Mr. Rich Boy [IN EDITING]

3

Maggie's parents, Mark and Kate Shaw, met in college in the early 80s. Mark came from southern America, knee deep in the middle-of-nowhere Kentucky in a small town on a rustic old farm, while her mother grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mark very much enjoyed the openness and simplicity of his country lifestyle growing up, and Kate excelled in the picturesque hubbub of the city. The two of them, though occasionally hitting brief and scarce rough patches over the course of their twenty-nine year marriage, have always been head-over-heels in love with each other.

They will spend hours gushing over how successful the other is, how loving and caring. Kate loves how well Mark has positively influenced their children's lives, and Mark loves how independent and free-spirited Kate is, and how that can be seen in their children. Together, they are the perfect Yin and Yang.

They raised Maggie, along with her older brother, Jack, younger sister, Anna, and younger twin brothers, Ben and Nick, to be very open-minded. Kate encouraged her children to follow and improve on their passions and Mark filled them with the drive to achieve their goals. Without them, Maggie would not have the confidence in her career that she has now. If she didn't study Fashion Merchandising in college, she probably would have nothing else to fall back on.

It was her mother who introduced her to her love of fashion. Kate grew up in a home with an artistic background, Maggie's grandmother being a freelance artist while her grandfather spent his days traveling the country and photographing for Life Magazine. Kate herself began her studies in college on a Fine Arts path, but eventually switched to Art Therapy. In her free time, she would draw intricate outfits on models, and once Maggie found those drawings, she was directing her mother to draw on those models what colors looked best together, what was in season and out of season, and how to pair butterfly clips with any outfit.

It also helped that her little sister, Anna, who so desperately sought Maggie's attention and approval, was always around as a sort of doll that Maggie could dress up at any time. She would even dress Anna when her parents weren't paying attention in the morning, the two girls running to Anna's room after breakfast and picking out the cutest outfit.

Maggie has always seen her parents as a goal she would one day like to reach. She dreamt of being as in love with someone as her parents were with each other. She hoped that someone would look at her the way her dad looked at her mom.

*

9:47 a.m.

When Jim had told her that she was going to meet her client, Maggie's heart stopped. She in no way felt prepared to begin this task on her own, so she thought that asking for help from someone with more experience would make her feel more comfortable. She turned to one of her deskmates, Dante, and explained that she was in need of some guidance.

"Have you tried Cheryl?" he asked her, slightly sarcastic, knowing full well how tumultuous their professional relationship was.

"Dante, you know I only wanted to come to you. You're the best in the biz," she said to him in a soothing way. Despite their amicable relationship, he was very catty with her at times, and she often would snap at him. Dante had a very large ego, and she knew that flattery would get her very far with him. "Please help me, guru."

Dante wiggled his shoulder in a pleased way, a soft smile on his lips. "Guru. I like the sound of that."

"I'm begging you," she exaggeratedly flung her body across her desk towards him. "Jim just sprung this on me last minute. I've never had a solo client. You've had, like, twenty."