This was going to be her year. It had to be.

Maggie Collins washed her hands in the ladies' room sink and looked at herself in the mirror. There was a buzzing in her purse. Quickly, she dried her hands and fumbled inside her handbag for her phone. She stared at the text from her boss, the city manager. The one that said My office. 5 mins.

Oh, shoot. I should have guessed I'd get the summons while in the john.

This was it. Darryl was finally going to announce that he'd been able to get her the promotion they'd been discussing. After all, he'd proposed it to city council weeks ago, but with the new mayor coming in, everything had been at a standstill. Every employee at city hall was talking about the hiring freeze, waiting for the day when it would be lifted.

Maggie had been patient.

She bolted out of the restroom, swinging her purse over her shoulder. There was such a spring in her step that her auburn spiral curls were bouncing along with her. As one of the errant curls danced in front of her eye, she tucked it behind her ear. She had to stop herself from smiling too widely or doing a fist pump. After all, a couple of admins had recently been let go in her division. It would be insensitive to beam unnecessarily over her impending good news.

But she was so ready for this.

Darryl had been grooming her for years. He'd seen potential in her when she'd taken her first admin role there as an intern and had backed her ever since, helping her reach the exalted heights of the city manager's office, arguably the most important one aside from the mayor's. And when he'd heard the mayor's assistant was going on leave, he'd been quick to put Maggie's name forward.

Yes. He's going to tell me I got the job.

What else could he have to say to her on a Friday at four p.m.?

Maggie blinked, tucked another of her ever-straying curls behind her other ear, and smoothed down her best A-line skirt. And smiled. She was finally going to get some good news. And it was about time. With the way things had been the past couple of years, she needed it.

She turned a corner in the hallway, listening to the echoing clack of her pumps. Another few steps, and she was walking on the plush carpet leading to the city manager's office. She made a quick pit stop at her desk and bent down to check herself again in her cubicle mirror, the one bearing the printed message Smile! She ran her tongue over her teeth. "No poppy seeds. No spinach. Check."

With a wink at her signed fan pic of Ewan McGregor, she launched herself out of the cubicle and toward Darryl's office.

She couldn't wait to tell Matthew. Thank God for him. Her fiance was her rock. He'd lifted her out of the doldrums and had given her something to hope for.

If only they'd been able to spend more quality time together lately. He'd been busy with his job, and she with hers. But that was to be expected. He was a busy professional, and her work kept her hopping. Once Darryl confirmed her new role, she'd head right over to Matthew's office to tell him. They could celebrate.

Maybe even get a little frisky tonight. If he wasn't too tired.

Cut the man some slack, Maggie. He works hard. It's not his fault he doesn't have enough energy to jump your bones more than once a month.

Frowning, Maggie dismissed the nagging voice in her head. It wasn't time to worry about her lack of a sex life with the man who would soon be her husband. So they hadn't been connecting on a physical level for a while. He loved her, told her often. Once they got over this rocky patch, things would improve.