As the morning sunlight filtered through my bedroom curtains I snuggled up a little tighter in bed. I was just awake enough to know I was warm and comfy, and I didn't want any of that to stop. That was all my half-asleep brain wanted to think about.

  Warm.

  Comfy.

  Cosy.

  Cuddles.

  Wait. Cuddles?

  My eyes half opened, and I found myself looking directly into the eyes of someone else. She was close enough that our noses were almost touching, while other parts of our body were definitely touching. My arm was around her shoulders and her hand was resting on my hip. Then I realized our legs were intertwined, and warm soft parts of her body were pressed up against warm soft parts of mine.

  "Jenna!" I gasped as I went from zero to wide awake in an instant.

  I tried to roll myself back and away from her, but we weren't ying atop a bed. We were half buried in her big pile of pillows, and my startled reaction only succeeded in bringing the two of us even closer together as we sank a little deeper into the pillow pile.

  "Good morning Vikki," the genie greeted me with a wide smile. "Be honest. Wasn't that the best night's sleep you've had in a long time? You must have really needed it too! By the way, does your phone make all those noises every morning? I'm impressed you managed to sleep through that racket."

  "My phone?" I frowned for a half second, then my eyes widened and my heart started racing. I struggled to my feet as I gasped, "Oh no! What time is it? Where's my clothes? I can't be te this morning!"

  Jenna sat up in the pillows as she replied happily, "It's half past nine. When do you have to be at the pce?"

  "By ten!" I groaned as the panic started to set in. "I was supposed to be up at six-thirty this morning!"

  I tried to dash for the bedroom door but being hip-deep in pillows made running impossible, the best I could manage was wading through them. "It takes twenty minutes to get there, which means I have to shower dress and do my make-up in ten minutes! I can't believe I'm going to be te for my first open house!"

  The genie was still sitting half buried in the pillows as she replied, "Easy-peasy! That's why I'm here, remember?"

  "What are you -" I started to ask, when my vision was temporarily obscured by an explosion of flowers.

  A thousand little purple violets rained down around me as I finally stumbled out of the bedroom and into the tiny hallway. I burst into the bathroom then stopped in my tracks when I saw my reflection in the mirror over the sink.

  My make-up was impeccable. My hair perfectly styled. And instead of my favourite kitty pyjamas I was dressed in my best skirt suit. Even my teeth felt squeaky-clean, accompanied by the faint scent of mint. I was still barefoot, but my most comfortable pair of low-heeled shoes were already waiting for me on the bathroom counter.

  The dissonance between what I expected to see and what my eyes were telling me was so jarring that I probably wasted a full minute staring at myself in the mirror, before I finally snapped out of it and rushed to finish freshening up. It was weird enough to discover I no longer needed a shower, if Jenna's magic had taken care of my other washroom needs I probably would have been a lot more uncomfortable.

  When I emerged from the washroom there were only a few minutes left before I needed to be on the road, and I ended up using that time to find my phone and gather up my purse and folio and the business cards and flyers.

  I stopped by the bedroom door again to check on Jenna. She was still in her nightshirt and ying half buried in pillows, but she looked over at me and asked "All ready to go?"

  "Yeah," I nodded. "Thank you for the assist this morning Jenna. I don't expect to be back until evening so um, try to stay out of trouble ok? And please don't make any more changes to my home?"

  After a brief hesitation I added, "We can talk more tonight when I get back, or maybe tomorrow is better since I'll probably be exhausted by the end of the open house. Anyways I have to get going now. See you ter!"

  The cute genie just waved as I turned and hurried out the front door. I passed my upstairs catgirl neighbour and her mom Mrs. Ford in the lobby on my way out, but didn't have time for anything other than a quick good-morning as I hurried to the parking lot.

  Fortunately Erin's SUV was all ready to go, she'd even made sure the fuel tank was full before loaning it to me which was incredible. And the drive went well too, there were only a few parts of town that had much traffic on Saturday mornings and I knew where they were so I could avoid them. I also avoided the highway, I knew the side roads would be quicker.

  The only real dey was the five minutes I spent in the coffee-shop drive-thru, but I really needed the caffein boost. The muffin was good too. I was only a few minutes te getting to the property, and luckily the caterer hadn't arrived yet so nobody was waiting impatiently outside.

  With the SUV parked in front of the rge four-car garage I gathered up everything I needed and made my way to the front door. I dug the keys out of my purse and opened up the door, then headed inside and got to work.

  The next forty-five minutes went surprisingly well, all things considered. The homeowner had done their part before going away for the weekend, the pce was tidy and there weren't any valuables or personal items left out. I still re-organized a few things here and there, while setting out the brochures and some business cards in a handful of obvious pces. The table in the front foyer, the dining room table, kitchen counter, coffee table in the living-room, and bed-side tables in a couple bedrooms.

  I also had a dozen or so minated signs to set out around the house. Some of them were so obvious I almost questioned why they were necessary in this day and age, like no-smoking signs. Others were less-so, like notes in all but one washroom that asked everyone to please use the one we'd designated for guest use.

  The caterers arrived while I was doing all that, and immediately got themselves organized. There were three of them at first, to carry everything into the kitchen where they got set up. Then I showed them where I wanted the coffee and snacks to be served, and they took care of the rest. Finally after they were ready two of them headed out again, while the young woman they left behind would act as the waitress. She was dressed accordingly, in a dark skirt and white blouse. She swapped her sneakers for a pair of heels and with that she was ready to go.

  In fact everything went perfectly right up until about ten minutes before the open house was to officially begin. That's when I decided it was time to set up the signage, which was also the moment I realized I'd completely forgotten the signage. It hadn't even made it onto my check-list, when I was going over everything at the office yesterday.

  With my heart racing and a heavy weight in my gut I rushed grab my purse out of the cupboard where I'd hidden it then dug out my phone. My only hope was to text Erin on a Saturday morning and beg her and her wife to drop everything and go to the office to get the signs then drive them out here for me. On top of everything else my boss had already done for me, up to and including lending me her luxury SUV.

  Except when I unlocked my phone I found a text already waiting for me. Erin sent it only about five minutes earlier, and it was like she'd read my mind. Or more accurately, it's like she'd been watching what I was doing yesterday and knew exactly what I'd overlooked.

  "I put the signs in the back of the SUV yesterday morning while you were fussing over your list," she wrote. "Good luck Vikki, you've got this!"

  My cheeks coloured as I texted her a quick thank-you. Then as I hurried out the door I called to the caterer, "I'll be back in five minutes Laura, just setting up the signs!"

  There were three of them, the kind that unfolded into an upside-down V shape. They had a metal frame and weather-proof pstic boards that read 'Open House' along with an arrow and the Rhodes logo. I set one on the side of the road pointing to the driveway, then drove the other two out to set up about a little ways away. One went at a cross-roads about a kilometre north of the property, the other went on the side of the road about the same distance to the south.

  And with that, everything was finally ready.

  Needless to say there was no stampede of potential buyers beating down the door at eleven o'clock sharp, but folks did start showing up within the first five or ten minutes. I already knew from experience working with Erin that the majority of people I'd see today weren't the least bit interested in buying the property. Odds were most of them couldn't even afford it. But people were curious, and supposedly any actual prospective buyers might be more interested if they saw lots of other folks also seemed interested.

  Plus there was always the chance of some random drop-in falling in love with the pce and deciding to buy it on the spot. That was very rare, but my boss assured me it did happen at least once in a while.

  The st category of guest, beyond the actual prospects and the crowd of curious public, were the other real estate agents. Basically the competition. Erin was a good honest businesswoman and didn't have any enemies among the other agencies in town, but this property was big enough to attract interest from the city. Which meant there'd be some agents who'd probably never heard of Erin Rhodes and definitely didn't know Vikki Lawrence. They weren't out to sabotage me or anything, but I was still a little anxious whenever I spotted one.

  Nonetheless, things actually went really well for the first couple hours. I had a small but steady stream of people come by, some were happy to just tour the house on their own before leaving while others had questions or wanted me to show them around. The refreshments and snacks were set up on the buffet in the dining room, and some folks tended to stand in there and eat while others wandered into the living-room and tried out the furniture. Still others would carry their snacks around with them, but apart from continually finding empty disposable cups or crumpled napkins all over the house there weren't any real problems.

  Then around mid-afternoon it started to get really busy. That's when people were finishing up their shopping or were heading home after lunch, or maybe just out for a drive in the country. They'd have the time to stop and look at the pce even if they weren't in the market. And that's when I went from having no more than seven or eight people wandering around at any given time, to a couple dozen or more all showing up within a few minutes of each other.

  The increased numbers kept Laura on her toes. She was constantly moving back and forth between the kitchen and dining room repcing the coffee and tea carafes and making sure there was enough milk and sugar. She also had to replenish the snack trays a few times, as everyone seemed to enjoy the tiny cakes and fancy cookies.

  The house was big enough that it never felt crowded, but that actually became part of the problem. It was hard to know when someone needed me or had questions about the property, because everyone was spread out and wandering around. And if I accompanied one party to show them something or answer an enquiry, that meant I might miss someone else with questions in another part of the house.

  At one point I found myself trapped in the master bedroom answering a stream of questions from an older couple. They seemed legitimately interested in the property, but brushed aside my offer to arrange a private tour for them the following week. They also seemed oblivious to my subtle hints that I wanted to get back downstairs incase anyone else had questions or needed anything.

  I didn't want to be rude though, especially if they really were prospective buyers. And while I didn't like to judge people based on appearances, these two looked to me like a couple retirees with a huge investment account somewhere. It was easy to imagine them being ready to move out of the city and into this big luxury house in the country. So I stayed stuck in the bedroom with them for ten or twelve minutes as I did my best to answer their questions, while hoping for some sort of distraction so I could escape.

  Fortunately I got my chance when Laura poked her head in through the bedroom door and excimed, "There you are!"

  "I'm sorry to interrupt," she added to the couple I'd been talking to, before addressing me again. She looked and sounded awkward as she expined, "I think maybe you ought to head down to the foyer? There's a guy down there who's giving your assistant a hard time. I'm worried he might make a scene or something. I don't know but you might want to ask him to leave?"

  I stared at the caterer in confusion as I asked, "My assistant?"

  "Oh no," I added a moment ter, as I realized there was really only one possible answer to that question. I quickly apologized to the older couple, "I'm sorry Mr. and Mrs. Melnick, I need to go and take care of this right away."

  Without waiting for their response I hurried out of the bedroom, thanking Laura as I passed her on my way to the main stairs. It was one of the big features of the pce, a rge curving hardwood staircase that led down into the main foyer. And it gave me a proper view of the problem as soon as I reached the top of the stairs.

  Sure enough Jenna the genie had arrived. She was dressed in a suit skirt very much like my own, except where mine was beige hers was bubblegum pink. Her short bck hair was professionally styled like she'd done for me, and even her make-up was simir. Apart from the lipstick, mine was subtle red while hers was pink.

  The real surprise was the man who was allegedly harassing her. I'd been expecting to find some rando who'd saw the open house signs and perhaps came in looking for the chance to steal something from a fancy home. Instead it was none other than my coworker, Jason McTavish.

  Fortunately both he and the genie were keeping their voices down, but as I hurried down the stairs I heard enough to know why he was causing a fuss.

  "I just want to know how long you've been working with her!" Jason grumbled. "When did Erin hire you? And for that matter how come Vic gets an assistant when I don't have one?!"

  PurpleCatGirl