Peggy Carter eyed the stack of contracts sitting in her inbox with disdain. It didn't matter how often she reviewed or signed them consigning them to a new department – more always piled up on her desk. It was a vicious cycle. It was bureaucracy in action. It was, sadly, her life.
Up until recently, she hadn't minded it so much. In fact, usually, she thrived on it, but lately, it seemed like the endless work days bled into extended work evenings, and she would inevitably wake up the next day to a stack of papers next to her on the couch and an empty wine glass – or three – on the end table beside her. She struggled to remember when that had begun to happen.
Peggy's eyes fell on the framed picture of the carefree blond man sitting next to her phone and sighed. She knew, without a doubt, her evenings would be much different if Steve hadn't lost his life in that plane crash two years ago. They'd discussed moving to San Francisco together when Peggy had been offered the position of Research and Development Director for Stark Aerodynamics. Two months after a botched search-and-rescue mission had ended in Steve's death along with three other crew members, Peggy finally accepted the position, desperate to leave their shared home in Bristol and escape the memories that haunted her at every corner.
She shook her head to clear the sad memories. Steve was gone and no amount of dwelling on the past could change that, and it wasn't as if she were a total recluse. Peggy had made a point to join a few of the other executive directors at the company gym three mornings a week, and she dropped by social gatherings when invited, although she had the sneaking suspicion people were beginning to wonder about her.
Even Colleen, her personal assistant, had discretely started hinting that perhaps she should test the waters of the dating world, but Peggy wasn't sure she was ready for anything like that. After all, it had been almost five years since she and Steve had first met, and a solid seven years since her passionate – although somewhat tumultuous – relationship with Susan had ended. She was certain dating – whether with men or women – had to be quite different today than it was back then, and she was suddenly rather grateful that wasn't a headache with which she had to contend.
A reminder popped up on her Outlook calendar, drawing her from her musings, and she groaned. Another meeting. With Finance. She reached for her tablet, inadvertently knocking her mobile phone to the floor.
"Bloody hell!"
As she leaned over to retrieve it, she noticed a message notification in the upper right-hand corner of an app on her screen. She squinted, not recognizing the app. What the hell was Matchable Partners and, more importantly, when had it been downloaded to her mobile? She didn't recall purchasing anything in the app store lately.
Her calendar dinged again, and she straightened back up. If she didn't hurry, she was going to be late. She made a mental note to research the app more when she returned and then dashed out of her office and down the hallway. Matchable Partners, whatever it was, would just have to wait.