Present day. Midtown Manhattan, New York.

Haley sat across from me, sipping an unreasonably expensive cocktail. The late morning sun was beating down on us through the window and I was quickly regretting my choice in apparel, my black clothing drawing in too much heat. We'd decided to check out an Italian restaurant in Midtown for brunch before my job interview, but I'd been unable to thoroughly enjoy my food, what with my nerves acting up. You'd have thought I was an awkward teenager going to prom with a cute boy.

It was actually embarrassing how nervous I was for this interview, but I had a good reason. In the three years since I'd left Brad behind in Dallas, I'd been pushing myself extra hard to make a good life for myself. I'd stayed with my parents in Minneapolis for a few months while I tried to figure out what to do with my life, and then Haley suggested we get an apartment together in Saint Paul. It turned out to be a perfect situation for the time being. I was close to my family and could visit whenever I wanted, and at the same time, I was enjoying being roommates with my best friend.

Haley finished school at the University of Minnesota and immediately got a good paying job as a physical therapist. Meanwhile, I'd continued to struggle, unable to land a job in which the company wouldn't either get bought out, go out of business, or change office managers. Each scenario had ended in me looking through the want ads again, and I was sick of it. I wanted something good and consistent. I wanted to find a job I could stay at for many years. Today, I was hoping to get exactly that. I was fed up with job hopping.

"I wish you'd relax." Haley frowned from behind her gigantic glass. "You're as jumpy as a virgin about to have her cherry popped."

"Haley!" I scolded in a hushed tone. "We're in public! Don't blurt out shit like that."

This instantly threw her into a fit of giggles and she nearly choked on her drink. I shook my head and motioned for the waiter to bring our check.

Checking my phone, I realized it was thirty minutes until my interview and I wanted to get there fifteen minutes early. I'd figured in the time it would take to walk to the Chrysler Building a few blocks away, knowing I could practically walk everywhere in New York City faster than a taxi could drive me.

"Do you need to leave now?" Haley asked and continued before I could answer. "Go ahead and go. I don't want you to be late. I'll pick up the tab."

I grimaced at the thought of her paying for my meal and hurried to pull twenty dollars out of my purse and hand it to her. The waiter was taking his sweet time and I hated to bug out on my best friend, but I couldn't afford to be late. This was too huge of an opportunity.

"I'll see you this evening, okay?" I said and gave her a quick one-armed hug.

"Good luck! You're going to get this one! I feel it in my boobs!" Haley called behind me as I rushed out of the restaurant, my cheeks flushing with embarrassment from the look that the waiter gave me.

Outside, the city was bustling with the coffee-fueled liveliness of Monday morning. The streets were packed with people in a hurry to get from point A to point B as fast as they could.

Looking up, I could barely see the sky for all the skyscrapers surrounding me. Manhattan had a completely different feel from the other big cities I was used to, and I wasn't yet sure whether or not I liked it. There were so many more people and so much more traffic than in Dallas and Minneapolis. It was intimidating, but I was pumped up on adrenaline and excitement for the future.

This was our fourth week living in New York. On the same day that I'd been laid off from my most recent administrative job, Haley had been offered a higher paying position at Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan. It was an offer she couldn't refuse, but both of us were saddened by the thought of her living half a country away. That is, until she begged me to move to New York with her. I was hesitant at first, having planned to stay in Saint Paul for a while, but after about twenty-seven times of Haley listing all the pros to moving across the country with her, I was no longer worrying about the cons. She'd talked me into it within six hours, reminding me over and over that I didn't have anything keeping me in Minnesota.

It took us a week to find a decent apartment that we could afford, and then we'd loaded up two U-Hauls and made the nearly twelve-hundred-mile trip to our new home. Haley had started her new job two weeks ago while I'd been making a fulltime job of doing applications all day, every day. It was monotonous and I'd had absolutely zero luck until Advantage Republic, or AdRep, had called to schedule an interview.

The position was for an executive assistant to one of the company's owners. There would be a ton of paperwork and computer work involved, and I would have to travel regularly with whomever my boss would be, but I wasn't deterred by the fancy language in the job listing and how difficult the writer had made it sound. If I was able to get the job, it listed the starting salary as fifty-four thousand, which was about twenty-five grand higher than any job I'd had before. I'd nearly screamed with excitement just from getting the call.

Upon reaching the Chrysler Building, I could feel my pulse pick up. I was glad I'd piled on the foundation and concealer so no one would notice how red my face probably was. I'd always been a nervous job candidate, but I couldn't remember having ever been this anxious about an interview before. I tried to shrug it off and chalked it up to the excitement over how great the pay would be and how much pressure I was putting on myself to ace the interview. I'd been feeling so guilty for Haley being the only one paying rent. We'd burned through my small amount of savings pretty fast during the move.

I straightened up my pantsuit jacket, took a deep breath, and walked confidently into the skyscraper. I did my best to portray myself as calm, collected, and a stellar professional. Although, I was pretty sure my sharp looking outfit was doing more of the talking than my body language was. Haley had loaned me a pair of her nicest slacks, heels, and a perfect black jacket, and it made me feel like Wonder Woman just to look in the mirror while wearing it. I hoped my interviewer would think the same.

I went through a brief security checkpoint and told the personnel who I was there to see. I waited a moment while they verified that Advantage Republic was expecting me, and then a tall African American security guard in a suit that looked like something from the Secret Service told me where the elevators were and which floor to go to. He handed me a visitor pass and sent me on my way.

As I rode the elevator up to the fifty-sixth floor, I was in awe of the colorful interior of the famous building. I'd heard about Chrysler and seen it on TV plenty of times, but this was the first time I'd seen what the inside looked like. It was absolutely gorgeous with an art deco design that never went out of style. It felt like I'd walked right into the 1920's, and I loved that the building's owners had kept it true to its original charm after all this time.

The elevator made a ding and I took another deep breath before stepping out into the hallway. There was a sign on the wall listing each company on that floor and which direction to go for each one. Advantage Republic was the first on the list and the tiny arrow pointed to the left.

I wandered down the hall and turned left when I came to a T. The first door I saw had a plaque stating Advantage Republic beside it. I silently told myself to straighten up my posture and relax – which were difficult things to do at the same time – and I opened the door.

"Miss Hamilton?" The older brunette woman at the reception desk guessed who I was before I even opened my mouth.

I greeted her with a cheery smile and told her I was there to see a woman named Krista for an interview.

"Krista actually called in sick today," the woman told me and my heart immediately sank, thinking I wouldn't be able to interview with them. "So you'll have to do your interview with Erica, one of the owners, if that's alright with you."

Phew! I'd been worried for a second!

"Of course, I don't mind!" I smiled again, pretending Krista being out sick hadn't jarred my nerves a little more.

The receptionist picked up the phone and let Erica know I was in the lobby. "Go ahead and have a seat, Miss Hamilton. She'll be with you shortly. If you need anything, my name is Nancy. I'd be happy to get you some water or coffee."

"Oh, I'm alright, but thank you."

I took a seat on a long modern-looking white couch and chewed at the end of my pen while I eyed the framed awards on the wall across from me. I squinted to read each one. There were three certificates listing Advantage Republic as a nominee for Small Business of the Year, and another listing them as runner up for Marketing Agency of the Year. There was a framed photo of a gorgeous young Hispanic woman speaking at a podium. The backdrop said Columbia University. I studied the image a little more closely and read "Erica Hernandez, Chief Operating Officer of Advantage Republic." There were a handful of other photos framed, but I didn't have a chance to look at them before hearing my name called from the other side of the room.

I stood, my shoulders back and a confident, yet friendly smile on my face, and turned to see the same woman in the photo.

"Miss Hamilton, it's nice to meet you," Erica smiled and shook my hand. "I'm Erica Hernandez, the C.O.O."

She wore a tight, very flattering silver jacket over an equally tight black blouse. Her black slacks held a perfect cuff at the ankles, and stunning bright red heels finished off her ensemble. I immediately felt underdressed. She looked fantastic with her glittering diamond earrings and her dark hair curled to perfection, and I automatically wished I'd thought to curl my own hair.

"It's great to meet you, too, Mrs. Hernandez," I returned her smile, taking note of the sparkly wedding ring on her finger, and followed her down a hallway to her office.

Walking in, I was greeted by an awestricken-ing view of the city. Erica's office was on the southwest corner of the building and her floor-to-ceiling windows provided a perfect panorama that included the Empire State Building – one of the many tourist attractions I was itching to visit.

"Wow," I mused, probably looking like a deer in the headlights. "This is absolutely gorgeous!"

Along with the hard-to-beat view, Erica's office had a crisp, modern look to it. Her desk was entirely made of glass and held both an iMac and a MacBook. The rest of the furniture was equally sophisticated looking with colors of gray and white, except for two mahogany bookcases behind me. Everything about the room screamed "executive."

I felt way out of my league.

"Please have a seat," Erica smiled and gestured to one of the two white leather chairs in front of her desk.

While she shuffled through some papers, I continued taking in the details of her office. I noticed her degrees hanging on the wall behind her. She'd earned two bachelor's in business administration and business management from Princeton, a master's in accounting from Cornell, and she also had about five other certificates and awards framed.

On top of a filing cabinet to her left were three framed photos. The first one was of Erica and three other women about the same age, all smiling brightly at the camera. It looked like they were on a girls' trip to the beach.

"I need to add a few more photos around the office," Erica chirped, nearly startling me out of my trance, noticing I'd been eyeing the pictures. "We're a very family oriented company. We love to display good times with our families and friends. I've been meaning to frame more photos and decorate the walls a bit more."

"That's awesome," I grinned, loving the idea of a company being more family friendly, even though I didn't have my own family yet. "Where was that one taken? If you don't mind my asking..."

I pointed to the photo of Erica and the other girls on the beach. There was another beautiful Hispanic woman with raven black hair, a blonde with one of the whitest smiles I'd ever seen, and a younger looking girl with sandy brown hair and lively eyes. They all looked like they were having the time of their lives.

Erica looked fondly at the picture. "That was taken a few months ago in Maui. My friend, Kate, the blonde, set up a fabulous trip for us to get away from the nasty winter weather we were having in February. The Latina is Selena and the brunette is Kacey. If we hire you, you'll be seeing them off and on. We frequent each other's offices."

I nodded and flipped open my folder to jot down any notes throughout the interview.

Erica started off with the typical questions, asking me how I would handle various situations, why I thought I was the right candidate for the job, and so on. It was nothing I hadn't answered twenty times before. I silently hoped that having a lot of practice with interviews would help me in acing this one. I couldn't take my mind off of how badly I needed this job.

"Now, I know you read the job description, but I want to make sure you're aware of how busy this position would keep you," Erica said in a tone like she was skeptical of whether I could handle the challenge.

"I know I'd be traveling a lot, and I'm sure I'd be swamped with paperwork and plenty of other tasks," I said quickly, hoping like hell that she wasn't doubting my ability to do the job efficiently. "But Mrs. Hernandez, I am completely certain that I would be able to not only meet, but exceed your expectations, should you give me the opportunity. And I would really love the chance to get to work with you and Advantage Republic. I feel very strongly that this is the best job for me."

I crossed my fingers that my little speech didn't come across as begging for the job or trying to suck up to the boss. I wanted Erica to take me seriously, regardless of the fact that I was somewhat underqualified for the position.

Erica took one long, hard look at me like she was studying everything about my demeanor, evaluating my character. It was intimidating. It made me anxious. But I kept my posture straight and held her gaze until she spoke again.

"I'll have to have you speak with our C.E.O. before we go any further," Erica said as she stood from her desk. "But if he approves your application, I'd like to extend you an offer."

Excitement flooded through me at her words. She was ready to give me the job! All I had to do was impress the big boss! I refrained from bouncing gleefully in the chair and stood to shake her hand again.

"You can wait here while I go get him," she instructed. "It should only be a few minutes. If you need any refreshments, there's a water and coffee bar right across the hall."

"Thank you," I smiled and waited until she was out of earshot before I blew out the heavy breath I'd been holding in for too long.

I returned my attention to the gorgeous city view, but my dry throat was crying out for some water and I ended up venturing across the hall to the little breakroom Erica had mentioned.

As I retrieved a bottle of water from the fridge, I noticed more framed photos on the breakroom walls. One caught my eye. It was a picture of Erica in another very flattering outfit standing beside a man who was probably a few years older than me. They were accepting some type of award.

I leaned in close and squinted at the picture. There was something so familiar about the man beside Erica. I knew I'd seen him someplace before, but I couldn't put my finger on it. He was tall, devastatingly handsome, with unruly black hair and a smile that could probably charm the pants off of any woman. I wondered if he was Erica's husband.

Heels clicking against the tile jerked my attention back to the hallway as Erica walked in with a broad smile and the same man in the photo trailing behind her.

"Miss Hamilton, this is our chief executive officer, Jesse Reese."