London Harmony: Squid Hugs Read Online Free Page B

decisions involved in her transition.  Most of her family distanced themselves from Jen and her parents, Theodore, and Millicent.  Plus she was a hoot.
    There was the added benefit of spending more time with Jen too, and how could that possibly be a bad thing?
    She prompted with one narrowed eye, “Dress not trousers.”
    I grinned at her.  Umm, I had only three sets of pants, black jeans, black lycra, and black vinyl.  The rest of my wardrobe was a combination of black, red, or purple dresses and skirts.  I could do formal-ish.  I wondered if my black lace parasol would be overkill for this occasion.
    I had to haul four medium sized packages back to London Harmony as she carried the orange postal bag with hundreds of fan letters for all of our artists.  I'm sure there were a few actual business letters and bills mixed in.  It was pretty typical for a Monday.
    She buzzed us in then we went up to the second floor green room and put the boxes on one of the tables in it.  Jen would sort through it and put each artist's fan mail in the open cabinet that had cubes for each person.  The talent, or their manager if they had one, collected them from time to time.  Annette came up with the system, it was so much sleeker and organized than what we did before.
    After that, Jennifer would sort the business mail and make hand deliveries to everyone in the office before returning to her lobby.  It was her lobby, make no mistake of that, even J-Dub conceded that point.  Jen ruled over it with a silk glove.
    I looked at her and paused.  Grawl, I wanted a hug.  I steeled myself and then gave her that hug.  I counted my normal three count, then added a fourth heartbeat for her like always. Her scent drove me crazy.  Then I quickly made my way out and upstairs to my desk before I made a fool of myself.  I glanced back to see her standing in the doorway of the green room, watching me go.  She gave a little smile that had me skipping up the stairs.

Chapter 3 – Lunar Base Two
    That afternoon, I was going through my emails and paused at a troublesome one from the auxiliary studio in the Walker's building.  I was about to call June about it, when almost on cue, my earbud crackled to life and I heard J-Dub saying, “Stems, Zil, can I see you two in the conference room for a moment?”
    I replied as I nodded, knowing what it was most likely about, “On my way.”
    Jen echoed in the affirmative.
    I took another look at the troubling email and then took my iPad and walked out into the conference room.  June walked out of her office and we exchanged silly nonsense grins, born of years and years of practice. I flopped down into a chair bonelessly and she followed suit.
    She was about to ask something when Jen came sauntering in.  I mean, walking in.  She grinned at us and sat at the head of the table since June and I were sitting next to each other.  She got a regal look on her face and then spoke without her English accent, sounding very American,  “You're probably wondering why I've asked you here.”
    Then she broke down giggling as June narrowed her eyes playfully.  “Alright, smartass.  Get your cute little butt over here.”
    Jen stood and scooted backward, butt first, and sat beside me.  Then J-Dub smugly said, “You're probably wondering why I've asked you here.”  She stuck her tongue out at Jen, who giggled a little with a little smile.
    I had to grin at their antics.  I really liked how the company felt more like family than a stuffy old business.  The banter felt more like that between siblings more than between coworkers.
    I was nodding, I had read the email.  June flicked her fingers on the screen on the table and the glass wall went opaque and her screen was displayed on it.  We were looking at the email from Hector Gomez, the manager of our auxiliary studio.
    June said, “Hector had been suffering some odd chest pains the past week.  We finally convinced the man to see a doctor.  It seems