keys rent-free. Even packing, which she’d dreaded, had proven a cinch. Except for her laptop, new clothes, and what she’d come to think of as her red Cinderella slippers, there wasn’t much else she needed to bring.
    Saying good-bye to friends was a lot harder. Franc and Nathan had treated her to dinner at her favorite Murray Hill Indian restaurant on her last night in town. She used her morning train as an excuse to make an early night of it, but the truth was she wanted to log in some quality snuggling time with Stevie, AKA Stevie Wonder, before leaving. Since she’d sprung him from the city shelter last year, they’d been pretty much inseparable. A scraggly adult street cat with one eye missing and the other badly infected, he’d been deemed “unadoptable” and slated for euthanasia. Fortunately, the euthanasia tech had called in sick the day Macie had walked by after work. She’d taken one look at Stevie, crawling to the front of his rusted metal cage to butt his little black-and-white head against her hand, and had fallen head-over-heels.
    Too bad it wasn’t that easy with men.
    Sitting in a coach class Amtrak car bound back for DC, she acknowledged that D Day had arrived. There was nothing left to plan and a hell of a lot yet to do. Lost to her thoughts, the three-and-a-half-hour train trip slipped by.
    This time Stefanie met her at the gate. Her dark hair gathered into a thick braid and a baggy sweater and jeans covering her curvy figure, Stef hadn’t changed much since their college days. Obviously the same couldn’t be said for Macie. Stef would have walked past if Macie hadn’t reached out