Policy Clause

Just as Mason works up the courage to ask Brenna on a real date, the company announces a strict no-dating policy between employees with any reporting relationship, and Mason is promoted to be Brenna's supervisor. In a tense stairwell conversation, they finally confess their mutual feelings but agree they must maintain professional distance to protect their careers. What follows are six agonizing months of formal interactions and suppressed emotions, with their easy friendship replaced by careful boundaries. Everything changes when both receive job offers in Chicago, Brenna from Hartford Mutual and Mason from Peterson Insurance. Realizing they'll soon be free from Meridian's restrictions, they begin making plans for a fresh start. Mason reveals he chose Chicago knowing Brenna would be there, and their text exchanges hint at the relationship they've been denied.