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In other words, I was old

If Petra hadn’t called for security by the tiht be aed wo a farmer’s tan We’d kept the script simple, direct, and professional The advertisements already lined the walls of the conference roo Lukas decided to play all bases--some featured the photo of Petra from her book cover, wide-eyed and dewy skinned, and others featured the products, the aesthetic and design heavily borrowed froie with the clean, inviting lines of Restoration Hardware It felt derivative to eneral rule, I liked safe Or, I used to But then my safe life betrayedsecurity We took risks far fewer tie, and e did, like canceling one life insurance policy before taking up with another, it not only bit us in the ass, but it chewed and chewed until we couldn’t sit down

A wo so far outside the box that the box could no longer be seen This wasn’t it But then Lukas seemed to understand Petra on a deeper level than the rest of us I kept ht?" Lukas had coht I’d wear this," I said I had on a gray linen suit, with a coral shell underneath for a pop of color I’d even scrubbed out under ernails and painted theht I looked pretty good

"No," Lukas said with awe’re suburban Suburban equals slow You look like an advertise ca with the LOFT?"

"Nothing That is, if you’re selling Tupperware" Lukas glanced over at Glynnis, ore a mustard-colored shift dress with a crazy pattern at the he loose-knit, als, a T-shirt with an iron-on unicorn eht blue beret Rhiannon was surely over thirty--weren’t there rules?

"Jackie’s look is so dated it actually ale"

Ireet home and back Maybe more"

"You don’t have that kind of time We need to be at the bookstore an hour before Petra arrives You’re creative, Paige Figure it out"

"I look ridiculous"

I stood inside Mykia’s truck, wearing her ratty overalls, grubby tank top, and floral Doc Martens

"How do you think I feel? I’m the one who looks like so," I sniffed Mykia looked good The gray suit softened the hard lines of her body, and the coral shell complemented her dark skin "You look better in my clothes than I do That’s not fair"

"Life’s not fair," Mykia said There was a catch to her voice, a sadness that I had to explore, whether she was open to it or not

I lowered e of her truck Some people nearly passed her stall, struck by the oddness of her appearance, but then stopped when they noticed the scarlet toplants Mykia ht’ve looked like she sold insurance, but her produce was anything but boring She attended to the slowly, as if she wanted to eat up my available time

"What is it you don’t want to talk about?" I asked when the last custo Let’s talk about what you’re going to say to that Petra person"

"Mykia"

"Paige"

Thiselse, letting silence do its job