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I glance over my shoulder, hoping reality has rearranged itself while we were talking. It hasn’t.

“Of course they are.”

Theo watches me for a beat, amusement settling back across his face. “You’ve had a rough start.”

I cover my eyes with one hand. “Please don’t recap it. I’ve lived through it once already.”

“Fair enough,” he says. “Watching it was much more entertaining.”

Fifteen minutes later, I’m standing outside a conference room comparing the plaque beside the door to the schedule on my phone when a woman appears at my elbow carrying an iced coffee and a tablet.

“You must be Emma.”

I glance up and find dark curls, bright eyes, and the kind of energy that suggests she’s already operating three steps ahead of everyone around her.

“That’s me.”

“Perfect.” She nods once, as though a question she’s been investigating all morning has finally been answered. “You’re with me now.”

I blink. “I am?”

She takes a sip of her coffee. “We’ll figure it out.”

A laugh escapes before I can stop it.

She points her straw at me. “Excellent.”

“What?”

“You laughed.”

I furrow my brow. “Should I be concerned?”

“It helps. Some new hires spend their first day looking like they’re waiting for a medical diagnosis.”

“That’s because this building is trying to kill us.”

Her face lights up. “Tell me about it.”

I might like her a little, too.

By lunchtime, Lena knows an alarming amount about my disastrous morning, including the coffee mug incident, while I know almost nothing about her beyond the fact that she treats personal boundaries as interesting suggestions rather than fixed rules.

She tears open a bag of chips and fixes me with a look that puts me on edge. “So… you single?”

I nearly choke on my sandwich. “You could’ve eased into that.”

“Why?”

“You don’t even know my last name.”

“I can collect administrative information later.”

I shake my head.

Lena crunches another chip and watches me expectantly. “Well?”

“Yes.”