“It’s nice to hear that I’m not the only one who thinks that,” I said quietly, just in case anyone else was listening to our conversation.
“You’re one of the many, darling,” she said with a grin. “But I guess you’re good at what you do. That’s why she keeps you around.”
“I like to think so, although I wouldn’t know it these days with how she’s been treating me.”
“Trust me. She values you. If not, she’d have fired you a long time ago.”
I smiled. “That’s good to know, I guess.”
“It is, but I know that what you’re dealing with isn’t easy. It might get to be too much one of these days.”
“I can handle it,” I assured her, almost reassuring myself at the same time.
She shrugged. “I’m sure you can, but you shouldn’t have to. If the day comes when you realize that, give me a call. I’m always looking for honest, hard-working people for my team, and I think you’d be a perfect fit.”
“Your team?” I questioned.
“My fabulous comeback career,” she said with a grin. “I’m going all out, but this time I’m doing it right. I’ll need someone to be in charge of promotions in the fall for a six city showcase I’m doing, and then next year I’m going on tour. I’m also working on some sponsorships for a few different products, and there’s the coordination of my album release and the media events that go along with it. It’s going to be a wild ride, but I have a feeling it’ll also be a hell of a lot of fun. I’d love to have you join me.”
“Wow. I’m not sure what to say.”
“Say yes,” she said with a grin.
“I’m actually tempted. Who’s doing PR for you?”
“I actually hired someone last week, although she’s still working out the terms of her contract with her current employer, so it’s not announced,” she said, cocking her head to the side and eyeing me knowingly, like I should be able to read her mind and know who she was talking about. “Let’s just say she’s suffered some of the same pains you have, and as your paths have crossed before, I know you would love working for her.”
“Did you hire Laurie Green?” I whispered as soon as I connected the clues she’d given me.
Sabrina winked at me. “Like I said, it’s not announced, so I can’t tell you who it is, but . . . I know the person I hired is starting her own PR firm and is interested in hiring good people. You came highly recommended.”
Holy crap. Hearing that Laurie was leaving Katherine and that she’d started her own firm was the last thing I’d expected to hear. I really had to fight the urge to tell Sabrina yes on the spot. Working for Laurie would be a dream come true.
I wondered if Sydney knew she was leaving. She’d be devastated to lose Laurie, and if I followed suit, I’m not sure Syd would be too happy with me either. But the offer was so tempting.
“Wow, that kind of sounds amazing,” I told Sabrina, unable to help myself.
“Well, it’s not going to be as glamorous and high-end as what you do for Westside, and you won’t get to travel with your ‘friend’ Van, but you also won’t be discriminated against for who you’re dating. And personally, I think you’d be really happy working for me. But no pressure to decide today. Think about it and let me know.”
“I will,” said, feeling a little stunned by what had just transpired.
She leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek. “I have to go warm up the old vocal chords. Have fun watching the rest of the bands. I’m jealous that I won’t get to see Riptide, but I need to make sure this comeback isn’t a complete flop.”
I smiled. “You’ll be amazing,” I assured her. “You’re new single is great, and the song you played in the studio the day I was there was beautiful. I think you’re going to be just fine.”
“Thank you,” she said sincerely. “I really hope you’ll take me up on my offer, Elisa.”
“I’ll think about it,” I told her.
“You do that,” Sabrina said as she turned to walk away.
I’d never been more tempted to run after someone in my life. My head was spinning as Van came off-stage, but I couldn’t tell him what Sabrina and I had been talking about. I wasn’t sure what he’d say, and frankly, I needed time to process it.
It was a lot to take in, and leaving my safe corporate job to go to a start-up PR firm would be so different, even with Laurie in charge. But a part of me was thrilled by the challenge, even though I knew it could be a huge risk. The more I thought about it, though, the better it sounded. I just needed some time to think about everything.
Leaving Sydney was a lot to consider, but on the other hand, I might burn out before fall even came around. That would almost be worse. And to see the look on Katherine’s face when I told her I wasn’t going to be working for her after the Westside tour would be so worth it. She might actually pass out. I figured she was under the assumption that I didn’t have any other options, so I needed to work my ass off for her to prove my worth. That actually might have been true until five minutes earlier. Suddenly having an offer laid out on a silver platter seemed like the weight off my shoulders I’d been looking for.
I honestly wasn’t sure Katherine would ever forgive me for lying to her, and I didn’t want to spend my whole life trying to suck up to her while equally fearing that she’d ruin my career. Life was too short for that, and Laurie had always been kind and supportive of me. It was sort of a no-brainer.
“You okay?” Van asked me.
I looked up at him and forced a smile on my face, because I didn’t want to worry him. “I’m actually great. Never better.”
He smiled. “That’s good. You looked a little unnerved.”
I shook my head. “No I’m actually feeling really calm.”
“Well, good. That’s what I like to hear.”
I knew it was my excitement that he could see shining through in my expression, and I couldn’t wait until later so I could tell him my news. Later was going to be awesome.
* * *
I was taking Van’s advice for the night and mentally telling Katherine to fuck off. The benefit had been a huge success, and we’d gotten more in donations than we’d ever hoped. I was celebrating with my team and my boyfriend, even if we were only making eyes across the room and we couldn’t actually touch. Being there with Van, in the same room, celebrating the same thing, made it feel like we were there together. And we always had later.
I had so much to tell him, though, that it felt like we’d never get to later. After the concert ended, Van had been showering, so I took a few minutes to call Laurie. I needed to hear from her that what Sabrina had told me was real.
Laurie had been excited to talk to me and let me know that had Sabrina not gotten to me first, she would have called and asked me herself. It seemed that everything Sabrina had said was spot-on, but the craziest news that Laurie had told me to keep under wraps, because it absolutely wasn’t public information, was that Sydney had fired Katherine. Laurie said that she’d broken the news to Syd that she was striking out on her own, and Syd had immediately asked what she had to do to keep Laurie as her publicist.
I was thankful I was sitting down when I heard that, because had I not been, I might have keeled over. It also made me wonder when that had transpired and if it had anything to do with how much more ruthless Katherine had been with me lately. She knew the hold she had over me would disappear once I knew Syd was changing agencies and that Laurie was leaving. She wasn’t dumb, and she knew where my loyalties lay.
One thing was now abundantly clear, though, and that was that I definitely wasn’t going to stay with Katherine after the Westside tour was over. And I didn’t necessarily have to leave Sydney. I could probably work for both her and Sabrina – if Laurie was okay with that.
In fact, I briefly mentioned it to her after I told her that I was absolutely interested in working for her. I told her I was hesitant to leave Sydney, but I also wanted to help launch Sabrina’s comeback career, since that seemed l
ike it was going to be an awesomely wild ride. Laurie had just laughed and said she’d figured I would say that. She also said she was absolutely okay with it.
Then she told me she was looking to hire a few people in addition to me, since even though Sabrina and Sydney would be her only clients in the beginning, she knew she’d need help. Sabrina might have been just starting out, but Syd was used to full-blown support from a PR standpoint. No way could Laurie and I handle that alone.
That was when she asked me if there was anyone I thought might be a good fit for her company, knowing the kind of team she wanted to build. I immediately thought of someone who would be perfect, but I wasn’t sure if she’d be interested. So I let Laurie know I had someone I was pretty sure she’d love, but I wanted to talk to her first. She told me if my friend was interested to give them her number.
I hung up the phone with a smile on my face, feeling exited and relieved and thrilled all at once. The opportunity couldn't have been more perfect, and I couldn’t wait to tell Van.
I knew he’d support whatever I wanted to do, no questions asked, and because of that, I’d let Laurie know I’d call her in the morning to tell her my final answer but that I was fairly sure I was going to accept the position. I didn’t even know what she was going to pay me, but in all honesty, it didn’t matter. I had to get out from under Katherine’s claws.
And I’d been celebrating the reality of that happening all night.
“Hey Elisa,” Andi said, sidling up next to me at the bar. “Van said you were looking for me?”
I smiled at her. “Hey there. Yeah, I sort of had something I wanted to talk to you about,” I said, turning to lean back against the bar so I could survey the room. “But grab a drink first.”
I wanted to make sure Katherine or Brent didn’t come anywhere near us. I didn’t need them hearing our conversation. Since I hadn’t said a word to Katherine yet, I was taking a huge risk in talking about my tentative plans, but I was too excited to stay quiet, and I had to see if Andi was interested. I knew Laurie would love her, and from what I knew about her, she’d be exactly right for Laurie’s firm.
She and I had hit it off really well the night I’d gone to Cam and Dillon’s house. I hadn’t expected us to have as much in common as we did, but the fact that she was also in PR almost bonded us together from the start. Of course she was currently unemployed, which was how she could travel with Cam during the tour. But she’d told me all about how she planned to find a job in L.A. once the tour was over. I’d let her know I’d be happy to put her in touch with the small circle of contacts I had, outside of my current employer, since we both knew Katherine wouldn’t hire her if she was dating Cam.
Andi said she wouldn’t want to work for her anyway, which bonded us even further, and we ended up having a lot of fun talking to each other. It got so bad that Van and Cam came over and threatened to stage an intervention. But ever since that night Andi had always been friendly and open to me. Not that I had a lot of time to get the drinks she and Meredith asked me to get with them or even stop to eat dinner, but I appreciated the invites they kept throwing my way.
“The benefit was really amazing,” Andi gushed after she’d ordered her drink from the bartender. “I can’t believe you all put that together in three weeks.”
“Yeah, me either, but thank you. I’m completely wiped out.”
Andi smiled. “I can imagine. This is a whole different world of PR than the agency I worked for. Tech and pharmaceutical companies never garner as much excitement and fanfare as musicians. It’s crazy how much goes on behind the scenes that I never really knew about until I met Cam.”
I laughed. “Yeah, it never really stops or slows down. Even though Sydney’s taking a break to record her next album, I still put in a good chunk of time each week on the things we have in the works for her. But even with as tired as I am, I wouldn’t want to do anything else. I honestly love being surrounded by so much energy. There’s really nothing like it.”
“You’re telling me. Cam told me the night we met about Westside being a brand as much as a band, and I didn’t really believe him until he started rattling off all the different merchandising partnerships they have. He even bought me a ‘Cam’ doll, which a part of me finds adorable, but another thinks it’s weird that millions of girls bought the same doll because they’re in love with my boyfriend.”
“Yeah, you sort of have to overlook that and realize that they don’t really know your boyfriend like you do, and even though they’re wearing a t-shirt that says, ‘Mrs. Baylor’, you’re the one he’s going home with every night.”
“That’s true. And I have to say, it is pretty cool to get to be my boyfriend in the Westside dance game.”
“Oh, you’ve played that? I came onto the team just as we were launching it, and it looked really fun.”
“It’s kind of awesome. Meredith and I play it on the bus when we’re bored. The guys hate it. But I think it’s so cool that your job is to do things like that. All I ever did was write boring press releases about new products or recalls when something went wrong. It wasn’t very exciting.”
“You miss it, though, don’t you?” I deduced, recognizing the look in her eyes.
“I do miss it,” she said wistfully as the bartender handed her a drink. She turned around and leaned against the bar. “I never thought I’d say that, but it’s true. Don’t get me wrong. I love being on tour with Cam, especially because the alternative would be sitting at home in L.A. where I know one person. At least I have Meredith here now, but being on the road can be lonely and unfulfilling at times, especially when the guys are off writing or recording or in an interview. There isn’t much for me to do aside from tag along, and that just makes me feel like I don’t have my own life. The only thing I’m really known for at the moment is being Camden Baylor’s girlfriend, and as much as I love that, it’s not something I can turn into a career.”
“Actually, you probably could make it into a career if you wanted.”
Andi laughed. “Oh, I know. I’ve been approached by a few companies who wanted me to be a sponsor for them, and I’ve gotten calls to be on three reality TV shows. I’m always shocked that anyone would want to buy a product endorsed by me or watch a TV show because I’m in it. I’m not a celebrity.
“You actually are,” I told her, but I had a feeling she already knew how the outside world viewed her. She might not feel like a celebrity, but she knew that people paid attention to her because of Cam. “Dating a guy from Westside garners instant celebrity status whether you’ve done anything of note or not.”
I knew how that worked firsthand, and it was why Van and I were being so careful. If the media caught wind that we were together, it would be all over. They’d blow the story up, and Katherine would have a legit reason to fire me. Although she might just do that anyway with the way things were going these days. But in all honesty, after my conversations with Sabrina and Laurie, I probably didn’t need to worry about that so much anymore.
Andi sighed. “Yeah, I know. It’s just a hard reality to grasp. I didn’t grow up in this world. It’s foreign to me, and I got thrust into it so fast. I never expected to date a famous musician, but before I knew what was happening, I was falling for Cam. I knew if I wanted to be with him, I had to be okay with his world.”
“But you like parts of it, right?”
“The music industry?” she questioned.
“Yes.”
“Absolutely. It’s fascinating to me.”
“Any chance you’d like to really be a part of it?”
Andi looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“Well, confidentially, because I haven’t even told Van yet, Sabrina Tyler asked me if I would do promotions for her once the Westside tour is over. I’m considering it, and I know there’s room for more people on her team. I sort of figured you might be interested.”
“Sabrina Tyler? Wow. That sounds risky.”
I could tell by her tone that Andi was q
uestioning my judgement, and hell, anyone who knew of Sabrina years ago would most likely have the same concerns. I had a feeling she was different after everything she’d been through, though. I found her to be incredibly trustworthy and sincere. She’d screwed up – albeit multiple times and in ways I never could have dreamed of screwing up – but she’d also persevered. I respected that, and as someone who’d recently made an emotional decision that was potentially career-ending, I felt like I might have more in common with her than I’d originally thought. Maybe we both needed a second chance.
“You know, I think it’s a risk I’m willing to take. I didn’t know Sabrina before, but I’ve gotten to know her recently, and she seems like she’s got her shit together. A part of me would love to help the rest of the world see that in her. And to be honest, I know Sabrina’s publicist never would have signed on to represent her if she wasn’t in a good place. I can’t go into the details, but from what I do know, I think this actually might be the start of something huge.”
“That does sound pretty incredible, and I have to admit, she was phenomenal on-stage today. I had no idea her voice was so strong.”
“I know. She’s been recording her new album at my dad’s studio, and I’ve heard a few of the tracks. She’s got real talent.”
“She does, but I think I’m confused. Didn’t you say that you were going back to work for Sydney Chase when the Westside tour ends? Isn’t she represented by Katherine?”
“Again, confidentially, things change,” I said vaguely, but I could see from Andi’s expression that she knew what I was talking about.
“Got it. Well, that sounds amazing. Where do I sign up?”
“You’ll do it?”
Andi smiled. “Of course. I have absolutely nothing to lose.”
“Great,” I said, returning her smile. “I’ll figure out a way for you and Laurie, she’s Sabrina’s new publicist, to talk in the next few days. She’ll probably hire you on the spot after how I talked you up to her earlier.”
“You talked me up to her?” Andi questioned, sounding surprised.
Westside Series Box Set Page 77