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control it. She took a deep breath. “Right, well, let me know dates and times and things. Get back to me later in the week.”
    “Pardon?” Tess said again.
    “I have a lunch,” Sophie repeated with some frustration.
    Tess looked at her. “Actually, Sophie, I was rather hoping you could come with me now to pick the girls up. I brought all the paperwork for you to sign.” She reached into her glittering bag and produced several forms, which she waved at Sophie as proof.
    “You mean now, right now? You want me to have them right now?” Sophie repeated herself, incredulous.
    “That is the idea,” Tess said with a tight smile. “After all, the girls need your help now. Not when you have a window in your diary.”
    Sophie wondered how all of these events had managed to erupt and tumble down on her head at this precise moment without her even noticing they were coming. She looked at the pink toes of her new boots and knew she just had to accept that her day wasn’t going to go the way she had planned, because nobody knew better than she did that sometimes your life turns itself on its head without asking you for permission.
    She looked up at Tess and gestured to the visitor’s chair. “Okay,” Sophie said simply. “If you’ll excuse me for a few minutes, I just have to rearrange some appointments.”
    At last Sophie opened the door and stepped back into the normal world, where things were happening just as they had before she got dragged into the alternate reality that was seething in her office. For a split second, she considered making a run for it, and then she knew she couldn’t. She just wasn’t the sort of person to walk away from a problem without solving it. Even if she wanted to, and her pride wouldn’t let her.
    Jake Flynn was sitting on the edge of Cal’s desk. He turned and smiled at her as she emerged, and behind his back, Cal swooned in his chair.
    “Are you ready?” Jake asked her, smiling warmly.
    Sophie looked at him. “No, I’m not ready,” she said, feeling every word.
    Jake’s face fell.
    “Look, Jake, I’m really sorry, but I…I just found out that a close friend of mine died, and I…” Sophie could not put the last part of the sentence together, but it seemed like she didn’t have to.
    “Oh, Sophie,” he said gently. “I’m sorry. Well, of course, you aren’t ready. Don’t worry about lunch.” Jake paused for a moment, as if assessing what he should say next. “Work can wait. I only wanted to go over a few last-minute details you’ve probably already taken care of. Don’t worry about it at all. And I’m really sorry for your loss.”
    Sophie nodded, not knowing whether to feel relieved or disappointed that Jake had been taking her out for a business lunch after all. She looked at Cal. “I’m going to be out of the office for the rest of today,” she said. “Cancel everything, and ask Gillian if she’s got five minutes, okay?”
    Cal nodded and looked from Jake to Sophie and back again.
    “Will you be okay?” Jake said, reaching out and holding her elbow.
    It was such a strange, mannered gesture that Sophie found it rather touching. “I will,” she said. “It’s…complicated, Jake.”
    Jake nodded, and his hand dropped back to his side. “I’ll call you,” he said.
    “I’m not sure when I’ll be back in the office, but Cal and Lisa have everything under control, so you don’t have to worry…”
    Jake nodded. “I’m not worried, and I’ll call you, ” he said.
    Cal watched him heading for the lift. “Mmm,” he mused more or less to himself. “Now even I’m confused.” He looked up at Sophie. “What else can I do?” he said.
    She smiled at him. “Right now? Nothing. In the next couple of weeks—probably everything actually.” And she told him as quickly as she could everything that Tess had told her.
    “Bloody hell,” Cal said, wide-eyed by the time she had finished.
    “I know,” Sophie said.
    She turned around and looked at her