She looked at the photographs until she was no longer looking at them technically — not as industry product, not as evidence of work — but simply as: this is what I look like, now, in this life. This is the person I am becoming.
She wrote to Soo-Yeon: *These are extraordinary. Thank you.*
Soo-Yeon wrote back, three hours later: *I know. Send me your September availability.*
Lina wrote back immediately: *All of it.*
✦ ✦ ✦
The magazine came out four weeks later.
She was sixteen weeks. Still not visibly pregnant in clothing. The quilt from her grandmother was on the bed. Wednesday the cat had taken to sitting outside her door in the mornings, apparently having decided that Lina's schedule was worth monitoring.
Carla sent a copy by courier before it hit newsstands.
The note with it said: *Don't let it go to your head. Also, Philip called. He wants you back for issue twelve. Call me.* — C
Lina held the magazine for a moment.
