While Julia appreciated the woman’s quest to live a long, happy, grandbaby-filled life, her own hamstrings were still sore from last week. Andie would say it was a symptom of having a sedentary desk job, and her friend was probably right—Julia did spend too much time on her ass. She vowed to get in better shape … later. First, she was going to get off her sore behind and nail this pitch.

Wincing only slightly, Julia pushed up from her chair and headed for Cleo’s door.

“Julia!” At her knock, Cleo waved her inside. “I thought our meeting was for this afternoon.”

“It was, yes,” Julia began, immediately wondering whether she’d made a mistake. But she was here now, and the only thing to do was soldier on. “I just couldn’t wait to tell you about my idea.” Which wasn’t a lie.

“There’s more of that spunk! I like your enthusiasm.” Her boss gestured to a chair. “Please, sit.”

Deciding she’d made the right choice, and grateful she wouldn’t be fighting for the future of her career while squatting or attempting splits, Julia sat.

“Now then…” Cleo clasped her hands together and rested them on her desk. “Where are you taking me?”

“Hold up,” Kat demanded, waving her chopsticks. “Did you say rom-com resort?”

“Uh-huh.” Julia fiddled with her own chopsticks, still in their little paper wrapper. She was too worked up to eat. She’d wanted to tell her friends about her pitch right after it happened on Monday but had decided to wait until the assignment was approved. And in the end, the timing worked out perfectly. She’d received the official green light this morning. Just in time to share the news with Kat and Andie at their weekly lunch.

“That’s exactly what I said.” Julia reached into her purse for her phone and pulled up the resort’s website.

“Come play at our resort perfect for fans of romantic comedies,” Andie read aloud. She glanced at Julia. “Is this a joke?”

“I know it seems wild. Especially considering we were just talking about this, hypothetically speaking. But it’s legit, I swear.” Julia bounced in the booth, thrumming with adrenaline. “It’s thanks to our conversation Friday night that I found this place.”

“The spyware on our phones is really starting to creep me out.” Kat shook her head.

“Don’t start making tinfoil hats just yet,” Julia teased. “This wasn’t some spammy pop-up ad. I stumbled across it while working on that story about how real life isn’t like a romantic comedy.”

“A dozen reasons,” Andie added helpfully. “I remember.”

“Anyway,” Julia pushed on, “I was doing a web search and this place popped up.”

“Make all your rom-com fantasies come true,” Andie said, reading another line from the website. She raised her eyebrows. “How do they expect to do that?”