Laura wanted a coffee.

Not the one in the office machine. A six-dollar coffee with oat milk and possibly a leaf on top.

She had reasons.

She had slept for five hours and forty-two minutes.

Breakfast had been a banana eaten while looking for her keys.

There were four meetings on her calendar, including a fifty-minute “Quick Catch-Up.”

And she had eighty-three unused points in the coffee shop app.

Her friend listened patiently.

“Are you asking me if you can buy a coffee?”

“No. I’m explaining why it makes sense.”

“To whom?”

Laura looked down at the notes on her phone.

COFFEE: SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

• Sleep: insufficient
• Breakfast: largely theoretical
• Meetings: excessive
• Reward points: available
• Desire for coffee: significant

The case was strong.

The opposition did not appear to exist.

Laura ordered the coffee. 

It was excellent. 

It took about four minutes to drink.

The notes are still on her phone.

At 4:42, La Fontaine offered Laura exactly what she wanted.

A table for four.

7:30.

Her birthday.

The table would be held until 4:52.

At 4:49, her friends received a message.

It covered Sarah’s fear of French menus, Emma’s butter problem, Rachel’s extra drive and the parking.

Laura was also happy to eat somewhere else.

The message occupied most of the screen.

Sarah replied:

SO ARE YOU SUGGESTING LA FONTAINE OR EXPLAINING WHY WE SHOULDN’T GO?

SUGGESTING IT, Laura wrote.

Then:

BUT ONLY IF EVERYONE WANTS TO.

Rachel replied:

IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY. DO YOU WANT TO GO?

YES.

Three dots appeared beside Laura’s name.

STOP TYPING, Rachel wrote.

At 4:51, a reservation confirmation appeared.

Rachel had booked it.

THANK YOU, Laura wrote. ALTHOUGH I HOPE YOU DIDN’T FEEL THAT YOU HAD TO—

NO, Rachel replied.

Ten minutes had produced one reservation, four objections nobody had raised and a decision that had been clear from the beginning.

“Sure,” Mark said.

 Laura had not reached her second reason.

She wanted the following Friday off.

There was no wedding, appointment or flight. She wanted to sleep late, visit a bookstore and have lunch somewhere that did not offer delivery to her desk.

This did not feel sufficiently official.

So Laura prepared seven drafts.

One mentioned her unused vacation balance.

Another confirmed that every deadline would be met.

Draft four included a detailed handover plan for a single afternoon.

At their meeting, Laura began:

 “I was hoping to take next Friday off. I know we have—”

“Sure,” Mark said.

Laura paused.

“I can explain.”

“You just did.”

“Not completely.”

“Laura, take Friday.”

Back at her desk, six abandoned drafts waited behind the one she had sent.

Laura closed them.

Then reopened draft four and saved the handover plan.

The day off had been approved.

The supporting documentation remained available, should anyone require it.

Laura had been wearing the bracelet for eleven seconds when the questions began.

Would she wear it often enough?

Did it work with her watch?

Was it too similar to the bracelet she already owned?

No. That one was thinner.

Or was it thicker?

Laura placed both wrists beside each other, although only one contained useful evidence.

The bracelet worked with work clothes. It worked with dinner clothes. It would probably work with the dress she had not bought for the dinner that had not been planned.

This was versatility.

The sales associate returned.

“How does it feel?”

“It’s comfortable,” Laura said. “And I could wear it with almost everything. Also, if you consider the cost per wear…”

The sales associate waited.

Laura stopped.

“I like it.”

“Would you like me to wrap it?”

Laura said yes.

As the bracelet disappeared into the box, her mind continued assembling the evidence.

The decision had been made.

The explanation was still catching up.