Pushing her way through the master doors to the bullpen she was greeted by shouts of “Surprise!” and a barrage of camera flashes.

Damien, who could sell computer matchmaking to monks, was using his tape dispenser as a microphone. “Bob Blowhard reporting from the homecoming celebration for local hero Marissa Chabot. So tell us, Miss Chabot, how does it feel to be back from your harrowing adventure?”

“It feels great, Bob, really great.” She grinned at the gathered staff, noting the pineapples stuck on the ends of all the cube dividers. “The Professor created huts for us out of palm leaves and then a suave financier whisked me away on her yacht to safety.”

There was a lot of hooting, hugging and laughing as she made her way to her office. More than one person commented on her tan and several pointed out her hair had taken on some golden highlights.

“You should keep those,” Bianca advised, her perfectly coiffed head tipped to one side. “You look much less serious.”

It was a bit of a come down to discover her desk piled deep with paperwork. Ocky was right—the women’s business network they’d finally worked their way into was proving a good source of clients. There were concerns from staff about the relative slowness with which clients were getting back their composite profile results. There were numerous concerns about security on the SQL server.

By the middle of the day she was immersed in the job again as if she’d never left. A knock on her doorjamb brought her out of her focus on the last polling reports.

“A bunch of us are going to the Iron Horse Cafe—wanna come along?” Heather brushed a nervous hand through her hair.

Marissa started to say she didn’t have time but she knew if she stayed at her desk she’d eat the two candy bars in the drawer and have a headache by three. “Sure. I could use a break.”

On the walk to the nearby deli, Marissa answered questions about the shipwreck—yes, it was terrifying, no, they’d not seen any sharks—and found herself enjoying the fresh air. She’d always thought it a bit far to go but today they seemed to arrive in no time.

Just as she was about to order her usual burger and fries she spotted wrapped packages of sushi. A bowl of vegetable beef soup and the sushi was very appealing.

“No way,” Heather said. “You’re going to eat raw fish?”

“Actually . . .” Marissa peered at the package. “I don’t think there’s anything raw in this one. Next time I’ll get the nigiri.”

“You are blowing my mind. Where’s the Marissa who wouldn’t even try California Roll?” Heather bit into her thick chicken salad sandwich.

“Gone, I hope. The seafood was fantastic on the island and I had no idea tuna had a couple of different parts that are different colors and textures. I’m thirty-four and I’ve discovered raw fish.”

“I was thinking you were back on a diet.” Bianca pushed her glasses back up her nose. “That’s very light fare, overall.”