The Accidental Honeymoon by Alice Toby

husband would not be appropriate around the office. Her mega sized Espresso and a view of the Northern California pines are her only source of comfort for the time being.
    It takes Karin a good half an hour to get to the bottom of her 16-ounce drink. She makes her way back up to the fourth level where she sees her future husband walking with a group of people. Karin smiles at Ryan who appears too preoccupied talking to his executives. A slight sadness comes across her face. He is busy. He probably did not even see me. I have to stop being so emotional. I need to just relax . The young intern can feel the sugar crash coming on strong. She goes back to the conference room and slides into her chair. About twenty minutes later, one of the senior execs commandeers her to take notes on a conference call.
    Karin spends the afternoon in a windowless conference room listening to the most mundane conversations about distribution costs and efficiency. She dares not look at her watch. She doesn’t want to appear as though she is not paying attention. When the meeting is finally over, she is shocked to find that it is nearly 9 p.m.
    The young woman is in a daze. Her sugar crash and emotional rollercoster of a day has burned her out. She is too dizzy to even remember she sits. Instead, Karin plops herself down on one of the comfy lounge chairs in one of the open areas of the fourth level. She looks at the red leather of the chair and playfully pokes at it. Oh stop being such a sourpuss. You are getting married to Ryan. I like him. He likes me. Just roll with it. Relax. Karin stares at the bone white wall in front of her. She listens to the ambient sounds of the office. Off in the distance, she can hear her future husband’s voice. Karin begins to smile.
    “The resolution on this is better than I expected. It’s really lifelike. This is incredible,” Ryan brags.
    Karin turns around and sees Ryan standing about five feet away from her. But something is strange. Ryan is transparent. Karin leans over the back of the chair and stares at this ghostly image of her fiance. “Ryan?” Karin calls out softly. She slowly stands up from the chair and gazes at Ryan. She looks through him. Red-eyed and exhausted, Karin is wondering if her brain is playing tricks on her. She walks up to Ryan. “Ryan?” Karin asks again.
    “Ha! That’s great!” Ryan proclaims. Karin turns her head and sees another image of Ryan. He is holding what appears to be a camera phone. Then Karin looks back at the transparent image of her fiance being projected from the camera phone. “Lifelike isn’t it?!” Ryan tells Karin. The young intern looks at the 3-D image of her soon-to-be husband.
    “This is our prototype of our holographic video camera. You shoot anything through this camera. And you can play it back as a hologram. The 19th century brought photography to the world. The 20th century gave everyone a video camera. The 21st century will belong to holographic imaging. We’re going to put this technology into the hands of the average person.”
    Karin looks at the projected image of Ryan. She is astounded. Not of the technology but of Ryan. She sees a man who can simply will anything out of him. “Can I hold it?” Karin asks.
    “Sure.”
    Karin grabs the camera and begins to project Ryan’s holographic image in different areas of the office. “I feel like I am controlling you,” she jokes.
    “Yeah. The man of your dreams. You can put him anywhere and make him disappear at will.”
    “And I can put him in my pocket,” Karin jests.
    “Alright. It looks like you’re having a little too much fun with that.”
    Karin hands the holographic camera back to Ryan. “How long did it take to make that?”
    “Fourteen months, 16 days and three nervous breakdowns in the R&D department. They finished it two weeks early for me,” Ryan remarks. “Well, it looks like it’s almost 11 p.m. I want to let everyone to go home and rest.”
    “At least I won’t hit a