Free Come Undone by Jessica Hawkins Page A

approved. I’ll send one over but like, can you do the interview?
Or should I ask Lisa?”
    I scowled. Lisa would just love to edge me out. “I’ll do it. Just
e-mail me the address, and I’ll prep the rest.” I straightened when I saw
Beman’s head bobbing through the office.
    “Actually, he’s coming here. He insisted.”
    “Oh. That’s fine I guess. Can you see that the kitchen is stocked
so we can offer him something?”
    “Good morning, ladies,” Beman said all of a sudden, causing Serena
to jump. “I see you have Starbucks there. Anything for me?” He directed his
eyes at Serena and she opened her mouth slowly.
    “I’m sorry. I can go back. What would you like?” Serena asked.
    “Nothing,” he snapped. “Please get to work. Olivia, a word?”
    Despite his small frame, I noticed how the office felt smaller
when he was in it. “How are you this morning, Mr. Beman?”
    “I’d like an update on the Most
Eligible article.”
    “It’s coming along nicely. In fact, I have an interview today with
a mister - ” I opened the file and squinted, “a mister Lucas Dylan.”
    Beman raised his eyebrows. “The architect?”
    I nodded, glancing down quickly to make sure that was right.
    “Excellent. But don’t call him Lucas, he doesn’t like it,” he
said, waving a finger. I nodded knowingly, making a mental note. Luke it is . “We’ve tried the past few
years to get him involved but he’s very private, only does work-related
interviews. Actually, Architectural
Digest profiled him in last month’s issue, look it up.” Thank you , Serena , I thought. “This would be a huge coup, Liv,” he
continued. “If you manage to get him in the issue, well,” he paused, “it would
be very impressive .” His lips
tightened at the last word, and I bit the inside of my lip to prevent a grimace.
    “Mr. Beman, I’d like to run an idea by you.” He glanced at his
watch and nodded curtly. “In addition to the issue’s launch party, I think it
would benefit us to have an exclusive meet and greet for the top candidates.
Since many of them are local celebrities, it would drum up some publicity. We
can get web to post some pics afterward to get people wondering who will make
the magazine.”
    His jaw swung from side to side as he considered it. “Publicity
would be good, I’d like the issue to be a high point of the year,” he reasoned.
“Get me some numbers by Wednesday, and I’ll see if I can get you a budget. It wouldn’t
be much, so work with the publicity department on getting some sponsors to foot
the bill.”
    “Great, I’ll look into it.”
    “Oh, and might I suggest a little lipstick before you meet with
Mr. Dylan? No harm in trying to look nice for him.”
    He sashayed away, and I touched my fingers to my hair. What does it matter how I look for him? I
thought angrily. I’m asking him
questions, not testing his make-out skills. The thought of Beman pimping me
out to guarantee Lucas’s involvement made me laugh and cringe simultaneously,
because I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t do it.
    The phone had become more conspicuous with every passing minute
and now it demanded my attention. I knew I had to call Bill and that it would
be the first time I would really lie to him. But there was no way around it.
    “Hi, babe,” I said, when he picked up.
    “Hey, Livs. Can I call you back? Just got out of a meeting and
have another in ten minutes.”
    “Actually, this is important,” I started.
    ~
    The
phone buzzed, and I grabbed it automatically, my eyes fixed on the computer
screen.
    “Liv, Mr. Dylan’s here.” Jenny’s voice was even more high-pitched
than usual.
    “Right. Can you have Serena or one of the interns bring him back?”
She hadn’t sent the photo, but it didn’t much matter now. According to everyone
else, he was a shoe-in. Quickly, I peeled my sweater off and grabbed my make-up
bag, heading for the tiny mirror Diane had installed behind the door. My hair
was actually behaving, and I