The cost of love and sanity

the long version

For Alex Carter, everything is going according to plan, she's built a successful career and has a steady boyfriend, until life decides to throw a wrench in the mix. Suddenly, her company threatens to downsize and her boyfriend ends their relations. It is then that she realizes that, like many women, she has neglected to pursue love and family, the goals closest to her heart, in favor of a career. As a enw year begins and Alex decides to focus on personal concerns, she runs into an old flame, Nathan Chestnut. Though she once had it bad for Nathan, she's careful about trusting him again. Alex's remedy is to ask him for an unexpected favor, which seems like the perfect resolution to her broken belief in happiness until she realizes that it can only grant her a piece of her dreams.