Calling All the Shots by Katherine Garbera

little
statuette, taking a moment to put the paper in the trash can and set the note
underneath the bears. She moved it over next to her phone so she could see it
but anyone entering her office wouldn’t be able to.
    She set it aside and reached for the next present. She didn’t
think about the emotions that were roiling through her at that moment because
she wasn’t ready to deal with them.
    The second present was also in a little brown box and when she
pulled it out and peeled away the bubble wrap she saw it was a frog prince with
a crown on it…a tiny trinket box. There was a hinge under the pillow the frog
was sitting on where the box opened up to reveal another note.
    Even I know that I’m still a prince in
frog’s clothing.
    She swallowed hard as tears burned the back of her eyes. How
did Jack know the exact right things to say to her? Could one dinner with him
have really laid all of her soul bare? She knew it hadn’t. Knew that she’d said
he was charming in that sarcastic way of hers and this is how he’d interpreted
it.
    A cold knot inside her heart where she’d dreamed of revenge
against Jack Crown was starting to melt. And frankly that scared her.
    Scared her because he was making her care about him and even
worse than that he was making her believe he might really care for her. She was
almost afraid to open the last box but when she did she found a set of six
wineglass charms that reminded her of Texas, as they included three cowboy boots
in red, white and blue and three cowboy hats in different colors.
    To remind you of our shared
past.
    She shook her head and pushed back from her desk, walking away
from the gifts that Jack had sent her. He’d done a good job of finding just the
right things to speak to her soul, but that last one—the reminder of their
shared past—was the one that was causing her the most conflict.
    She didn’t want to remember the old Jack and yet she knew that
boy was part of the man he was today. She didn’t want to trust that boy. She’d
done so once at her own peril.
    “Hey, boss lady. You ready for an exciting day of love in the
big city?” Kat asked as she entered the main office area. Kat had on one of
those goofy hats shaped like an animal head that they sold to tourists in Times
Square. Her coat was an old navy peacoat that Kat had inherited from her
grandfather when he’d died.
    “Always. That’s why I’m so successful,” Willow said. And to be
honest, she needed work today to get her mind off Jack.
    “That and coffee,” Kat said, pulling her hands from behind her
back and showing off two Starbucks cups. “I’m the best assistant in the
world.”
    “Yes, you are,” Willow said, getting up from her desk and
walking over to Kat. But as they reviewed the footage from the day before and
she made notes for the editor, she couldn’t help but think of the little gifts
sitting on her desk.
    That frog was so Jack. Pretty and pompous and full of the
self-deprecating humor that made him so different from the boy she’d known long
ago. Nichole had been wiser than Willow had given her credit for when she’d
suggested that Jack was the key to unlocking something inside of her. She hadn’t
realized how much she’d given up when she’d let Jack’s attitude twist the way
she looked at men.
    And those gifts from him were showing her how much she’d missed
out on. She’d rarely let any man see a part of her that she’d shown Jack the
other night. Was she awakening to a new self or was it Jack who was
responsible?
    “Willow?”
    “Yes?”
    “Phone’s for you,” Kat said. “It’s Jack.”
    “I’ll take it in my office,” Willow said, heading back to her
office and closing the door behind her. She sat down and reached for the
phone.
    “This is Willow.”
    “Good morning. Did you get my package?” Jack asked.
    His deep husky voice brushed over her senses, leaving a
tingling trail in its wake. She rubbed her hands over her arms and closed her
eyes,