The Romantic Agenda

outfit?"

 

Joy twirls into the room, ending in a pose. "New-ish." She'd bought the chic olive green pantsuit-flared high-waisted slacks and sleek blazer, both tailored to perfection, and paired with a tasteful plaid crop top-a few months ago, but this is the first time she's wearing it to work.

 

"Special occasion?"

 

As far as Joy is concerned, fashion is life, but Megan clocked the situation correctly. Her hopes are sky-high for something about to go down, most likely in the next hour. It's why she abruptly decided to devote her immediate future to securing Inbox Zero.

 

Approximately sometime around two hours, thirty-seven minutes, and twenty-four seconds ago, her focus had shattered from anticipation after her boss, Malcolm, sent a short email.

 

He asked if she had plans for the holiday on Monday.

 

He hinted about clearing everything from her calendar for Friday and the following Tuesday.

 

He needed to talk to her about something important.

 

"Hopefully?" Joy answers. It's a miracle her heart hadn't spontaneously combusted after she finished reading the email because her brain moved at the speed of light, jumping to the only possible conclusion: her time has finally come.

 

A reluctant laugh bursts through Megan's stress. "Well, I'm rooting for you, whatever it is. Come look at this, please." She's holding a signed contract with some questionable language around distribution and follows it up with pictures of the product itself:a line of craft beers with an explicit NSFW label.

 

"Huh." Joy's eyebrows are nearly at her hairline. The image is so realistic, she can't tell if the model's 3-D or not. If she's real, despite her excellent, perky posture, she most certainly has back problems from having boobs that big and a waist that small. How she managed to hold a perfect spread-eagle side split would have been a small miracle on set.

 

The image slides straight past c