Emmerson awoke the next morning feeling astoundingly confident and driven to seek out her next conquest, although she was unsure exactly how she would find "E." So far, it seemed that the men in her life had miraculously dropped into her lap. Though, there had only been four, so it wasn't really a scientifically proven method of success.

Maybe the alphabet parameter was too strong. Maybe she should be less restrictive. She pondered the thought as she stepped under the warm jets of the shower and allowed herself to fill the bathroom with steam.

It was Sunday, chore day. Ever since she was in high school, Sunday was the day she made sure she was ready for the week. That meant her favourite clothes were cleaned and put away, the house was tidied and grocery shopping for the week was done. By the end of the day, she always had clean sheets on her bed and fresh towels in her bathroom and the fridge and cupboards were stocked with yummy food. It made her feel ready to tackle the week ahead when her home life was in order.

As a dentist, Emmerson always had to keep up with new advances in her field. But there were never enough chores or continuing education modules to keep her free time totally occupied. Instead, Emmerson tried to create her own little self-improvement assignments like finding a new recipe, or the latest self-help book to read. While she loved her Kindle, sometimes it just didn't compare to the weighty feel of a book in her hands. On this particular Sunday she decided to hit up the big bookstore in town to see if she could find some sexy inspiration in the self-help section.

As she entered the cavernous store, the familiar smell of Starbucks brewing tickled her nose, and she felt the pull toward to coffee shop. With a steaming cup in hand, she headed up the escalator to the top floor. Whoever said e-books would be the death of the print book industry was certainly wrong. There were people browsing and lounging throughout the entire store.

Emmerson made her way to the all too familiar self-help section, glancing furtively over her shoulder before skittering into the sub-section, sexual health. She blushed as she stood in front of the shelves upon shelves of books, but thankfully the aisle was deserted. She reached out tentatively, running her hand along the spines and skimming the titles. She stopped and pulled down a book that proclaimed: "Activate those sexy hormones! Food to eat! Discover lost passions!" She snickered and slide the book back in place. There was no lost passion to discover... she had never really found it in the first place.

Kama Sutra colouring book? Now that piqued her interest! The colouring made it seem a little less intimidating. She began to flip through the pages and decided it would be a perfect way to ease into this process. She added a couple more 'adult' colouring books to the pile, which she clutched tightly to her chest. Now she just had to make it to the cash register without running into anyone she knew. Unfortunately, that meant traversing down three stories to the ground floor.

The escalator was crowded, but no one seemed to be paying much attention to Emmerson. Her heart rate began to accelerate as she stepped onto the final escalator. The finish line was within sight! She could literally see the checkouts.

Emmerson tucked her head down and cast her eyes toward the floor as she made a dash for the till. However, because she was looking at the ground to avoid prying eyes, she ran smack dab into a display table stacked with novels.

She blurted out something that sounded like, "oof," and her dirty colouring books went flying across the floor. Everyone standing in line turned abruptly to observe the kerfuffle, and three sales people came rushing to her aid.

"Oh my gosh! Are you ok?" One of them gasped.

"I um, I uh..." was all Emmerson managed to stutter. She wasn't physically hurt, but it was all she could do to refrain from running from the store crying with embarrassment.

Another clerk immediately began tidying up the display, while a 'helpful' middle-aged man, probably their manager, scooped up the colouring books.

"I think these are yours Miss," he said with a look of mischief and a wink.

"Oh, yes thanks," Emmerson managed to mutter. "They're for a friend... it's her bachelorette party..." she fibbed out of desperation.

Her eyes slid to nametag: Elton. Her heart leapt, was he the one? Was the universe already sending her next assignment so soon?

As he handed the books to her their hands touched briefly and she noticed the shiny ring on his left ring finger.

"Well, you girls have fun," he said with a laugh in his voice. "My wife and her friends still talk about her bachelorette party."

And just like that, as quickly as her heart had leapt, it sunk and she felt even more the fool.

"Thanks, we will," she muttered taking her place in the line.

Safely in the privacy of her car, Emmerson rested her head on the steering wheel. What the hell am I doing? She tossed the books, now discreetly stowed in a heavy tote bag, into the backseat and headed for the supermarket.

Emmerson wound her way up and down the aisles of the grocery store morosely, filling her cart with only the items on her list. She always planned meals in advance based on what was on sale. As she rounded the pasta aisle she spotted a familiar face, Hannah's friend Nell.

"Hey girl!" She shouted from the far end of the aisle. "Don't you just hate grocery shopping? It's so frigging boring, but it's gotta be done right?" She said all this very dramatically waving her manicured hand around like she was swatting bees.

Emmerson smiled and nodded even though she didn't agree.

"Hey, were you just at the bookstore?" Nell asked.

Emmerson's stomach lurched.

"The where? The bookstore? Like the one downtown?" She tried her best to sound puzzled.

"Ya, I could have sworn I saw you there. There was like, this person who crashed into a book display and like, everyone went running to the rail to see what it was! I thought like, a car had crashed through the window or something! When I looked down, I could have sworn it was you standing there." She looked expectedly at Emmerson.

"Nope. Not me I'm afraid. I was not at the bookstore today," Emmerson said casting her eyes anywhere but Nell's.

"Hmm, so weird! You must have like, a doppelganger or something! Anyway, oh my gawd! wasn't last night like, just a total blast. That stripper was like, so ripped and the way he moved his hips," she began to mimic his gyrating moves in the middle of the aisle, much to the delight of a few people passing by. "Hoo wee, he was something spicy!"

"Oh yeah, it was great," Emmerson said blushing slightly as her mind took her back to the bathroom. Her body draped across the cool granite, Donovan pressed up against her. She shivered at the thought. "Well, I'd better get back to the drudgery, see you at the Jack and Jill next weekend I guess?"

"You bet you will darling!" Nell laughed and gave Emmerson a quick hug and peck on the cheek. "See you next weekend! It's going to be off the hook!"

Emmerson laughed at Nell's enthusiasm and headed the opposite way toward the cash register. She scanned the lines and chose the longest one. That's right, the longest. Emmerson always picked the longest line so she could skim through a trashy magazine before reaching the till. She picked up a magazine that screamed a headline about some poor Hollywood starlet who was caught on a beach, topless and in a compromising position with a very married film director. The poor girl was made out to be the one in the wrong, with the director's wife as the victim. No blame whatsoever for the married man. Emmerson scoffed out loud and the cashier gave her a questioning look, so she filled her in on the story. The cashier was sympathetic.

"You know, that's like almost exactly what happened with my girl Deena. She was with this guy for like six months, he was totally sweet and the sex was, you know, the bomb. And then she finds out the fucker is married!"

The guy bagging her groceries, bag boy who until this moment had been stuffing items into Emmerson's bags without so much as a glance, jerked his head up quickly. Now he was paying attention.

The cashier carried on. "They tried to keep it together, but my friend couldn't get over the fact dude had lied about being married. It crushed her soul. She fell out of love with that fucker like right away."

"Yeah, no doubt. That's a total red flag, am I right?" he asked staring Emmerson down with some serious bedroom eyes. His green eyes sparkled mischievously when she dared to meet his gaze.

She surveyed him discreetly as the cashier rambled on about her friend.

His sandy brown hair was tied into a stylish man-bun that Emmerson had never found very appealing. But his physique was good, albeit a bit wiry for her liking. Emmerson's noticed his name tag: Eric.

She tried to compose herself. Was he the next on her list?

The cashier continued to go on about her poor friend and her friend's cheating, married boyfriend. They were apparently still trying to work it out.

"He says he's getting a divorce," she scoffed. "But I'm like, ok, if he's getting a divorce why do they still live together? Like seriously."

Emmerson tapped her credit card and nodded understandingly. "I hope it all works out for your friend, whichever way it goes."

"Thanks sweetheart. Do you need a carry out?"

Eric had finished packing up Emmerson's groceries and was looking at her expectedly.

She eyed up Eric and decided yes indeed, she would need a carry out.

"You have good day now," the cashier called out after her.

Were all her conquests going to fall into her lap so easily she wondered as Eric wheeled the cart toward the parking lot.

Once they were outside let out a huge sigh. "I'm sorry about that with Cassandra."

"Pardon? Who's Cassandra?" Emmerson asked confused.

"My girlfriend. The cashier," Eric added jabbing a thumb toward the store helpfully.

Emmerson laughed inwardly. Maybe she was being a little too eager with this whole process. She needed to slow her roll.

"She's been pretty involved with all this married man drama. It's driving me a bit bonkers," Eric said laughing. "So what if he's married? They're both getting their rocks off. His wife doesn't know, yet. And TBH, I think that's what she likes the most about it. It's her dirty little secret. Well, I mean, more of us are getting pulled into it now..."

Emmerson tunes him out as he launches into a monologue just like his girlfriend had. It was kind of cute. He obviously loved his girl Cassandra.

Emmerson now felt really silly that she had asked for help carrying four measly bags.

Eric deftly lifted the groceries into her trunk (that wiry build) and Emmerson pressed a couple dollars into his hand. "Treat your girlfriend to a coffee... or something..." she muttered.

"Right on! Thanks Ma'am, you have a good night!" He called out as he headed back inside.

Emmerson cringed. He called her Ma'am. That's what people called her mom and her grandma!

She sunk into the driver's seat and pressed the ignition starter key. The engine greeted with a feeble spluttering sound.

The tow truck rumbled into the parking lot much faster than Emmerson expected and to her shock, the driver that hopped out was a familiar face.

Ezra Bernstein jumped out of the truck with a huge smile on his face.

"Well, well, well," he said chortling with arms wide open. "If it isn't baby Emme!"

Emmerson flushed a bright shade of red and rushed into his arms for a big bear hug.

"Ezra! How long have you been in town?"

Ezra was her brother's oldest friend in the world.

"I've been back for a while now," he said holding her out at arms-length. "Look at you! All grown-up now. Give me a spin," he cajoled, and she twirled on the spot for him, ending with a curtsy.

"I should ask you the same. How long have you been back in town?"

"A few years now," Emmerson managed to squeak because her mouth was suddenly dry as the Sahara.

Ezra and her brother had been best friends for as long as she could remember. She had the hugest crush on him the entire time growing up. He was all-star quarterback and went off to a fancy college on scholarship. He was drafted to the NFL and played for a few seasons, but she'd lost track of him when she went to university to pursue dentistry and when she asked her brother about Ezra, he was less than helpful.

"How's your brother?" Ezra asked.

"Oh, you know him. He's on the fast-track to senior partner. Got two perfect kids and the perfect wife, not to mention the perfect McMansion. He's good," she said grinning back at Ezra stupidly. "What about you," she asked, gently swatting his shoulder.

"Well, I'm a single dad who is raising a daughter, which is a fucking frightening concept on it's on. But I also live in the basement of my parent's house, and I run a tow truck business. When I got cut from the NFL I moved home and opened my own tow truck business. Bet you'd never have guessed that outcome for me!" He said with a wry smile.

Emmerson wasn't sure how to follow respond and Ezra could tell.

"Sorry, that was a lot. It's all good. I'm good. My daughter is great," he said with a huge grin. "Ok so let's get the business at hand, what's the problem with your car?"

"It won't start."

"Are you sure it's gassed up?" The corners of Ezra's (still gorgeous) mouth twitching with amusement.

Emmerson rolled her eyes and tried to cast her dirtiest look. "That was one time, and I was 16-years-old. It's a rite of passage to run of gas.

Ezra popped the hood and leaned over the engine. Emmerson couldn't help but admire the view. Despite being a retired football player, he still had the athlete physique. His ass looked frigging fantastic as he leaned under the hood.

"I'm not seeing anything too obvious here," he said running his hands over the knobs and tubes, turning bolts and testing levers. "Maybe it's just the battery. Let me see if I can give you a jump."

Hell yeah, you can give me a jump, Emmerson thought naughtily to herself remembering the many nights she'd fallen asleep fantasizing about Ezra.

Ezra hooked his truck up to Emmerson's car and with a sudden jolt, her little car sprang back to life.

"Keep your car running for a bit if you can," he told her. "And maybe see about getting yourself a new battery."

"Thanks so much Ezra. It was really great running into you. I mean, I could have done without the whole dead battery thing but..."

Ezra dug into his shirt pocket, "here's my card. If this happens again, please call me. I'm always happy to rescue a damsel in distress," he said with a huge smile and reached out to chuck Emmerson under her chin.

As she watched him drive away, the thought popped into her heard. Was E for Ezra? Had the universe just presented a delicious gift-wrapped present and she had waved it goodbye with doe-eyes?

"Damn..." she muttered under her breath as she drove home to her empty apartment.