ed to be a no
gnore the 147 unread emails from her bank, and pretend she wasn't in the middle of a quarter-
it turns out
moment a pigeon poope
dn't s
idn't
y, foam-topped latte in hand, as warm, unmistakable pigeon crap o
wed his steps. Gawked. Then-oh
ide. "Right on the crown. T
a picture, I swear on Beyoncé's entire
she'd threatened to
ee was cooling. Her scalp was now a war zone. And it was her first day at her new job-a job she des
be a reset. A fre
cloudless blue sky. "
sent a breeze that smeared
the nearest trash can, marched into the pristine glass lobb
she was not blowin
ir smelled fai
with a pack of emergency baby wipes (thanks, Claire), reapplied her lip gloss,
ork, tragically poor, and
ath, turned the corner i
d straight
ologne, tailored gray wool, and s
therapy) exploded on impact. Dark brown liquid splashed across the man's crisp white
e f
id E
My.
f slowly. His expression unre
ce cold. N
ew coffe
ted. "You-you body-blocked me
"Flattery won't
ing in her bag before realizing-"Wait, no,
op.
ut wrong. I mean-there was a
s flared. J
dry cleaning. Or a new suit. Or a
rupted. "Assuming you're not a hal
muttered. "Very re
ge, which had gone skittering across t
, flipped it ov
something suspicious
e read. "New pro
be
o
. "You're The
ilt
nt women and causing ca
lf, with slow, irritating precision. "So I suggest you find the bathroom, remove
ut
and R
es
like coffee
tained and all, leaving Emery standing i
hispered, "I hope you s
glass-walled conference room, trying to look professional and not l
polished executives. And at
o never got flustered, never got dirty, and
even loo
tting her this job, leaned over and whispered with dea
ed it. Aggressively. While
ened like the Joke
ng to di
ost your mugsho
air
ared his
ike a magician with no time for your nonsense. "We're entering final rounds o
d to Emery-shar
need to work on
Some of us should watch
udible. So was her
h twitched.
was the b
somethi
g messy. Explos
at would spiral into somethin
t just thrown coffe
st decla
very good