a

es before the sun came up, an

kles. Then the navy blazer, which nipped in just where I curved in, so that for the first time in my life my body looked like it had been drawn on purpose

d never known what to do with. But the clothes made all of it look deliberate, and when I put on the low heels and a dr

ized her. I kin

en I crossed the lobby. "Well, loo

grinning so hard my ch

winked, and I floated into the el

s went from my shoes to my collar and back, one slow lap. She didn't smile.

s ready,

e tipped her chin to

with the cup steady in my ha

d. They traveled, slow and unreadable, from the line of my shoulders to the curve of my waist to the hee

I could feel heat climbing my neck, and I hop

r," he

ne word, flat a

ding it like a wave, my

cream-colored, with no name on it. "Take this to Holloway's office on

s,

eone offers you

said, and then wished I hadn't, because h

G

an in an expensive suit, with a neat gray mustache and the easy smile of someone who closed deals for a living. He took the envelope from me and tucked it into his jacket, and t

ll Mr. Cage thank you. And tell him h

y cheeks warm, and g

finally opened

ee, the phone propped against a book, the pages glowing white in the dark. I'd to

ou read something you h

ft me. Eighty-five thousand. I'd looked it up in the supply room that afternoon, hiding my screen behind a file: a fresh gra

d, it was good, and for about ten seconds I let myself

rolled to

ths." Then, a few lines down, in smaller, tighter language: Should the Employee terminate this agreement before the completion of the Term, the

slower. My hand

dollars, and I'd already spent twenty-two hundred of the first f

to carry the number. It didn't matter how many times I ran it. I wasn't going

dry and quiet. Anyone who signs something they ha

, and I did the only thing I knew how to do. I breathed in and out, the way I'd

self. You weren't go

d, to the empty r

I'd wanted, and it didn

ight Cage had looked at me that morning, just for a second, and the word he'd said. Better.

t for free. I knew that. Some p

ight, I let myself