Today's Reading
"Emily! Is this a good time?"
Rose Novak entered the room without waiting for a reply and closed the door behind her.
Emily had met her on her first day of work. Rose had been in the office because she was putting together a stop-motion video of Terrence's reconstruction of a stained glass window from Bruges. She'd asked Emily to lunch, and they'd had a great conversation. Still, Emily had been surprised when Rose had invited her to lunch again the very next week. Emily had returned the favor, so she supposed they were friends now.
Rose's curvy figure was swathed in a flowing blue dress. At thirty-three, she was a year younger than Emily, but she always looked a little old-fashioned for a social media manager. A silver pentagram pendant hung around her neck, and she'd tied back her curly light brown hair.
"Hey, Rose," Emily said. "Here he is."
Rose's eyes widened and she walked over to him. "Wow. It's gorgeous. Even if it does have some white stuff on it."
Emily nodded. "I'm going to at least get it all off his face before the exhibit."
A faint buzzing sound made Rose look down at her phone. She studied the screen, and then her whole face lit up in a bright smile.
"What is it?" Emily asked.
"My brother. He just got a raise."
"Oh, that's great!"
At their first lunch, Rose had told her all about her brother's struggles with drug addiction, including a short prison sentence that Rose felt he hadn't deserved. Emily had been expecting polite chitchat, not wrenching personal disclosures, but she admired Rose for being so open and honest. Emily wasn't great at polite chitchat, anyway.
"Sorry, hang on just a sec, okay?" Rose texted him back. Then her eyes misted over, and she waved a hand near them. "I'm just so glad he's doing better."
"He's lucky to have a sister to look out for him."
"Thanks." Rose sniffled and looked around the room. "Actually, can we do a little video?"
Emily cringed. "I don't know." Photos made her feel self-conscious enough.
"It'll get a lot more engagement," Rose said hopefully, but when Emily shook her head, she relented. "Okay, just the picture."
"Maybe it should just be of him." Emily had meant to wash her hair that morning, but she'd stayed in bed too long; her beagle mix, Andy War-Howl, had been especially cuddly.
"Come on, don't be shy." Rose made a little shooing motion. Clearly, there was no way to get out of this.
"Let me take off my glasses first." She didn't wear contact lenses often because they made her eyes dry. In the lab, where she often handled solvents, she never wanted to risk absentmindedly rubbing her eyes.
After she'd set the glasses down on the table, Emily stood next to him, her shoulder brushing his arm.
"Now smile!" Rose said.
"Hey, don't tease him. He can't smile." It was a joke, but she imagined the knight feeling hurt by the command.
Rose laughed and took a few pictures. "Perfect." She lowered the phone.
Emily said, "If you have any filters or whatever to make me look better, feel free."
"Please, you're beautiful—but yeah, I'll gloss it up a bit. Can I ask you a couple of interview questions?"
"Okay, sure."
Rose touched the screen. "I'm recording, but it's just for my own notes.
What are your thoughts about this Medieval Might exhibit?"
"Oh, it's the best one I've ever worked on. So many people think of that whole period as the Dark Ages." Like a dork, she made air quotes. Opting out of the video had been a good idea. "Like in his time"—she waved a hand toward the sculpture—"they were already making beautiful clocks and eyeglasses. And a scientist named Occam came up with Occam's razor."
...
