Page 29 of Rising Heat

Good.

Alex

I’ve got something for you. A skincare start up.

Alex

Beautiful branding but nothing makes sense.

Darcy

My favorite kind.

Alex

Liar.

Alex

Your favorite kind is the ones with money.

Darcy

Not untrue.

I look at the message for a second. A month ago I would’ve stared at it a lot longer. Not because I didn’t want the work, but because somewhere along the way I’d stopped trusting my own excitement. Every decision got run through a dozen different filters before it reached me.

Now all I can think about is opening the brief.

Darcy

Send it over.

Alex

That’s my girl.

The referral lands in my inbox before I can regret volunteering myself.

I open the brief and settle back against the counter. The brand is beautiful. Soft neutrals. Clean typography. The kind of packaging that ends up all over someone’s Pinterest board six months before it hits shelves.

I make it three pages before I start smiling. For all the effort that’s gone into making this thing look good, I still can’t tell who it’s for.

Alex

?

Darcy

It’s pretty…

Alex

Uh oh.

Darcy

That’s the problem.