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Chapter One
Amelia
Summers in Atlanta were not for the faint of heart.
When Amelia’s alarm went off, she groaned and lay in bed for a good ten minutes. Her AC was blowing, and yet the apartment still felt warm and muggy. It wasn’t even eight yet, but she knew it was going to be a sweltering day.
She slowly got out of bed, doing her usual song and dance of finding an outfit that was both cool enough for her walk to her MARTA stop, and warm enough to keep her from freezing in the chilly office.
She wished the executives would let them work from home.
Glancing in the mirror, Amelia made sure she looked all right. Her tan skin looked decent enough that she could forgo makeup, and her dark, wavy hair fell down her shoulders in a favorable way. She thanked her lucky stars that it wasn’t frizzy today, despite the humidity.
She left her apartment on time, only to get to the downstairs door before remembering something incredibly important.
Her medication.
She cursed under her breath, swiveled on her heel, and jogged back up the stairs to her apartment. The bottle of medication lay on the counter. Amelia took one of the pills and grabbed a banana to eat on the way to work. She knew if she had forgotten it, she would be in a world of pain.
There were times when it was incredibly inconvenient to have to rely on medication to get through the day. Her last boyfriend had certainly thought it was an issue, so much so that in the years since they’d broken it off, she had never been able to forget how he’d treated her and her reliance on medication. And how the real world felt about people like her.
That was fine. Amelia liked being alone.
She left her apartment for a second time in a rush, but luckily, she didn’t miss her train. She may have been sweaty and annoyed, but at least she was on time.
Amelia got to work at exactly eight. A few of her coworkers greeted her in passing. As the HR director, she was the highest-ranking employee who worked in the office building. All her actual superiors were in corporate, and communicated via video chat, unless they were in town. All the people she worked with were technically under her umbrella.
A yawn escaped her before she had even made it to her office, and she immediately changed course, heading for coffee.
The break room was up on the top floor. There were tons of refrigerators for people to store their lunches, as well as coffeepots that were usually empty. There was a sole Keurig that Amelia had brought in, so she walked over to that.
As she bent down to open a drawer to grab a K-cup, she heard chatter.
“Isn’t it so sad?” a woman’s voice asked. Amelia glanced over to see two women by the fridges, huddled together as they spoke.
One of them, Andrea, was an employee of hers. After starting at the same time as Amelia three years ago, Andrea remained in her original position while Amelia pursued a promotion. On the left was Dana, who worked in the customer service department.
“It really is,” Dana said to Andrea. “You can just see it in his eyes. He’s so lonely.”
Amelia immediately knew who they were talking about: Daniel Anderson—the other director in the office.
“I can’t believe they got a divorce,” Andrea said. “They were so cute together!”
“And she is so pretty,” Dana added. “Like, if they had babies, they would win prizes.”
“Right? Such a shame, but I hope he’s happier without her.”
“Isn’t it weird that he’s single now?” Dana asked. “I mean, he’s hot.”
“Isn’t he your boss?”
“Yeah, but I could make it work.”
Nope.
The last thing Amelia needed to deal with was Dana causing an HR nightmare by going after her boss.
She loudly snapped the Keurig lid closed, and both women spun around with wide eyes.
