Four of diamonds on five of clubs. Five of clubs on six of hearts. New card is the three of diamonds. Charlotte sighs as she clicks on the new card and drags it up onto the diamond foundation and goes through the tableau of cards on her screen, picking out the five of diamonds and then the six before she has to go to her stock pile to draw three more cards. She sighs, glancing down at the clock at the corner of the screen and seeing that she still has twenty more minutes until Kaitie gets back from lunch and Amelia returns from her meeting with Patti.

It’s relatively quiet for a Monday, no big meetings or phone conferences, no important paperwork to be ferried from here to there. Charlotte attributes it to the upcoming Christmas season, projects slowing to a halt until the start of the New Year. But even the upcoming holiday hasn’t quelled Amelia’s insane wedding schedule. Patti has been in the office nearly every day, talking about flowers, themes, table cards and flower girl dresses and Charlotte was in Justin’s office nearly every day with fabric for him to feel and ink colors for him to choose from, even though Amelia always did what she wanted whether it was Justin’s preference or not. But it was a way for Charlotte to get out of the office and sometimes the break would be just what she needed to keep her sanity. Justin would always greet her with a grin and a wave, doing that little half stand thing some guys do when women enter the room.

She’s grown quite fond of Justin, enjoying his corny jokes and rolling her eyes at his little jabs. He’s like the old uncle at every family reunion that tells dirty jokes and teases you mercilessly. You tolerate it all evening and by the end you kind of start to enjoy it. 

Charlotte stifles a yawn, checking the clock again and then glancing out the window onto the glittering street below. Fifth Avenue shines in red, green, and gold and tiny people all bundled up are hurrying to get where they’re going as a wicked chill blows its way through Central Park. The sky is a dark gray color and there’s call for snow by the end of the day. Charlotte checks the clock again. Maybe Amelia will let her go early. She still has some Christmas shopping to do and anything is better than sitting in the office waiting for the phone to ring or waiting for Amelia to find something to complain about.

She nearly jumps out of her skin as the door to the office opens and Amelia breezes in, her cheeks pink from cold, her blond hair flowing down over her shoulders in soft curls. She is a vision in charcoal gray, her alabaster skin glowing in the soft light. Charlotte immediately closes her game of Solitaire and stands, waiting to be told what to do.

“Good afternoon, Amelia,” she says after a moment, watching Amelia unwrap herself from the woolen cocoon of her cape.

“Oh it’s hardly good,” Amelia snaps and Charlotte braces herself for what’s coming. “Would you just look at these?”

Amelia drops a plain white box on the desk and Charlotte gives her a cautious look before pulling the top of the box off. Sitting in a bed of tissue paper is a small card, wrapped in brilliant white gossamer like some beautiful gift Charlotte could only dream was for her. A small square placard turned on its corner and emblazoned with beautifully scripted lettering, a small “A” and “J” with a large “T” in the middle, sits in the center of the swathed invitation, adhered to the wrapping, holding the gossamer in place. Charlotte looks up at Amelia who nods, urging her to continue. Charlotte gently tears away the tag, her fingertips brushing the soft gossamer before peeling it away. Underneath the light fabric is a small card, brilliant white and smooth like no paper Charlotte has ever felt, gate folded so that it opens from the center. On the left gate is an embossed letter “A” in beautiful script and across the opening line in the paper is a matching letter “J.” Charlotte holds her breath as she opens the card, the heavy paper resistant against her as she pulls so it unfolds gracefully, the two sides expanding into a double gate. Inside in elegant black script is the following:

Amelia

daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Preston Domineck
and
Justin Randall Timberlake
son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Harless
request the honor of your presence

as they exchange vows of marriage

on Saturday, the twenty-fifth of June

two thousand and eleven
at six o'clock in the evening
St. Thomas Church
1 W 53rd St
New York, New York

Charlotte looks up at Amelia who is staring at her expectantly and she doesn’t know what to do. In her hands is one of the single most beautiful things she has ever seen. She couldn’t possibly fathom what’s wrong with it.

“I think they’re beautiful,” Charlotte says after a moment, feeling she might as well take her chances as opposed to trying to guess what was wrong with them.

Amelia rolls her eyes and snatches the card from Charlotte’s hands, irritated. “The typography is all wrong!” she exclaims, huffing as she charges back into her office. She’s still talking, her voice muffled by the wall separating them and Charlotte has to listen hard to catch what she’s saying, “I specifically said Citadel Script medium and this is clearly Citadel Script bold. That ninth grader they had working in sales had no clue what he was doing. Ugh I knew I should have gone with the printers I wanted instead of humoring…GET JUSTIN ON THE PHONE!”

Charlotte jumps at the sudden rise in hostility, scrambling to reach for the phone and sighing as she listens to it ring, hearing Amelia in the background all the while. “This is just horrible. I could have freehanded these better myself!”

Charlotte cringes. Felicity better answer the phone pretty damn quick because Amelia’s tone is going from annoyed to irate, babbling on about the space between the letters and the paper isn’t even really all that great and it cost a bloody fortune…

“Yeeeeeeeello.”

Charlotte’s attention is jerked back to the phone in her hand as a jovial male voice greets her. She’s slightly shocked by the informal greeting and it takes her a beat before speaking.

“Er…”

“Oh…shit…um…” she hears the voice mutter, then what sounds like the clearing of a throat and then a cool, lazy, “Justin Timberlake’s office.”

“Um…Justin?” Charlotte asks, leaning over and peering into Amelia’s office, finding her leaning over the invitation spread out over her desk, examining it with a magnifying glass, still muttering to herself.

“Charlotte! Hey girl, how are you?” he asks and she can hear the grin in his voice, causing a smile to pull at her own lips.

“Well I’m-”

“Did he just answer the phone?” Amelia asks, suddenly stopping her examination of the invitation and looking at Charlotte through narrowed eyes. Charlotte cringes turning back in her chair.

“Amelia in a bad mood?” Justin asks with a sigh and Charlotte rubs her forehead.

“When isn’t she?” Charlotte mutters and then gasps, her hand flying to her mouth and the line is quiet for a moment.

Why did she say that? What the hell was she thinking? You don’t talk about your boss that way and you sure as hell don’t do it on the phone with your boss’s fiancé. Charlotte is panicking, trying to think of anything that could possibly account for her statement. She was talking to someone else maybe? About something completely different? But it’s then that Justin’s loud laughter echoes through the phone, gasping for breath, coughing with the intensity of it.

“Oh god, tell me she heard you say that?”

“Ugh never mind,” Charlotte hears Amelia mutter from the other room and then her voice is in her ear right along with Justin’s. “What are you doing answering the phone? Where’s Felicity?”

“Well I-”

“Oh never mind, get over here. These invitations are horrendous.” A click sounds and Charlotte knows Amelia has hung up. She hears Justin sigh.

“See you in a few,” Charlotte offers meekly and Justin laughs but it fades quickly.

“Yeeeeeah.”

It takes Justin forty-five minutes to get to Amelia’s office. Forty-five agonizing minutes in which Charlotte spends going through the week’s schedule while trying to ignore her boss’s Jimmy Choo’s tapping irritatedly against the floor. Kaitie breezes back in from lunch and she and Amelia spend a good fifteen minutes examining the invitations and picking them apart while Charlotte pretends to organize the filing cabinet in the front office. She still thinks the invitations are gorgeous and knows if that’s her opinion than it isn’t welcome in there.

Charlotte is bent down under the desk when Justin finally arrives, hurrying through the door and bouncing on his toes in an effort to keep warm.

“Hey Charlotte, where’s the fire?”

Charlotte raises up quickly, cracking the back of her head against the desk and yelping in surprise, an obscenity flying from her lips. She winces, rubbing the tender spot as her eyes fall on Justin who looks slightly shocked by her outburst but chuckles none the less, stepping towards her in concern.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” she replies weakly, rubbing the acorn sized knot raising on her crown and she can still hear Amelia going at it in the other room.

“Do you SEE the way this loop on the M touches the A....if it wasn’t bold this wouldn’t be happening…”

Charlotte shakes her head. “What’d you say?”

“Just asked where the fire was,” he grins, rubbing his hands together quickly. “So I can stand next to it…it’s cold as-.”

“THERE you are,” Amelia exclaims striding out of her office, invitation in hand, Kaitie following to stand in the doorway. “What took you so long?”

“Hey darlin’” Justin drawls, walking over to her and pecking her cheek softly, running a hand up and down her back.

“I called you forty-five minutes ago,” Amelia says and Justin sighs, stepping back from her.

“I’m sorry babe, traffic was ridiculous and it took me forever to get a cab-”

“Cab?” Amelia asks, her face screwing up in confusion. “Why on earth did you take a cab?”

Justin’s eyes widen slightly and he shifts from foot to foot. He hadn’t wanted to tell her that. “Um…”

“Is there any particular reason you took a cab as opposed to the town car service for your building?” Amelia asks, raising an eyebrow and Charlotte glances at Kaite who widens her eyes and cringes, slinking around Amelia and over to the filing cabinets.

Justin can feel himself tensing under Amelia’s severe gaze. “Um...I like cabs...”

“You like cabs?” Amelia asks, chuckling slightly and shaking her head. She trains her eyes on him. “Did Felicity get the fax I sent earlier?”

Charlotte cringes, turning to the computer and swirling the mouse around on the screen. She doesn’t want to hear this. She’s heard Amelia bait Justin on so many occasions that it’s actually almost painful to listen to at this point. Justin can try and evade her for a while but Amelia always finds a way to get whatever it is he’s hiding out of him.

“Um…I dunno,” Justin responds and Amelia sighs shaking her head.

“I told her it was time sensitive.”

“Um…well…I’m sure it’s on my desk then. I’ll look when I get back.”

“Is it really that busy over there?” Amelia asks turning to go into her office and Justin glances at Charlotte and Kaitie before steeling himself and following his fiancé.

“Well you know how it is,” he replies.

“I was just asking because you were answering the phone,” Amelia replies and Justin watches his shoes scuff the carpet. “Felicity was at lunch?”

Justin hums noncommittally. “Well you know…we’ve got that issue with Kalaya’s album. I’ve got that meeting with the accounting head tomorrow.”

“How do you think it’ll go?” Amelia asks disinterestedly, flipping through some papers and Justin sighs, leaning against the back of one of the couches.

“I dunno. We’re already over budget,” Justin rubs the back of his neck. “But she’s just now really starting to find her sound and she’s coming into some good stuff it’s just-”

“Are you sure Felicity got that fax?” Amelia interrupts, and Justin looks at her slightly bewildered. “I should call and ask…” She reaches for the phone

“She’s not there,” Justin says and then cringes. She gets him every time.

“Oh…where is she?” Amelia asks, folding her hands on her desk and looking up at him innocently.

“Um…lunch?”

“But you said she was at lunch before…that’s why you answered the phone.”

“She’s running errands,” Justin says and Amelia narrows her eyes, pulling herself from her chair and rounding the desk slowly.

“Really?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest. “What kind of errands?”

“Um…”

“Justin…” Amelia says, warning in her voice and he sighs, giving up.

“She’s in Cabo.”

Amelia’s eyes narrow. “So you lied to me.”

“Baby,” Justin says, opening his arms to her and grinning in what he hopes is a charming way.

“Don’t you ‘baby’ me!” Amelia snaps, holding a hand out and warding him off. “And what is Felicity doing in Cabo again?”

“Oh come on, there’s nothing really going on. Let the kid have some fun,” Justin says and Amelia sighs, snatching the phone from its cradle.

“I’m calling her father.”

“Amelia,” Justin whines, rolling his head on his neck as he draws out the vowels in her name. “Come on don’t do that.”

“No, this is ridiculous. You gave her that job as a favor to Cassius because he’s a friend of the family and she just runs off whenever she wants,” she exclaims, flailing her arms and nearly sending the phone crashing off her desk.

“Amelia, come on stop okay. It’s really fine,” Justin says, his voice taking on a soothing quality. Amelia eyes him hard.

“Honestly I don’t know why you put up with it,” Amelia sighs, dropping the phone back into the cradle and crossing her arms over her chest.

Justin sighs, swaggering forward and slipping his arms around her waist. Amelia doesn’t reciprocate, not willing to give in just yet. “Come on babe. I like Felicity.”

“Oh I’m sure you do,” Amelia replies and Justin drops his arms from her waist.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks, a slight edge in his voice and Amelia shrugs unaffectedly, sliding past him.

“Nothing. It doesn’t mean a thing,” Amelia sighs, walking around the room and fluffing the leaves on her Sansevieria plant.

Justin eyes her moodily, his brow knit. There’re a lot of things he’ll take from Amelia. He can deal with the tantrums and the perfectionist tendencies. She’s high maintenance, she’s always been that way. More so now than in the past but some of the very qualities that made him love her, her fierce drive, her perfectionism, are the same qualities he himself possesses. So he can deal with all of that. But accusations of infidelity are not something he’ll tolerate.

“Amelia, don’t-”

“Charlotte?” she hollers, poking at the soil in the pot and Justin shuts his mouth, sighing as Charlotte peeks her head into the room. From the look on her face it’s obvious this office is the last place she wants to be right now. “When was the last time we watered the plants?”

“Um-”

“They could use some water,” Amelia says, sneering at the dirt on her fingers and rubbing it away. “So what are you going to do for an assistant while Felicity is chasing cabana boys in Cabo?”

“I’ll manage,” Justin grumbles, eyeing Charlotte as she comes in with a bottle of water, going from plant to plant, tipping water into the pots.

“What? Don’t be ridiculous,” Amelia says, settling behind her desk again and Justin glares at her.

“What, you think I can’t manage my own office?” Justin asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

Amelia leans over her desk and laughs. “You staple things to your ties Justin.” She laughs again and Charlotte ducks her head in embarrassment for him.

“I can run my own office,” Justin says firmly, his ears pinkening, his eyes flitting to Charlotte nervously. It’s one thing to be berated by your fiancé. It’s another to have it done in front of an audience.

Amelia sighs. “Justin, what’s on your schedule for this afternoon?”

“What? I don’t fucking know,” he says, his face screwing up in annoyance, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Exactly! You don’t know. You need an assistant,” Amelia says, opening her day planner. She looks up adding, “And don’t curse.”

“Amel-” he starts, getting more and more perturbed by the second.

Amelia snaps. “You CAN'T go running around all week without an assistant!”

Charlotte stops biting her lip and she doesn’t turn around, not even daring to move. The door is all the way across the room and there’s no means of escape that wouldn’t draw their attention to her. She really doesn’t want to be here. She doesn’t want to hear Amelia cut Justin down inch by inch. She wants to go back out front and file or make business calls and not be in this room with them as they argue. Although she can’t help the little part inside her that cheers him on when he finally yells at her.

“I'm a grown ass man I'm pretty sure I can run my own fucking office!” Justin yells, more out of embarrassment than anger. He doesn’t want his life broadcast to everyone. Not even Amelia’s assistants.

Amelia merely blinks at him, standing from behind her desk, her eyes ablaze and Justin swallows hard. She walks around her desk, taking long punctuated steps towards him, her face a mask. Justin bites his lip, watching her carefully, barely even breathing.

“Don’t.” Amelia reaches up, straightening his tie. “Curse.” She pats his chest, giving him a tense smile that’s more of a warning than anything else before turning her back on him. “Why did you take a cab earlier, Justin?”

Justin lets his head fall back, sighing in exhaustion. “Because I felt like it.”

Amelia turns to him raising an eyebrow. “Really? Are you sure it wasn’t because you didn’t know how to call for a town car?”

“No,” Justin snaps petulantly.

“Oh really?” she asks, settling behind the desk. “What number do you call to order a car out front?”

Justin shifts “Um...well…” he bristles, clearing his throat. “I don't have it memorized.”

Amelia smirks, writing something down in her day planner. “You dial one and the front desk does it for you.” She sighs. “Just...just take Charlotte for the week.”

Charlotte is finally slinking her way out of the office when she hears her name and stops dead in her tracks. There’s no way she just heard that correctly. She turns slowly, finding Justin looking at her blankly and Amelia shuffling papers on her desk. She chuckles to herself, slightly confused.

“Um…what?” she asks, looking from Justin to Amelia and back again.

Amelia looks up from her paper work and smiles slowly, looking Charlotte up and down. “Yes... yes take Charlotte.”

Charlotte’s eyes widen, cutting to Justin again, hoping he’ll insist otherwise, hoping he’ll stand his ground just once. But all he does is smile weakly at her before bowing his head in concession. Of course, why did she ever think he would do otherwise? She glances from Justin to Amelia, watching her sign her name with a flourish and she can’t help but wonder if this is all some setup, if this is part of the elaborate mind game that Amelia is constantly playing with Justin and Charlotte is just caught in the crossfire.

“Well now that that is settled,” Amelia sighs, reaching for the invitation that’s laying across her desk. “get over here and look at these invitations, they are absolutely atrocious!”