Page 4 of Fighting Gravity

She locked the door to her second-floor apartment and took the elevator down to the courtyard. She’d chosen the funky complex in San Diego’s North Park neighborhood for the mural in the courtyard: an astronaut floating over some cacti. Two bedrooms and access to the best brunch spots in town didn’t hurt, either.

Her office was in a squat, older building on a quiet street near Balboa Park only ten minutes from her apartment. She greeted Anne, her office manager, as she walked in. They’d launched Abode a year ago, and Rosie still felt like she was walking on air each time she entered the space. Wide open, sunny, and designed around collaboration, Abode was the kind of place she’d always wanted to work. As the boss, she’d devoted one entire conference room wall to ideas for her pet project: tiny houses for the homeless.

The six people who made up Abode were already hard at work. Andrew, the other project manager besides herself, was of course on the phone. He was the other half of her brain and great at client management. Henry, the grandpa of the group, had defected from his much larger firm for a better work-life balance. Gigi, a sassy interior architect only a few years older than herself, had worked her way into Rosie’s heart—and onto her team—after bonding over their miserable love lives at a design conference mixer. Colton, their newest hire, was a recent college graduate and visualization genius. Rosie had hired him on the spot after he showed her what he could do with rendering software she hadn’t even known existed.

“How are the 3D videos coming along?” she asked him, perching on the edge of his desk.

Colton’s dark eyes didn’t move from his bank of monitors, giving time for Rosie to admire the intricate design shaved on the sides of his head. “Emailed you the QR codes, but here’s a backup just in case.” He pulled a USB drive out of his laptop and handed it over. “Knock ’em dead, boss.”

Rosie smiled. “That’s your job. Thanks for making this video a priority, Colton.”

She stood, slipping the drive in her purse as she went to grab business cards from her desk.

Gigi, who sat next to her, popped the AirPods out of her ears. She was sitting crisscross, a blanket over her lap. “Damn, Rosie. Looking fly AF.” She gave Rosie a toothy grin.

She glanced down at her outfit, smiling at the compliment. “Thanks. Wish me luck.”

“Don’t need to. I saw a cow in my tea leaves this morning.”

“Uh, that’s good?”

“Of course.” Gigi’s tone implied Rosie should absolutely know the meaning behind ruminants appearing in ceramic mugs.

“Okay, well, thanks. I’ll send an email later letting everyone know how it went.”

Andrew appeared at her side, hands shoved in the pockets of his khakis. “Just wanted to let you know we got the permit set back from the county on the Fallbrook project. No comments.”

He tried to stifle a grin as Rosie let out a surprised laugh. “That’s amazing.” No comments meant her team had done everything right the first time, followed every code to the letter. No comments was not easy to achieve, especially on a drawing set as complex as a residential building. “Well done.”

He nodded. “Good luck today. I don’t need to tell you this hotel would be our most important project and client. No pressure.”

She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Thanks. I’ll see you all on Monday.”

She approached the front desk, where Anne held court like the royals with her same name. She played sentry, mother hen, and living, breathing organizer of Rosie’s professional life.

Anne handed over the bound qualifications package of their work to leave with Tate Geier. “Traffic is light. You should get there right around one o’clock.”

“Thanks, Anne.” Rosie dropped her voice. “Can you have some donuts delivered here in a bit? Let’s celebrate the Fallbrook set. And tell everyone they can leave early today.”

Anne nodded briskly. “Do you have the iPad? Laptop? Business cards?”

Rosie smiled at the matronly woman who had been clucking over her since the day Rosie had confided her history. Though she preferred to keep her past a secret, as their front line, Anne needed to be aware of certain undesirable people. After that uncomfortable conversation, Anne had gladly taken on the role of buffer and then some. She could be fiercely protective when it came to Abode and to Rosie.

“I’ve got what I need. Have a great weekend.”

The drive from coastal San Diego quickly transformed from lush and tree-filled to rolling brown hills. Rosie didn’t mind the change of scenery. She’d spent so little time outside of San Diego. Just in-state family road trips to places like Yosemite and Tahoe with her dad and sister after her mom died, and one study abroad trip during architecture school to North Africa and the Middle East.

Rosie turned on an upbeat playlist and rehearsed the sales theme her team had discussed. They agreed they should adapt an existing design in order to meet OrbitAll’s aggressive schedule. According to Elle, the target date for the first human spaceflight was only two years out. They’d need all of that time for design, permitting, and construction. Hence the video tours of a few of their best apartment complexes, all of which could easily be adapted into a hotel.

A couple of hours later, she was marveling at a towering rock formation off the highway when she heard a loud popping noise and felt her steering wheel jerk to the right. Rosie’s heart hammered as her brain registered that she’d blown a tire. She moved her foot off the gas and gripped the steering wheel to steady the erratic movement of her small SUV. She pulled to the side of the highway, realizing as she got to the shoulder that she hadn’t even signaled or checked her blind spot. Lord, she was lucky.

She took a few deep breaths as she reminded herself that she was fine. Safe.What ifscould wait. She needed to focus on changing the tire so she didn’t miss the interview. Thank God they hadn’t set a time. She was just supposed to come by “sometime Friday.”

Rosie climbed out of her car into the heat of the desert. She was about fifty miles outside of Victory, the desert town where OrbitAll was located. She started sweating instantly, even with the wind from passing cars. Her hair would be a mess, for sure. And her pretty shoes. The shoulder was littered with rocks and dust and soda bottles full of what had to be urine.Fudgesicles.

Popping the hatch to access the spare and kit, Rosie realized she had no idea how to go about changing a tire. Sure, Elle’s dad had made them practice when they had first learned to drive, but that had been twelve years ago. She hadn’t needed to retain the knowledge.

“Sugar beets,” she muttered.

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