Page 84 of Smoke and Glitter

The reporter asks another question, then another. Nix answers both without reaching for anything we've rehearsed and without looking at me.

By the time he switches off the recorder, I've closed my notebook.

He thanks her, shakes her hand and finally leaves.

The door has barely shut before Nix reaches for the water she ignored through the entire interview. "That's the answer I'm giving from now on."

I close my notebook and slide the approved language to the bottom of the stack. "Then I'll build around that one."

Nix twists the cap off the bottle and drinks for the first time all afternoon. I check the time. "Your next interview starts in fifteen minutes."

"Twenty."

"Fifteen."

"I finally said what I meant in there. That has to be worth five more minutes."

I smile despite myself. "Seventeen."

"Done."

She reaches for the water again, and I pick up my phone to tell the next reporter we're running late.

Anna calls after the interview goes online. By then I'm back at the hotel, sitting at the narrow desk while rain ticks against the window.

My damp coat hangs over the chair nearest the radiator, and the kettle clicked off ten minutes ago. The tea bag is still dry beside the mug when Anna's name takes over my screen.

I answer and put her on speaker. "Please tell me nobody has spontaneously combusted."

"The interview is doing exactly what we wanted. The sponsor is happy, the label has stopped sending me messages with the word concern in them, and Nix sounded like a human being instead of somebody being held hostage by her own statement."

My smile comes before I can stop it. Anna continues before I can say anything. "You did excellent work today, Autumn."

"That's a suspicious amount of praise from you."

"Enjoy it. I'm not repeating myself."

I close the schedule I had already started looking at for tomorrow. "Noted."

"And before you rearrange the entire morning because Nix yawned once at four-thirty, take the win for five minutes."

"She yawned twice."

"Of course she did."

"I moved one interview."

"Autumn."

"One."

Anna laughs. "Five minutes. You can survive it."

"I'll consider your proposal."

"Goodnight."

"Night."