Note: This story was inspired by actual events.

 She laughed and I looked up from my iPad. The sound reached deep inside of me, breaking my focus on the article I had been reading about the effect of the pandemic on Southeast Asian supply chains. I set the fork down with which I had been absentmindedly shoveling salad into my maw and craned my neck, looking for the source of that laugh. Until then I had been having a typical working lunch at the nice local eatery where I expense my meals to our clients. Nothing would ever be typical again. Read more…