“You were at my college graduation party a year ago,” Penelope reminded him. “And as I recall, you did choke with laughter about this job offer.”

“Can you blame him?” Vijay asked. “I thought it was a joke at first, too.”

Penelope bristled.

“Oh come on, Pen.” Vijay nudged her shoulder with his. “When you told us you’d found some lady who wanted to hire a team to create a romantic-comedy game for her resort—a resort in Wisconsin named Notting Hill—I did wonder if someone was pranking you.” Jay shook his head. “Especially when you mentioned how much she was willing to pay.”

Luke nodded. “The offer seemed too good to be real.”

“Too good to be true, you mean?” Penelope asked.

“No, I mean real,” Luke insisted. “As in not fake.”

Penelope rolled her eyes. Luke could hear his sister’s mental Whatever, big bro as clearly as if she’d said it out loud.

“As for Mrs. Weatherfork,” Luke continued, referring to their boss, “the jury is still out.” The owner of the resort, Mrs. Miranda Constance Eugenia Weatherfork, was—in a word—eccentric. Luke wasn’t sure how much of Mrs. W.’s wild reputation was based on actual exploits and how much was due to outrageous gossip, much of it likely started by the woman herself.

Vijay laughed. “The accent is definitely fake.”

“Yeah, but the money is definitely real,” Penelope added.

“No arguments there.” Despite seeming ridiculous, there were a few facts about his boss that Luke was confident weren’t fiction. Fact: she was ridiculously wealthy. Fact: she was spending a ridiculous amount of money on this project. Fact: she had offered them a ridiculously large bonus to be paid once she’d determined that the launch was successful.

In fact, the bonus was so ridiculous one might call it ludicrous. He certainly did. But as Penelope noted, their boss had deep pockets in those weird outfits of hers and could afford it. Luke was determined to earn that bonus. His portion of the funds would provide the seed money he needed to launch his own start-up game company, a dream he’d tucked away for so long that having it within reach now didn’t seem possible.

But it was real. If this first week proved a success. He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I still think we should have scheduled a practice round first.”

“Dude, you gotta let it go.” Jay shook his head.

If Luke had been able to do things his way, this week would have been a soft opening with a much smaller guest list, made up of friends and family of the resort employees. A chance to work out any bugs. As a software developer, that’s how things were usually done. Teams always tested games and programs in simulation before launch. But his current employer had other plans. “That woman is as impatient as she is eccentric,” Luke muttered.