He snapped his fingers and pointed at her. “Joe and Emily Brady. That's right.” He grinned. “Always liked those two.”

She returned the smile weakly. “Mr. Wells, I think the Garman Group can help you make Nitrovex even more visible in your industry.” That's it. Get right

down to business.

John nodded. “I'm sure you can, I'm sure you can.” He spread his arms wide.

“Well, why don't we start by having our VP of Operations show you around? Get

the lay of the land? Then we can chat some more.” He peered past Kate's shoulder into the waiting area. “Looks like she's just arriving.”

VP of Ops? Uh-oh, and oh no. She'd done her research on the company and knew exactly who that was.

“Sorry I'm late, John,” a bright and disturbingly familiar voice said.

Kate turned and squinted into the morning sunlight that glanced through the

tall windows of the open lobby, hitting her teenage nemesis at just the wrong angle. Same long black hair and perfectly white smile. Just add twelve years, some crow's feet (yes! Even she gets old!), and a navy-blue business dress, and it was her, the Wispy Witch herself. Penny Fitch.

Penny was busy putting her sunglasses in her pocket and hadn't really taken

notice of her yet. Kate cleared her throat and waited. She'd expected to meet her

sooner or later but had hoped it would be later. Much later. As in, never.

But they were all adults now, right?

“Penny Fitch, this is—”

“—Kate Brady,” Penny enthused, her hand extended. “So good to see you

again!”

Was it? Was it really?

“Hi,” Kate said, shaking Penny's claw. You're a professional, remember?

“You two know each other?” said John.

“Sure,” Penny said. “Katie and I went to high school together.”

Kate had the odd thought of what Penny's head would like if it just

spontaneously exploded right now. Kind of messy, she guessed. But somewhat satisfying.

“Well, then, you two probably have a lot to talk about,” John said. “Kate, I'll

leave you in Penny's hands for a while.”

That thought caused her skin to creep sideways. “Okay,” she said, watching

John saunter away down the hallway.

She turned back to Penny. The blaring sun behind her made it look like she

had horns growing out of her head. Kate tried to smile but just grimaced.

Penny gave her a quick once over and a grin. “You look great, Kate. I almost

didn't recognize you.”

I kind of wished you hadn't.

“Thanks, you too.” She wished she could have lied, could have said, Wow, did you gain weight, or are you just pregnant? But, no. Penny looked trim, light, and aggravatingly perfect. “John said something about a tour?”

Penny nodded. “Of course. Let me show you around the plant.” She gestured

with her arm towards a side hallway that led to some white metal double doors.

* * *

Two hours, a stuffy filtration mask, and a hard hat later, Kate had seen about as

many vats of nameless brown liquid and endless white pipes as she could handle.

She hadn't visited her parents at the plant a lot when they'd worked here as chemists, but she hadn't forgotten the acrid stink. Her dad had shown her around

like this on some “take your kid to work day”, and she'd thought she was going

to permanently damage her sense of smell.

Penny had led her back to the main office area, the thrum and bang of the plant floor disappearing as the door closed.

“You can keep the hat.” Penny was pointing to the white hard hat with the

Nitrovex logo on it perched on Kate's head.

“Thanks.” She might need it at her next meeting in Chicago if she blew this

deal.

“I'll let John know we're done. Hope to see you around again, Kate.” She stuck her hand out.

Kate shook it. Penny paused, then turned and left down a carpeted hallway.

Kate wiped her hand on her skirt. She realized she'd had her stomach

muscles clenched for the last thirty minutes and exhaled. That was it, then? No