That, at least, pulls a trill of laughter from her. She leans a hip against the counter, and her hands land on the curve of her hips. “Casey requested the full manuscript. He’s going to love it, and we are going to meet with him to talk marketing before signing anything.” She waves an imaginary circle in my direction. “So this depressed-writer chic isn’t going to work in our favor.”

“You seem awfully confident that they’re going to make an offer.” It’s not even a protest, but I can’t get my hopes up the way she can. It’s never been real for me until the offer is signed.

“They will,” she says simply. “Now, get dressed. On that note, do you have anything business-y you can wear to this meeting?”

My eyebrows inch up my forehead, and I feel something crusty stick in the creases. I might look worse than I thought. “The meeting we haven’t been invited to yet?”

“The meeting we will be invited to within the next couple of days. So, do you?”

I squish one eye closed in thought. “Um…”

“Right. We’ll hit up the store after the salon.” She pulls her phone out of a pocket in her skirt and taps a few things into it as she chews on the side of her mouth. “Go get dressed. Our appointment is in twenty,” she says distractedly.

I stand there, staring at her dumbly. “Why did you do this for me? If you had told me to go get a haircut and some clothes, I would have.”

Without looking at me, she tips one of her shoulders up. “Would you have?”

“Yes,” I insist. When she doesn’t respond, I add, “I went grocery shopping when you told me to, didn’t I?”

Her gaze pops up from her phone screen. “You did.”

“I would have done this, too. You’re my agent, not my assistant. It’s not your job to make sure I’m presentable.”

“No, it’s my job to sell your book. And that’s going to go a lot better if you don’t look like you’ve spent five years avoiding the world and holed up in your tiny apartment like a hermit.” A tiny smile plays at those red lips, and her eyes sparkle. “I am your agent, but I also like to think I’m your friend, Scarlett. This is me being a friend.”

“That’s…” I trail off and swallow against the sudden lump of emotion that has lodged itself in my throat. “That’s really nice of you, Trina. Thank you.”

She breaks the emotional moment by waving her phone at me. “I also booked an appointment with your therapist for you just in case this thing goes sideways, which is definitely more of an assistant move. So don’t get used to it.”