She smiled, tossed the dress on the chair, and for the first time in years, broke her own rule.

“Is it?” he wrote back. “Because I think your job is to make clothes look good. What you actually do is make people feel seen.”

Instead, she sent: “What’s your favorite thing I’ve worn this week?”

“I have a rule. No coworkers.”

The shoot was on a Friday. The studio was a hothouse of reflectors and tension. The model, a glorious amazon with a constellation of freckles, was draped in a sapphire balconette set. Victoria was directing the light, her hands tracing the air like a conductor.

“Cut,” Victoria called after a perfect take. She turned to Leo. “The third line of the voiceover. ‘Shape and softness.’ Swap ‘softness’ for ‘surrender.’ It’s more active.”