The brand’s popularity had grown in part due to partnerships with Instagram influencers, a strategic move that Mira had suggested—despite being intimidated by the fashionable outfits and makeup filters that were a favorite among the influencing set. The social media superstars had done a great job of showcasing the artsy font and soft, appealing colors of each can in the flavor lineup, sometimes with selfies that garnered endless likes, and other times with curated shots of not-so-casual picnics—where silverware was the norm and not a single hair was ever out of place.

With the influencers locked into multiyear contracts, expansion into Europe had become the next big goal, with countless late nights and strategy decks culminating in this all-important trip. The initial thought had been to nab a bit of shelf space in European grocery stores, but in the presentation to the distributor earlier that day, Jake had mentioned the potential synergy between the speakeasy bar scene and Bloom—which would especially work in Paris, where there were now as many craft cocktail bars as in London.

With a range of flavors like elderflower, honeysuckle, and the recently-introduced lavender, Jake had been right in identifying this untapped market—even though he’d used the word “synergy” in his presentation, a loathed business term in Mira’s mind, right up there with “pivot” and “take this offline.”

As Mira scrolled through the company chat, she tried her best to feel a sense of pride, and why not? The brand colors and lettering that the influencers were so obsessed with had all been handpicked by Mira. She was also the one who had convinced the head of marketing to lean in hard on the floral angle, when she’d explained how people seemed to gravitate toward that hippie botanical shit. Despite all of that, she couldn’t generate the normal feelings that usually accompanied not only an amazing performance review, but her best year yet as head of branding.

Mira decided that her muted reaction was excusable, given the event that had recently unfolded in her life. Funnily enough, “the event” was also the term for the fated day when an asteroid had slammed into the earth millions of years ago. That one big event had killed off the dinosaurs and brought on a planet-altering ice age, and even though her personal event hadn’t caused the death of an entire species, it was, in its own way, equally cataclysmic.