Page 1 of Good Enough

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FEBRUARY 8TH

Kai

Kai removed her Ray-Bans as she followed Cherry into the empty conference room.

Who names their child “Cherry”? Hope it’s a nickname. Must be with that red hair.

“Please, have a seat, Ms. Serrano. Can I get you something to drink? Coffee? Water? Something else?”

Kai sat in the chair closest to the head of the table and removed her Dodgers cap, placing it atop her overloaded backpack on the chair next to her. “No, thank you.”

The red-haired woman smiled. “If you change your mind, just let Waters know.” She laid an accordion file at the seat across from Kai and pulled the starfish-shaped speaker from the center of the table down to between Kai and the opposite seat. “Sorry to keep you waiting. It should only be a moment.”

As Cherry reassured her, Kai heard the door open and close, and a figure appeared in her peripheral vision. She looked up, and her breath stopped for just a second. Scalp-cropped, dark blond hair, muscles that filled a tight navy blue Henley with sleeves pushed just above his wrists, and tan cargo pants with more pockets than any man could ever need.

Holy hell, horseshoes, and hand grenades! G.I. Joe in the flesh.

Realizing she was probably looking like a deer caught in the headlights, she exhaled. Standing up to greet him, she extended her hand across the conference table, trying to smile like a normal human being.

Hazel eyes! A corona of green around the pupil, the flames spread out into blue irises. Eyes so laser-focused, they appeared to pierce her in place. She froze again when their hands connected across the table as Cherry made introductions. “Ms. Serrano, this is Waters. He will be your liaison today.”

Silence. It wasn’t so much a handshake as a melding of energy. Neither of them dropped the other’s hand.

A gentle throat clearing from Cherry seemed to wake them both from the trance. Their hands dropped to their sides.

He found his voice first. “Ma’am.” His expression was blank, but he gave her a nod. The only show of emotion was that his irises appeared to flare.

She mentally shook herself and cleared her throat. “Mr. Waters.”

“Just Waters, ma’am.”

“The men use nicknames here,” Cherry explained. There was a pregnant pause. “Well, I’ll leave you to it. I’ll patch God in shortly.” The last part was directed to Waters, and she looked as if she was trying to hold back a grin. She exited.

They remained standing for another moment, just staring over the table. Kai shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Waters seemed to reset himself and gestured for her to sit. He had barely pulled himself up to the table when Cherry’s voice came through the starfish. “God online.”

“Ms. Serrano.” A strong, raspy voice came over the speaker. He might as well have been in the room, the quality was so crystalline.

“God? Seriously?” she whispered to Waters. He just looked back at her stone-faced. “Well, I must admit I do feel a bit as if I’m talking to a nonphysical entity. But this room’s a bit large for a confessional.”

The voice over the speaker gave a “hmph,” and she heard the crinkle of what sounded like a candy wrapper being ripped open. “Let’s get to business, shall we?” he began.

Okay, no nonsense. Got it.

“Certainly. Do you want paper copies of my proposal or digital ones?” she asked.

“Both,” God answered. “We’ll do digital now, and you can leave the paper with us to discuss.”

Anticipating her, Waters reached into one of his cargo pockets and handed her what looked like a small USB stick.

Kai raised an eyebrow.

“It will connect you to our Wi-Fi. All it does is project your material on the screen, like if you were presenting through a Zoom call,” he reassured her.

Riiiiiiiight. Apparently, I have the word “naive” stamped across my forehead.

She gave a muffled, unladylike snort. “I so believe that to be true.”

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