A Fresh Start

Her only hope was to finish it early enough during the day for Katie to not notice that it hadn’t been done the day before. Katie usually took a couple of hours to start working in the morning.

Grace tried her best to set aside Alan Barden’s book, which she couldn’t stop thinking about at all, and got to work. She powered through it, forgetting about being nice to the boss’s pet, and was done with it in an hour.

When she triumphantly rose from the rainbows, sparkles and unfrightening creatures who’d tried to have a battle that had turned into a poetry recitation contest, she realized that her subconscious had been very busy. She’d finished the horrible manuscript and had come up with an excellent idea.

She was going to go to the event. She was going to get her little hands on an invite, and she was going to go and meet Alan Barden.

It was fate, thought Grace. She had all his books with her. She’d read them all while at work, and she’d kept them at her desk because she loved rereading them. That was the one good thing about working at a publishing house. She could easily pass off reading for pleasure as work if she wrapped the book up in something and hid the cover.

She had a feeling that everybody did it. Well, if they didn’t, they were prize idiots.

Grace set her plan into action. Picking up the manuscript, which was now more green – her color of choice for editing – than black, she made her way to Katie. Grace had, at one point, thanked the heavens that the girl hadn’t been able to get her hands on rainbow pens. The already painful process would’ve been a lot worse if she had.

“Katie? I have the manuscript here. I don’t think the boss’s little pet is going to be happy, but there’s absolutely no way this can be published by us, with our name attached to it for all eternity. Even he will see that. We’ll be the laughing stock of the industry if we go ahead with this. I’ve tried to edit it seriously, but, jeez, it’s awful!”

Katie looked up, obviously distracted, jabbing at her phone furiously.

“Sorry, Grace, but they’ve pulled me on to the event today, last minute, and there’s so much to do! I can’t believe it’s all been so horribly planned. The books aren’t ready. The caterers just said that the salmon mousse isn’t available, and they’d let Thom know that a week ago. He did nothing about it. I feel like I’m fighting a wildfire,” wailed Katie.

Grace winced. She knew that Thom was famously unreliable, but this seemed a bit much even for him.

“Maybe I could help?”

Katie perked up.

“That would be great, actually. Could you go over to the venue and smooth things out with the caterer? They’re apparently prepping there.”

Grace was thrilled. It looked like she wouldn’t have to steal the invite after all!

But her hopes were immediately dashed.

“The event is at three. You can be back here by two, I think, so you won’t lose the whole day. That would be a great help, Grace, could you just take care of that? Thanks, I need to get back to this.”

Before Grace could say anything more, she was summarily dismissed.

But it wasn’t so bad, was it? She could easily steal an invite now, because she would have to be around somebody who definitely had the invite. They’d be at the venue. So she would just take one and invite herself.

After all, if she was going to help with the event, the least they could do was let her meet the man and get a book signed by him.

She felt her spirits rising as she got more and more excited at the thought. She was going to meet Alan Barden! Come hell or high water, she was definitely going to meet the man.

Who knows, maybe their eyes would meet across the crowded room and it would be love at first sight, and they could live happily ever after.

Grace shook herself out of the day dream. She was being almost as silly as the sparkling werewolves girl. But an autograph – that was perfectly realistic. She would meet him for a minute, and she would get her first edition signed by him. She would have that, no matter what.

So Grace planned, as she made her way over to the hotel where one floor had been blocked for the event, hoping to snag an invite somewhere. She dealt with the caterer, cursed Thom a few times and finally met the agent.

She looked harried, and a bit older than Grace had expected, though definitely elegant and lovely.

“You’re here from Keys?”

Grace nodded.

“Yes, I’m Grace Hickory.”

“I hope you’re better than Thom whatever the hell his name is. He has left a mess. I can’t deal with all of it. I need to be with Alan and take care of things at that end.”

Grace nodded again.

“I’ve dealt with the caterer, and the chef who was annoyed at having his kitchen being taken over. But I had to let him bake a cake for Mr. Barden. I hope that’s fine. The books for signing are here. I could help you set that up, if you like. I found the notes about what he likes. The right pen, the right beverage, and the flowers you recommended have been set up. I could have them sent up to the suite he’s in if that would be more convenient than the ballroom, for the pre-signed books. I was told that Mr. Barden had changed his mind about the auction?”

Rachel sighed.

“He never okayed it in the first place and I told Thom, very clearly, that it was never going to happen. I suppose he didn’t think I meant it. He is incompetent!”

Grace bit her tongue before she could agree.

“I’ve called and canceled, but the auctioneer got an invite, so he’ll be at the event. I can’t undo that. Perhaps you could let Mr. Barden know before he comes down. I know he’s very strict about who’s invited.”

Rachel nodded.

“I wish you’d been assigned to the event in the first place. You’ve done more than I could expect. Please have the books for pre-signing sent up to the suite. It’s the one with the private elevator and extremely thorough security, so you’ll need to find the manager to do that. I need to go, I’m afraid, but you seem to be on top of everything. Thank you, Grace.”

Before Grace could say more – like ‘could you please get me on the guest list and or get me an invite’ – Rachel was gone.

But Grace had realized something. Thom had definitely taken off. That meant that Thom’s invite – he was supposed to pick it up from the reception – was definitely still in the house. She needed to get it.

Feeling determined, she made her way to the front desk.