"You're lucky. She's a special girl."
"Yes, sir, she is."
He laughed at that; it was a rich, contagious sound that made her smile, too. "Please, don't call me sir. It makes me think some old guy is behind me." He leaned forward. "So, Kate, what do you think?"
"About what?"
"The job."
"What job?"
He glanced at the door, said, "Hmmm, that's interesting," then looked at her again. "We have an opening for an office person. Carol used to do all of the phones and filing, but she's going to have a baby, so the cheap-ass station manager has finally kicked in for a little help."
"But Tully—"
"She wants to stay an intern. Says that thanks to her grandmother she doesn't need the money. Between you and me, she's not great at answering the phones anyway."
This was all coming at Kate too fast. Only an hour ago, she'd finally admitted that she didn't want to go into broadcasting, and now here she was being offered a job every kid in her department at UW would kill for.
"What's the pay?" she asked, stalling.
"Minimum wage, of course."
She did the math in her head. With tips, she made close to double that much at Starbucks.
"Come on," he said, smiling. "How can you turn me down? You can be a receptionist in an ugly office for next to no money. Isn't it every college grad's dream?"
She couldn't help laughing. "When you put it that way, how could I refuse?"
"It's a start in the glamorous world of TV news, right?"
His smile was like some kind of superpower that scrambled her thoughts. "Is it? Glamorous, I mean?"
He looked surprised by the question, and for the first time he really looked at her. His fake smile faded, and the look in his blue eyes turned hard, cynical. "Not in this office."
He got to her. She didn't know why, but it was powerful, this attraction she felt. Nothing like how she'd responded to college boys. It was another reason not to take the job.
Behind her, the door opened. Tully came through, practically bouncing. "Well, did you say yes?"
It was crazy to take a job because you were hot for the boss.
Then again, she was twenty-one years old and he was offering her a start in television.
She didn't look at Tully. If she did, Kate knew she'd feel as if she were selling out, following again, and for all the wrong reasons.
But how could she say no? Maybe in a real job she'd find that passion and brilliance she needed. The more she thought about it, the more possible it seemed. School wasn't the real world. Perhaps that was why the news business hadn't seized hold of her. Here, the stories would matter.
"Sure," she said at last. "I'll try it, Mr. Ryan."
"Call me Johnny." The smile he gave her was so unsettling she actually had to look away. She was sure somehow that he could see inside her or hear how fast he made her heart beat. "Okay, Johnny."
"Allright," Tully said, clapping her hands together.
Kate couldn't help noticing how her friend instantly seized Johnny's full attention. He was sitting at his desk now, staring at Tully.
That was when Kate knew she'd made a mistake.
Kate stared at herself in the small oval mirror above the dresser. Her long, straight, highlighted hair was drawn back from her face and held in place by a black velvet headband. Pale blue eye shadow and two coats of green mascara accentuated the color of her eyes, and pink lip gloss and blush gave her skin some color.
