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“If anyone can get to the bottom of this, it’s her.”

“There’s nothing to get to the bottom of. I’ve had countless meetings with you about Janet. That woman has been skating on thin ice for a long time. She may be a fantastic PA, but her attitude grinds on my fucking nerves. I’m sorry that her leaving is going to create more work for you, but I’m confident it will sort itself out in the end.”

“I wish I had your confidence.”

“Why don’t you head back to your office and place an ad for a replacement? I want you to advertise only on SEEK and LinkedIn. Nowhere else.”

She narrows her eyes and tilts her head to the side. “Why?”

“Because. And I want to vet every application personally before you bring anyone in for an interview.”

Violet stares at me in disbelief for a moment, blinking a few times, before finally throwing her hands in the air and storming out of my office.

Once the door shuts behind her, I lean back in my chair and fold my hands behind my head. All I can do now is pray Rose sees that advert.

It’s been two days since Janet left in tears, and I’m not going to lie, it’s been an absolute shitshow without her. I think my sister is seriously rethinking joining the company now.

The applications are coming in thick and fast, but I still haven’t heard from Rose. Violet’s printing them out and bringing them to me as requested, only to leave in a huff when I flip through each CV and give her a firm no.

There are more than enough qualified candidates in the pile, and I know I’m being completely unreasonable by rejecting them all, but I don’t give a shit. Vi might not know about my endgame, but I won’t be swayed.

I’ve stayed away from Rose for now, despite every cell in my body screaming out for me to drive past her work, her home, anywhere I might catch a glimpse of her.

Spencer’s given me all the information he could find on her, but he’s still digging into the handsy fucker. Apparently, something suspect is going on at that company, and he’s going to need more time to get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, I have to sit tight and wait for Rose’s application to land on my desk.

Why isn’t she jumping at the chance to get out of there? She has no idea I’m connected to this company. Well, I hope she doesn’t. I run my fingers through my hair and blow out a long breath. I never anticipated that scenario.

I may have sworn to stay away for the time being, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do something. The sadness that was radiating off her the other day is haunting me. Her smile is too pretty to waste.

Before I can change my mind, I pick up my mobile phone from the desk and pull up my message thread with Spencer.

Me: Quick question, does Delilah like flowers?

It’s a stupid thing for one man to ask another, but I’ve never sent flowers to a woman before. Not unless you count my mother, and she’d probably be happy with a bunch of weeds if they came from one of her kids.

I stare at what I wrote for a second before hitting send, immediately regretting it the moment it’s delivered.

I scrub my hand over my face when I see the dots appear, then disappear. What the fuck is wrong with me? Maybe Violet’s right; am I having a pre-midlife crisis?

I tilt my head back and groan a moment later when my phone rings. “Why would you want to send my wife flowers?” Spencer asks as soon as I answer.

“I don’t.”

“Then what’s with the text?”

“I was thinking of sending flowers to Rose.”

“Oh.” He clears his throat. “Maybe you should’ve led with that. Why do you want to send her flowers? Is it to apologise for something you did wrong?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, some friendly advice … write something meaningful on the card.”

“Meaningful, such as?”

“That’s up to you, but know I’m speaking from experience. I once sent flowers to Delilah with a card that simply said, ‘Sorry’. Let’s just say it blew up in my face.”

I wince. I’m glad I asked now, because sorry is exactly what I was planning to write. “While I have you on the phone,” he adds, “you’re going to need to give me more time to dig into Whitmore. Not only is Rose his fourth PA in eight months, which is an unusual turnover in such a short span, but I’m yet to pinpoint whether it has something to do with him being handsy or if there’s something else going on.”