She was completely hopeless when it came to matters of the heart.

Her phone beeped. It was a text from June.

How’s the date going??

Annika squeezed her eyes shut and sighed. She’d respond to that later. Currently, all she had the energy for was ice cream.

Early Monday morning, June pulled into the mostly empty parking garage, turned off her Porsche, and faced Annika. “So what if things didn’t work out with Alesandro? There’ll be other guys. Lots of other guys.”

“You know, I’m fine with it,” Annika lied, grabbing her yoga gear and handbag. She’d had all weekend to think up her response, and she didn’t want June feeling bad for her. She was tired of being the one people had to feel bad for. “I just need to focus on the EPIC pitch and keeping Make Up going. That’s just the season of life I’m in.”

June studied her for a moment before opening her door and getting out. “That’s a great attitude.” Pausing, she looked around at the empty garage. “Hey, maybe we need to work on off-hours. Would you look at this place? Traffic on our commutes would be so much easier, too.”

Annika laughed. “Easy parking and no traffic are tempting, but not tempting enough to get me to give up my early mornings, late nights, and weekends.”

“Yeah, plus your dad wouldn’t like you skipping your Saturday dinners.”

“That’s very true. Hey, I feel like a little fresh air—want to go the long way around?”

June nodded and they walked out of the garage and onto the street in the direction of their huge steel-and-glass office building. The early-morning air was cool and slightly breezy, and Annika took a deep breath, imagining she could smell the ocean in the distance. In this moment, she felt light. She felt … optimistic.

“Maybe we could expand one day,” June said, spreading her arms wide, apparently feeling it, too. “I could head up the office in Paris.”

Annika laughed. “You might be getting a little ahead of yourself there.”

“No way,” June insisted as they walked into their building and headed to the elevator, their heels clip-clopping against the gleaming floor. “We’re totally going to slay at EPIC. You know there are rumors that we’re the ones to watch? Well, us and Break Up, but you know we’re going to win it.”

As the elevator pinged and opened onto their floor, Annika smiled at her, her eyes shining. “Yeah, I have heard that. I think Rita Davenport at Early to Tech has a lot to do with it, actually. Rumors about the Time article are creating buzz, too, I can tell. I have to admit, I know we’re overleveraged, but … I’m feeling good. Like something’s about to change. You know? All our money troubles are going to be behind us soon.”