Chapter 40 - Emily

**EMILY**

After placing Oliver’s gorgeous bouquet in a vase, Emily tucked the card into her gold clutch. Then she turned back to the reservations. She had to distract herself; she couldn’t let the sweet words confuse her now.
*What is going on here?* she wondered and sighed. Her boss, Alexander Fitzpatrick, had kissed her with such passion that it had taken her breath away and made her long for more. And Oliver Daron, who was now somehow also her boss, had sent her an unbelievably large bouquet of flowers with a card asking her out on a date. She never went out on dates. She was rather shy and boring. As boring and dull as her clothes today. So what did the two men see in her? Why did Alexander want to see her again?
Although she couldn’t blame the furniture designer, after all, she had looked stunning yesterday after the transformation and in the sexy dress. And that was probably why no one had recognized her.
“Stop, Emily!” she admonished herself energetically in a loud voice. “Concentrate on your work!”
She quickly counted down from one hundred to one, after which her thoughts calmed down and she was able to concentrate fully on the last few bookings. It still took her half an hour to find the missing invoice, but after that she was finally able to finish her work. The next day would be a new task for her, as she would have to explain to Nicole exactly where things needed to be filed to prevent this from happening again. Ms. Harper was right, Nicole had filed the invoice in the folder for completed invoices, even though it had not yet been posted. Fortunately, the trainee had not stamped it “done”, so Emily could find it a little easier.
It was very late when she locked the door of the Fitzpatrick Designs office behind her. The reception desk was manned by the night staff, as there were still some cleaners in the building. When the last of the company’s employees had left, only security would make their rounds. Otherwise, the entire company would be silent and empty until the next morning.
“Have a nice evening,” Emily said goodbye, waving to the receptionist.
“Thank you, and good evening to you.” The man gave her a friendly nod before turning back to his computer.
Emily stepped out into the street. The cool evening air made her shiver, but her thoughts weren’t about the weather; they suddenly returned to the card tucked away in her purse. She had read Oliver’s words, but hadn’t taken the time to really think about them. Flowers, an invitation to dinner - she hadn’t expected anything like this, especially not from him. The streets of Los Angeles pulsed in the dusk. The traffic moved slowly through the busy main streets, but away from them there was a dynamic all its own. Near Beverly Boulevard, where Fitzpatrick Designs was based, people strolled while street artists played guitar or sold their artwork on street corners. One juggler caught Emily’s attention. His nimble hands tossed colorful balls into the air, which sparkled in the glow of the streetlights. Normally she would have stopped to watch him for a few minutes, but today she was too preoccupied with her own thoughts.
She decided to walk through the side streets towards the bus stop. A familiar scent wafted towards her as she passed a small snack bar. The smell of freshly baked pizza and fried noodles mingled in the air, and Emily’s stomach rumbled quietly. After a long day at work, she was too exhausted to cook, and the thought of spending the evening in front of her laptop with a movie and something tasty to eat was irresistible. She walked into the small Chinese takeout restaurant on the corner that she had visited many times before and ordered fried noodles with vegetables.
“Nice night tonight, huh?” the woman behind the counter asked as she wrapped Emily’s order.
Emily nodded, but her mind was still on Oliver and the unexpected bouquet of flowers. What did he hope to achieve with that? It couldn’t have been just a friendly gesture. Not after all that had happened. The thought that he just wanted to win her over wouldn’t let go of her, but something told her that there was more to it than that.
Paper bag in hand, Emily finally boarded the bus that took her through the increasingly dark streets of Los Angeles toward Pico-Union. The city lights flashed through the windows as she lost herself in thought. When she got home, she would look at the contract she had signed with the hostess agency. A contract that could lead to more trouble than she had originally thought.
The bus ride was short, and when she got off at her stop, she felt a slight uneasiness. A light wind blew through the streets, bringing with it the smell of exhaust fumes and the noise of the main road in the distance. She didn’t like being out alone at this time of night, but she had no choice. A quick glance in the direction of the familiar street performer reassured her a bit. The guitarist, who stood near her stop every night, was playing his melancholy tunes again tonight. Somehow there was something comforting about seeing him there, as if he were an integral part of the neighborhood’s nightly routine. His playing filled the otherwise quiet street with life.
Emily fumbled in her pocket and pulled out a few coins. On the spur of the moment, she decided to throw something in the guitar case as she walked. Maybe it will help him pay the rent, she thought, smiling briefly. Fortunately, she was doing much better as an accountant in a prestigious company.
Emily took the familiar route home, her steps quickening slightly as darkness fell deeper over the city. When she finally entered her small one-bedroom apartment and closed the door behind her, she dropped the bag of noodles on the coffee table. The familiar surroundings of her apartment gave her a moment to relax.
After unpacking the food, she opened her laptop and scrolled through her emails. The contract was there. She stared indecisively at the subject line, then muttered, “Time to find out what I’ve really gotten myself into.” She grabbed the bag of noodles, sat down on the couch, and began to read.
Page by page, she scanned the contract as she ate the noodles, lost in thought. But the more she read, the faster her heart beat. Her eyes grew wider and wider, and suddenly she stopped. Had Oliver kept some pages from her yesterday? She couldn’t remember him giving her that many. In fact, she could only remember a single sheet of paper that she had to sign.
Hastily, she scanned to the end of the document - and sure enough, she found the date and her signature on page *twelve*. She sank back against the couch back, stunned. “Unbelievable! He tricked me!”
But it got worse. Not only had she taken over the contract from the hostess, Amelie, but she had also expressly given up all special payments and gifts to which the hostess would have been entitled, and had to pay for all expenses related to her job herself. Emily was treated like a rookie, which Amelie was no longer. But when Emily saw how much she was being paid per hour, she wanted to throw the laptop away. She was going to be fobbed off with ten dollars!
In her head she calculated the income against the expenses. Even though Oliver had paid the bill at the beauty salon yesterday, she had to pay it back with her income. The contract was clear about that.
“I owe the agency almost thirty dollars!” she exclaimed, stunned. Her eyes flashed angrily. “That’s why Oliver wants to take me out to dinner,” she hissed angrily, “so I won’t question the contract!”