“Despite what you may think, I don’t want them to die.”
“I never thought you did,” Jose told her with a smile. “Or you would have taken them to the shelter and been done with it.”
“I called the police this morning. They sent someone over to take my statement, although I didn’t get the feeling anything would come of it.”
“Probably nothing will,” Josie agreed. “But it’s good that you got it on record. I meant to suggest it last night.” She stood, lifting the box, and set it on the corner of Eve’s desk. Now, she was standing close enough that Eve’s shoe bumped her jeans as she swiveled in her chair. Close enough to see the redness in her eyes and the shadows beneath them. “Did you get any sleep last night?”
“Not much,” Eve admitted.
“Well, I’ll get them out of your hair for a few hours, anyway.”
“Thank God.”
Josie laughed, nudging Eve’s shoulder as she picked up the box of kittens. “Oh, please. Don’t even pretend you aren’t going to miss us.”
5
Eve’s knee bounced restlessly beneath her desk. She blinked past the grittiness in her eyes, focusing on the application on the screen in front of her, a single mom selling handcrafted jewelry in an online marketplace. She seemed nice enough and had real talent with her jewelry, but unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot Eve could do for her, at least not within the context of the show. A big part of the draw forDo Over’s audience was the makeover at the end, when she debuted the client’s new space and held a splashy reopening event. Having a storefront was essential.
She clicked on the next application, and a familiar face filled her screen. Josie had told her she’d applied to the show, but somehow, Eve hadn’t quite believed it until this moment. Why didn’t she remember receiving this application? Probably she’d taken one look at Josie’s business and moved on. Bars were an automatic “no” every single time.
It’s not you, Josie. It’s me.
Curious, Eve moved her cursor to the right and clicked on the video Josie had recorded to accompany her application. She sat on the couch in her living room, talking earnestly to the camera as she described how she’d inherited the bar from her father, how it had belonged to his parents before him, and how she was currently on the verge of losing it.
Tears glistened in Josie’s eyes as photos appeared beside her on the screen, a slideshow of family pictures showing a middle-aged man with Josie’s same infectious smile pouring drinks behind the bar, a little girl with blonde pigtails reading a book on the floor behind it. The next photo showed young Josie gazing adoringly up at her father.
“I grew up here,” present-day Josie told her. “This is what the bar used to look like on a Saturday night.” Footage showed a packed bar buzzing with the sounds of laughter and conversation. Josie and her father were side by side behind the bar, tirelessly mixing drinks. “And this is what it looks like on a Saturday night now.”
She cut to a video showing about a third of the former crowd, empty stools everywhere. “Please help me save my bar. I run a popular YouTube channel and am very comfortable in front of a camera. I’m also a loyal viewer of your show, and I think Swanson’s would be a perfect fit for your audience. Thank you for your consideration.”
Eve closed the video and rested her forehead against her palms. Yes, Swanson’s would be a perfect fit forDo Over. The camera loved Josie, and Eve’s viewers would too. But the thought of walking back into that bar—of spending every day for the next two weeks there—it was too painful. She’d set certain boundaries for herself years ago, and she had to respect them.
She’d find someone else, someone even better, an overlooked ratings gem lurking somewhere in this pile of discarded season two applications. She’d record a replacement episode so solid, the network would have no choice but to give her a third season.
Do Overhad never been part of her career plan, but it had become invaluable to her. Even though some of it was staged and all of it was curated to maximize emotional appeal for the audience, she’d gotten the chance to be a part of something bigger than she’d ever expected. It was exciting. Energizing. It had given her back a part of herself she’d been missing. And she’d tripled her income from Marlow Marketing, which was no small feat.
In short, she wanted a third season. And a fourth. As many as she could get.
She squinted at the next application. Carla from Cupcake Creations was outgoing and funny in the attached video, but her business was already doing reasonably well. There wasn’t enough drama here for aDo Oversegment.
Eve pinched at the dull ache between her eyes. “Dammit.”
Someone tapped on her door, and she looked up to see Josie standing there, box of kittens balanced against her hip. She wore ripped skinny jeans with a purple T-shirt that had a picture of a kitten surfing a rainbow on the front. Her hair was loose over her shoulders, gleaming almost fluorescent under the harsh overhead lighting in Eve’s office.
Absolutely nothing about Josie’s attire should appeal to her, so she had no idea why she had the sudden urge to push Josie against the wall and kiss her. Obviously, it had been too long since she’d had sex, and her hormones were running away with her.
“Clean bill of health,” Josie announced, returning the kittens to their spot behind Eve’s desk. “And I just fed them too, so they should be ready to sleep for a while.”
“Thank you.” She leaned back in her chair, glancing down at the sleeping kittens. “Not to sound like a broken record, but have you found anyone to take them yet?”
“You’ll be the first to know as soon as I do. Really.”
“Fine.” She tried to keep the irritation out of her voice but was fairly sure she didn’t succeed. She was just sotired. And she had so much to do. The thought of another night spent bottle-feeding kittens made her want to scream.
“If you don’t mind my asking, what does someone like you do in an office all day?” Josie asked, glancing around with interest.
“I work.” She lifted her eyebrows for emphasis, and at Josie’sno shitlook, she sighed. “I own a marketing company, Marlow Marketing. It’s a consulting business. I help my clients streamline their brand and overall presence in the marketplace. It’s what I did beforeDo Over, and what I still do when we’re not filming.”
