by Laudat, Reon
Kendra had placed her cell on the coffee table face up and uncovered. It vibrated, drawing attention to Dominic’s face flashing across its screen.
“Look who we conjured up, girls,” Alyssa warbled. “Tell him I said hello, and then ask him what that hunky Brody Goodwin is up to.”
Kendra snatched up her phone and hit the “I’m in a meeting” text reply option and then turned off her cell. “I’ll call him back later.”
“Call it what you want, but it sure sounds as if you two are officially dating. I’m so happy for you, Kendra.” Alyssa then turned to Selena. “Isn’t it great?”
“If Kendra’s happy, I’m happy for her.” Selena’s voice didn’t match her words.
“I know you want to say more,” Kendra told Selena. “Go on. Have at it.”
“No, your personal life, your business,” Selena replied.
“Since when?” Kendra said. “You obviously don’t approve.”
“It’s none of my business.” Selena had knitted to the end of the row. “Damn. I think I dropped a stitch.” She counted the loops on the needle while Kendra waited. “No, I’m good. All stitches present and accounted for.” She flipped her garment and started a new row.
“C’mon, out with it, Selena,” Kendra said. “Might as well get it over with. What’s with the attitude?”
“As if you need to ask,” Selena replied as if she’d explode if she didn’t get it out. “The last time we spoke about Dominic you agreed that he was shady. Now you’re seeing the guy, and you’ve gone all moony and Mary Sue on me.”
“Hearts, unicorns, and rainbows,” Alyssa added approvingly.
Rainbows, sunsets, sunrises, Kendra amended, thinking of Dominic’s words while they’d admired that breathtaking Haleakala sunrise. Things were still good between them, but despite what Dominic believed, their reality in New York would not have the same radiance of a romance novel. How could it? “I am nobody’s moony Mary Sue.” Kendra, so far from cloying Goody-Two-Shoes perfection, found the comparison laughable. “Just because I’ve taken the time to reevaluate gossip and base my opinion on personal experience and fact—”
“Well, forgive me if I need a moment to adjust to your sudden change of heart about the man,” Selena volleyed.
“Are you that angry with me?” Kendra asked.
“Angry?” Alyssa said. “Dominic is a catch. And now that I think about it, he’s exactly Kendra’s type. I can already see the ‘his-and-her’ coffee mugs with I Love You and I Love You More on them.”
“We’re not bookends,” Kendra said.
“But you two make such a super cute couple!” Alyssa insisted.
Kendra shuddered at the label she equated with failure. “And we’re not prom king and queen, either.”
But Alyssa was on a roll. “Maybe you two will even get a merged moniker like Kimye, Bennifer, or Brangelina. Insiders in the business will refer to you two as DomKENic. Yes! You can merge agencies.”
“I repeat, DoMINic and I are just friends,” Kendra asserted more harshly than intended. “And no matter what happens with us, I will always want my own business, my own thing. I worked too darn long and hard to build what I have to let it get swallowed up by someone else’s dream. I started Porter Literary Agency for a reason. And don’t forget it.”
“I hear ya, boss girl!” Alyssa laughed heartily.
Selena trained her glare on Alyssa. “She just let you have it. Why are you still kee-keeing over there?”
“Because I’m just thrilled for her. Obviously, you’re not. I get it, Selena. You’re still smarting over that manuscript you mentioned,” Alyssa said. “The one by the college professor from Minnesota.”
“Michigan. Ann Arbor, Michigan and the book is Desperate Passages.” Selena filled in the blanks for Kendra.
“Yeah, that’s it.” Alyssa removed her own knitting project from her tote.
“What about it?” Kendra asked. “You briefly mentioned something about that negotiation, but you didn’t follow up to tell me how it turned out.”
“Selena thinks your guy shafted her good,” Alyssa said.
Kendra’s head snapped toward Selena. “What?”
“There is a preponderance of evidence,” Selena told Kendra.
“Purely circumstantial if you ask me,” Alyssa added.
“But I don’t have the bandwidth to rehash it right now.” Selena sighed and started a new row.
“Mind if I do it?” Alyssa said.
Selena gave their friend the go-ahead.
“Well,” Alyssa smacked her lips, savoring the opportunity, “Dominic sent the manuscript to Selena for a first read—”
“Or so he said,” Selena cut in. “First read, yeah, right.”
“I thought I was telling the story,” Alyssa said. “Anyway, the next day, Selena told him she wanted it for her list. Let me rephrase that, she was desperate to have Desperate Passages for her list and tipped her hand by letting on how desperate she was from the get-go.”
“So?” Kendra prodded.
“It spoke to me,” Selena added in a hushed, reverent tone. “The story is dark, haunting and lovely. A career-maker for a debut author. She has an innate knack for plot and carefully layered characterization.”
“Dark? That means Selena could just smell the big O’s blessing and book club endorsement,” Alyssa said. “Not to mention the interviews on NPR.”
“And you didn’t come high enough so he sent it to someone else, and they came with the cash and deal points,” Kendra concluded. “But that happens all the time.”
“Yes. Just business.” Alyssa said, looking at Selena. “I don’t get why you became enraged this time, frothing at the mouth, head spinning around and all. You’ve lost books you were eager to acquire before, and you took it in stride. You’ve even lost manuscripts Kendra shopped.”
“Because I knew Kendra played fair,” Selena replied. “I have no problems losing. It’s how I lost it. It was humiliating. After the sale, it got back to me that Dominic was just using my desire to acquire the book to set up another ‘sweet offer.’ ”
Alyssa interrupted. “But I thought that was the whole point of holding an open auction.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be an open auction at that point, don’t you get it!” Selena said. “He gave me a first read and an opportunity to make an offer so it wouldn’t go wide.”
“He said first and only early read before shopping it to others?” Kendra tried to clarify.
“Let me finish! I told him what I was setting up, and he let me. I went running to MaryBeth. And you know how she gets after that process begins.”
MaryBeth Haskell, a Winn-Aster associate publisher and Kendra’s former boss, didn’t take kindly to having her time wasted after dropping everything else to squeeze in an impromptu read and then enthusiastically agreeing to acquire a manuscript.
“So, anyway, there I was, running my ass off, back and forth urging MaryBeth to read it quickly. And then I’m going back and forth to get at least two additional positive quick reads in editorial, and I’m running back and forth to the Bobblehead Triplets to make sure they read it before the meeting.”
“Bart in sales, L.J. in publicity, and Penny in marketing,” Kendra said. “Okay, so?”
“I get the go-ahead on the advance and the terms and generate in-house excitement. Dominic had me doing that to up the ante.”
“So you made a deal, then?” Kendra asked.
“Um, er, well, yes.” Selena averted her gaze.
“So he said that point blank?” Kendra asked. “Then he changed his mind?”
“The point is I was obviously just the tool to get the desired offer from an editor at another house. The editor he really wanted to acquire the manuscript all along.” Selena’s eyeballs bulged. “He used me! And everyone at Winn-Aster knows I was duped. Everyone believes he never had any intention of letting me acquire that manuscript. Jerk!”
“Okay, so let’s say he did use what you presented to him
. Did he give you a chance to top that other offer before he accepted it?”
Selena did not answer the question.
“I don’t know, Selena,” Kendra said. “Intentionally misleading you and torching a bridge like that is shortsighted when our business is all about relationships. Are you sure it wasn’t miscommunication between the two of you?”
“I’m no fool, Kendra!” Selena snapped. “I know what he led, or rather misled, me to believe. Chicanery with semantics and pattering. He missed his calling in politics.”
“Or pre-owned car sales?” Alyssa added with a laugh.
Selena scowled at Alyssa.
“Just trying to keep things light,” Alyssa replied.
“When I think back, he worded things in a certain way,” Selena said, narrowing her eyes again. “He wanted me to believe that he was only dealing with me for at least forty-eight hours without actually saying it.”
“But, Selena, if he didn’t actually say—”
“I tell you, I brought it with a fantastic marketing plan. I’m talking all the right bells and whistles for a super launch,” Selena cut her off. “And I brought the coins! You know as well as I do how small our circles are. Reliable sources told me and then the author blogged in great detail about landing the sweet deal with her dream editor and dream publishing house and how crafty her hot shot agent had been making it all happen, setting up the major money deal. And she went on and on about how she could not imagine her manuscript landing in the hands of just any old editor and at just any old house. Apparently, she’d made it clear to Dominic from the beginning that this particular editor and publishing house topped her wish list.”
“I don’t know, Selena, the evidence still sounds circumstantial if you ask me,” Alyssa said. “That’s her version of what happened. I doubt he told her exactly how he’d orchestrated the deal.” She turned to Kendra. “Do you?”
“Do I what? Discuss with a client how I’d like to shop a manuscript? Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way. We’re a team, but I work for them so I believe the client should know what’s going on every step of the way. I tell them which editors I’d like to pitch. They give me suggestions. We discuss those. When the rejections roll in I send all copies to clients, too. But I have a few people who only want to hear offers to buy, so no copies of rejections for them. It’s their choice. I share all offers regarding money. There are a few who like to micromanage, but most just let me do my job.”
“So you think the deal went down exactly the way this author blogged about it?” Alyssa asked.
“No, I’m not saying that. You asked how I operate,” Kendra said.
“What if these sources are getting you riled up for entertainment, Selena? Their motivation is questionable,” Alyssa said.
Selena asked Kendra, “Then why isn’t he telling the author to remove that incriminating blog post?”
“Ah, that gushing blog post,” Alyssa answered instead. “So he’s not discouraging her from doing the starry-eyed newbie thing. It’s a rite of passage. Believe me, I know all about it. Many writers are madly in love with their first agent, first editor, and first publishing house. So of course the agent, editor, or house that ultimately claims her baby is the agent, editor, or house of her dreams. Because she has an agent with an all-star roster, she gets to name-check, boast about it to family, friends, other clueless newbie agent-less authors, and everyone else who reads her blog and social media accounts. She gets to crow about all the wheeling and dealing he supposedly did for little ol’ her. You know all this, Selena. If she landed Stephen King’s or J.K. Rowling’s agent, she must be just as good as Stephen King or J.K. Rowling, right?”
“But he doesn’t rep King or Rowling,” Selena pointed out.
“I know that! Stay with me here. He reps name authors who are equally successful,” Alyssa continued. “So, as I was saying, she probably also believes these name roster-mates will most definitely read and blurb her book, become Post-a-Pic buddies, and hang out with her at the bar when they attend the same writers’ conferences, bless her heart. All myth of course.” Alyssa reached for a celery stick to chomp. “Dominic’s not spoiling her moment. No harm in that. There’s usually some buzzy anticipation about the possibilities, the publishing world is your oyster… at first.”
“At first?” Kendra prodded.
“Yeah, until something happens to flip the script, but I won’t go there,” Alyssa said. “I have been well served and supported. I have been handsomely compensated for my efforts. Sooooooo I still love you, Kendra-kins, for giving me my first big break. Selena, for accepting the baton and providing bang-up editorial advice and being a great in-house advocate after Kendra left Winn-Aster. Winn-Aster of course, and last but not least, my kick-ass agent. I have no complaints here so I’m not about to bite the hand that feeds me.” She winked. “The orchestra is playing. End of Oscar speech.”
Kendra then turned to Selena. “Did you call Dominic on what you suspected?”
“Yes, but he denied it of course,” Selena sniffed. “Said the plan had been to seriously entertain all great offers. He tried to make nice, but only came off smarmy.”
“You’d already made up your mind that he was suspect,” Alyssa said.
“I can’t put it past him to pull something like that,” Selena said. “I have this feeling in my gut. I’ve seen him in action at conferences, yukking it up and glad-handing everyone in sight. We’re talking real shifty eyes on that one. It’s just a matter of time before he gives you a reason why you shouldn’t trust him, either, Kendra.”
Was Kendra a traitor for not wholeheartedly buying Selena’s version of what had transpired? But it sounded as if Selena had left something out. Based on what Kendra knew about both of them, parts of the story didn’t add up.
“I’m sorry about Desperate Passages.” Kendra understood why Selena would leap to such a negative conclusion about Dominic. She’d had her own suspicions, as recent as that night he’d moved about her hotel room while she’d slept. She, too, had been guilty of grasping at similar rationalizations to salve the sting of defeat. It was one thing to secretly question Dominic’s ethics, but to do so with her friends now made her feel two-faced. She’d decided he deserved the benefit of the doubt.
Gossip, one questionable blog post, and Selena’s perception of “shifty eyes” had fueled Selena’s paranoia.
“I have a better read on Dominic these days,” Kendra said as tactfully as possible. “I think you two got your wires crossed somehow. No editor or agent likes losing a manuscript that excites him or her. You know I’ve lost the beauty contest more times than I care to mention.”
“So you think I’m lying or imagining things, then?” Selena asked.
Selena’s glare could burn retinas so Kendra focused on her friend’s left earlobe. “No. Again, I think there was some miscommunication.”
“And you’ve become nauseatingly philosophical about it all of a sudden,” Selena said. “You sure you didn’t get laid in Maui? We all know how you get when that happens. Coo-coo for cocoa puffs.”
Kendra flinched at the hostility in Selena’s words, but decided not to retaliate. Friends sometimes blurted hurtful things when under pressure. “Again, Selena, I’m truly sorry. You’re not going to let my friendship with Dominic come between you and me, are you?”
Selena met Kendra’s question with seething silence as she took painstaking care to unknit a single twisted stitch.
Chapter 25
Minutes later, after unknitting several funky stitches and knitting replacements, Selena ended their stand-off with a weary sigh. “I’m sorry, Kendra. That last comment was hitting below the belt. You see, I wanted Desperate Passages. I was counting on it. Things haven’t been going well for me lately. I’m scared. If Winn-Aster does another round of cuts…”
“You could lose your job,” Kendra said. She knew all about the constant fear of getting downsized. It was one of the reasons she’d opened her own agency. More control.
<
br /> “I don’t even want to think about it,” Selena said, looking at the black gadget wrapped around her left wrist. She closed her eyes and slowly drew in deep breaths. Alyssa and Kendra stared at her in bewilderment and then Kendra recalled Selena had mentioned enrolling in a Transcendental Meditation class.
“Focus on the positive, the grand scheme,” Selena chanted as her rigid posture relaxed and her tone softened. Just like that. “It’s not as if I’m ready to drag a razor across my wrists or anything crazy like that because I didn’t get one book. And I wouldn’t give that jerk the satisfaction of coming between us.” Again she glanced at one of two gadgets on her wrist.
For the first time, Kendra was grateful for that ghoulish tracker Selena had started wearing four months ago, along with her calorie-heart-rate-and-distance monitor. While the FitStrip helped its wearer with exercise goals, the new one consistently calculated the moments, minutes, hours, and days its wearer supposedly had left to live. Selena believed it helped her focus on obtaining mental-fitness goals, reduced her tendency toward trivial squabbles, and aided in her quest to “live in the moment.” Selena intoned a few more positive affirmations that sounded like cruise ship slogans and then turned her attention back to Kendra.
“Thank goodness,” Kendra said. “Do you mind if I mention this discussion to him? Maybe he can provide more insight.”
“Go on, if you want, but he already knows how I feel.”
“The three of us can do lunch,” Kendra added.