Ian accepted the phone. “Graham must have loved that.”
“He told Rafi to get in line.” When Ian did not lift the phone, she added, “You said you wanted to help. So help.”
It was Rafi who answered. The man sounded almost cheerful. “How’s our incredible hunk doing this morning?”
“Soon as he shows up, I’ll ask.”
A pause. Then, “Excuse me while I go drown myself in the tar pits.”
“Is that Graham I hear shouting?”
“He’s busy roasting Miami officialdom. Which is why I have the opportunity to embarrass myself totally.”
“Can you ask him to give me a minute? Now?”
There was a pause, a final blast in the distance, and then Graham huffed, “I truly loathe losing my temper.”
“Let me tell you what I think happened,” Ian said. “They assigned Kari’s schedule to some high-class outside PR group they use for the entire art thing.”
“Art fair, not thing.”
“Whatever. Soon as the PR team heard Kari was using this as her coming-out party, they freaked. It was their chance to parade on the global PR stage.”
Graham was silent. Then, “Have you been speaking with those awful people in charge?”
“You know I haven’t.”
“Because you’re basically echoing everything they just told me.”
“The question,” Ian said, “comes down to whether you ever want anything to do with the Miami show ever again.”
“Wait, wait, let me put you on speaker. All right. Rafi is listening. Is Kari there?”
“Right here beside me.” Ian started to hit speaker on her phone as well, then decided it might work best if Kari remained slightly apart.
At Graham’s request, Ian repeated his impressions for Rafi. Then he said, “There should be some room for compromise. Right now they have her running flat out for two days.”
“I insisted they go back to the original agreement,” Graham replied. “Kari arrives at the gala after your concert. She gives one interview on-site. Nothing more.”
“Hold that thought. What if we could work with what they clearly want to see happen? Offer a concept that satisfies the PR group? Only shape it into something Kari might actually enjoy?”
“Not possible,” Kari said. “Not in a million billion years.”
“What did she just say?”
“She has reservations.”
“Ha,” Kari said. “Joking at a time like this. Double ha.”
Graham asked, “What did you have in mind?”
“Anything that happens at the gala is going to be rushed and noisy.” Ian pondered. Then, “Kari’s had her share of bad experiences with the art critics.”
“They’ve been awful,” Kari said.
“But what if the Miami interviews aren’t done by critics at all?” Ian talked as much to her as to Graham. “Her world, her fans, these are people who defy the critics. Fine. So restrict the interviews to journalists who are truly fans of her work. People who have written and talked about her before. Who can show they are on her side.”
Kari was watching him now. Fully there.
