Veronica,
Your argument is valid. $7K for a one-month retainer, laptop, and the desk chair of your dreams. Go wild. I’ll get the contract drawn up today and emailed over for digital signature.
Best,
Jude
I’m so amused by the entire exchange that I clip the shoulder of one of my neighbors with my elbow, looking up in surprise to apologize. “I’m so sorry!”
A husky voice jokes, “Barely a flesh wound!”
It’s the woman from 4C, and when our eyes meet, she looks just as surprised to see me. My mouth immediately goes dry.
She’s petite but scrappy, with chin-length light-brown hair, hazel eyes, and a scattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. Today she’s wearing a blue fitted tank top and black workout leggings, and I struggle to keep from inspecting her figure too closely. Her arms are strong and toned—her thighs, too. She’s wearing flip-flops, and her toenails are painted pink. There’s something so incongruous about the delicate color with her athletic exterior, but it only makes her more appealing.
I want to say something, to finally introduce myself, but we’re in the middle of the midday mail swarm, making itawkward. She looks away anyway when her phone pings in her hand.
It allows me to watch her, unguarded for a moment as she reads. Her hair is so straight and smooth it falls into her eyes, and she absently brushes it behind her ear. When she does, I see that she’s laughing down at her phone. She has the widest, most beautiful smile.
She looks up at me again, and I realize I’ve been caught staring. I quickly look away, turning to jog back up the steps to my apartment.
Email correspondence between Jude Tilde and Veronica Cochran
Subject: Welcome to Codeify!
Date: January 28, 2026
Hi Veronica,
I hope you’re doing well. My payroll manager has let me know that half of the payment has been direct deposited into your account as of yesterday afternoon. Please select the laptop and desk chair and send both receipts to me as an email attachment. I will forward them along for your reimbursement.
Now that you’re officially on board, I’d like to get things rolling. Attached you’ll find slides detailing:
Our company and product background
Marketing goals and strategy
Current assets and collateral
Point of contact and workflow for the consulting agreement (for now you will be working with me, but at some point we will spin your discussions off to engage with the project lead, Adam)
Once you’ve had a chance to review this, I’ll send over our first planned pitch for you to help us design.
