Anything, Everything, And Nothing

Anything, Everthing, And Nothing

“I thought you might like to take a break, sir,” Nina Progressa said as she opened the office door carrying two steaming mugs.

Marco Solo grabbed his hair with both hands and growled. Then he turned to look at her.

“What does that have to do with anything?” he said tersely.

“Everything and nothing, perhaps,” she said equitably as she set the largest mug on the corner of his desk.

Then, she sat down in the visitor’s chair and crossed her legs. Marco looked up from the stack of papers on his desk and frowned at her.

“I’m sure you can see I’m busy, Ms. Progressa. What is it you want?”

“I thought you might need a sounding board for that new design. Maybe we can talk while we drink our coffee...”

Marco sighed and picked up his cup. Inhaling the restorative steam from it, he relaxed visibly.

“It might help at that. I can’t figure out what’s wrong with this one!” He passed her a sketch. Nina took it and studied it closely.

“Have you considered this?” she asked, using a pencil from her bun to add her ideas.

Back and forth they went, discussing and making further changes or erasing ones that they agreed wouldn’t work upon closer examination. Finally, both cups were empty, and they looked at each other with soft chuckles.

“I guess that wasn’t much of a break, was it?” Nina said.

“No, but it was more relaxing.”

Standing, Nina picked up the mugs and headed for the office door. As she touched the knob, Marco cleared his voice.

“Ms. Progressa, I wonder if you would join me for coffee tomorrow. We’ll go to a coffee shop and get right away from work.”

“Of course, sir, anything you think will help.”