“With Toni’s new book coming in, you know I’ll be busy there and—”
“Toni’s not going to be done for a couple months. Kaelee’s new book can be in your inbox by Friday.” Emily nodded like she had solved a potential problem. “She’s driven.”
“I can see that. Two books already?” Greta aimed to keep her voice completely level. “I just don’t know that we are the best fit. She seems not to like me, which is fine, so if she wants to shift, I will understand. That’s all. Sometimes people just don’t connect. Maybe she’d be happier with Ian. Just ask her. I want to publish her, but Ian has an easy way about him that I lack.”
“Did she say something?” Emily pressed.
“Nothing like that. She’s fabulous. She’s done nothing amiss. I just want her to be happy. Ask her for me. That’s all.” Greta resisted a dozen other things she could have and likely should have said to Emily about Kaelee. The words were there on the tip of her tongue, but she wasn’t sure she could violate Kaelee’s privacy that way. Instead, Greta asked, “Do you feel like she’ll do okay with the marketing plan? She seemed pretty resistant to any touring or events. I don’t want to start waving around contract clauses.…”
“I’ll talk to her. She knows there’s a tour clause.” Emily shot a smile at Kaelee, who was now watching them intently. “Like Toni, but… more so.”
Greta sighed. “I figured that out. ForToni, I can bend on that point, you know, for book two. Whatever terms we set for Toni’s next contract are not precedent forallyour clients, though, and that includes a tour clause. Toni has the power to negotiate there, but Kaelee will likely need to tolerate a four- to six-city tour at minimum.”
“I can manage both of them.” Emily looked around the room. “It’s easier when we all want the same thing: the books to sell.”
I suspect I want a few other things, too,Greta thought, but that certainly wasn’t a conversation she intended to have—at least not until she talked to Kaelee.What if Toni knows, too?Greta wasn’t a prude. She wouldn’t have acquired Kaelee’s extra spicy book if so, but she wasn’t the sort of person who made her intimate life public.Discretion was a habit she’d adopted because Tasha was an attorney, but Gretalikedher privacy now.
“You’ll tell me when you get biopsy results?” Greta asked quietly. “I don’t want to pry, but if you need a friend… you can reach out.”
“It’s probably nothing. I had been thinking about doing the gene testing already, but…” Emily shrugged. “I’ll tell you, though, when I know, and you’re right. I’ll talk to Toni. I’m sure it’s fine, but it’s hard not to worry—and I didn’t want her to bundle me off to her guest room either.”
“I get it. Every woman deals with the worry at some point,” Greta murmured. “If it’s not a pap, it’s a biopsy. I think we’ll all have some reproductive drama… even those of us who aren’t at risk for things like pregnancy.”
I said it. If I have to tell Emily, I’ve prepped the field.
Or Kaelee could just accept Ian as her editor.That was a nice, tidy solution. No admissions, but the book and its lovely author were protected.And Ian is ready.
“Ah. I wasn’t sure how out you were.” Emily eyed her. “You acquire lesbian-focused books, have a gay assistant, and have built an incredibly strong female team.…”
“I’m not actively dating, but I don’t hide my identity either.” Greta shrugged, wincing internally over the fact that she really wasn’t actively dating. She’d thought about it, wanted to try it again, and now that the end was here, she could admit to herself that the thought was entirely because of Kaelee.
“Same,” Emily said. “Although I’m more bi or pan, not strictly lesbian.” Emily glanced around the room, looking at the assembled group and undoubtedly realizing that they had averyqueer team for a very queer book.
Emily glanced at Greta. “After Toni’s and Kaelee’s deals, though, you and I are going to have a reputation for queer-only authors.”
“Good!” Greta laughed. “I’m glad we can have that reputation and a job these days. It wasn’t too long ago that books like theirs weren’t picked up by bigger houses. As a young reader, I didn’t seemyself in books very often.” Greta heaved a deep breath and added, “Anyhow… I’d like to know when you get the biopsy results. Toni ought to know, too.”
“Fine.” Emily pointed at her and smiled. “You and I are going to have a luncheon socially at some point, too. We spend far too much time on work things to not socialize.”
Greta tensed, feeling guilty, and said only, “The wedding is only a few months away. I assume you’re in the party. Best woman?”
“Toni agreed to a tuxedo dress.” Emily laughed. “I think she’s going to ask Kaelee, too, or maybe Addie claimed her. It’s a small wedding party. I haven’t asked Kaelee just in case they didn’t say anything to her, but I assume we’ll all be there.”
Greta’s mind filled with the possibility of dancing with Kaelee, of talking to her in a social setting as a friend or editor, and she couldn’t stop the smile that came over her. Maybe the upside of their affair ending was that Greta would get to know her as a casual friend.
Then Kaelee was headed their way, and Emily’s professional expression returned. Before Emily could say anything that involved whisking Kaelee away, Greta spoke. “I promised Kaelee the ten-cent tour of the office, and since I was going to work from home today until our meeting was scheduled, I could walk her to the subway or put her in a cab after that.”
“You’re not coming to the cocktails at the thriller conference?”
“Ian is.” Greta waved to him, beckoning him closer.
His cheerful smile was like medicine to her mood, and she knew he could tell that there were things under the surface today. Charlie likely could, too. Greta hoped they’d assume it was just because everyone was handling Kaelee with kid gloves.
“You summoned?” Ian teased.
“Emily is headed over to the Killer Cocktails event.” Greta waited for a moment since Ian’s megawatt smile made it clear that he understood what the next part of her statement might be. “There’s a pass for one of us to go, and that headache from earlier is threatening toflare up. So unless Ms. Carpenter would rather you do the tour, I was thinking you could take my place.”
“You’re lucky I plan ahead for your dastardly schedule shifts,” Ian mock grumbled. Then he turned to Emily. “Walk with me. I know I have an emergency jacket in the closet in our—inGreta’soffice.”
