Free Beneath Beautiful by Allison Rushby Page A

Cameron Callahan. What the end result would be, she had no idea.
    “I'm going to work now . . .” Cameron didn't look up again from his sketching but moved backwards, disappearing down into his pod.
    And, just like that he was gone, swallowed up by his work, leaving Cassie to an entirely overwhelming movie selection.

 
     
    “C assie!”
    Cassie looked up to see Alys hanging out one of the warmly lit Central Park West apartment windows, two stories up. “I'll come down.”
    Her friend ducked out of sight.
    Cassie tipped the airline driver, and told him she'd be fine with her bag. Just as Alys opened the front door, right next to the now closed coffee shop, the driver took off down the street.
    “Fancy.” Alys raised her eyebrows. “Your publisher paid this time, I take it?”
    “Mmmm . . .” Cassie remained non-committal in the hope of keeping her secret safe. “Lucky me!”
    “Anyway, it's so good to see you.” Alys hugged her old school friend. “It feels like ages.”
    “It does. Thanks so much for waiting up for me.” Cassie checked the time on her phone, and saw it was just past midnight.
    Alys laughed, ushering Cassie inside. “This is when things get started around here. Did you want to go out for a drink? Or did you just want to go to bed? I've begged the morning off tomorrow so we can go out for brunch in the East Village. I've got another friend who flew in from London yesterday evening, and he's staying down there, so I said we'd meet him as well.”
    Cassie paused to pull out the handle on her suitcase. “Brunch sounds great.”
    Alys went over to push the elevator button. “So, drink, or bed?” she asked once more as the doors opened and they got in.
    Cassie groaned. “I know it's pathetic, but bed, please. I was up early this morning. It's been a long day.”
    “Not a problem,” Alys said as the elevator doors opened once more. She walked over to her apartment door and let Cassie inside first. “But I'll have you know I'm planning quite the party on the rooftop terrace in the next week or two, and attendance is compulsory.” She followed Cassie into the living room.
    “I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I love your apartment. So much.” Cassie took a long look at the one-room studio with its exposed brickwork along one wall, and floor-to-ceiling mirrors on the other side. Above, the ceiling was divided, half of it lowered and taken up with a heavy oak-beamed ceiling, which concealed the loft bedroom above. “You have the best grandmother ever.”
    Alys nodded. “I have the wildest grandmother ever. I'm lucky she was a complete flibbertigibbet in the twenties, because now she encourages all her granddaughters to be exactly the same.”
    “I wouldn't call interning at The Met flibbertigibbeting.”
    “No, but don't tell my grandmother that. She thinks I spend my time sleeping until noon after dancing the night away. And that's how she likes it.”
    “I should have such problems,” Cassie said with a laugh.
    “Yes, well, I'm glad you like it, because so many people are always on at me for living on the Upper West Side. But I can't get much closer to The Met. It's less than a ten-minute walk across the Park. I mean, I'd live in The Met if they'd let me—I'm sure I could make a nice little studio out of the Temple of Dendur, but for some strange reason they won't allow it.”
    “That's a shame.”
    “It is. Right, then. Here you go . . .” Alys wheeled Cassie's bag across the room. I've made up the sofa bed already. Do you fancy a shower?”
    “I had one already,” Cassie told her. “On the plane .”
    “That's it. I'm leaving the art world, and going into publishing. Tomorrow.”
    Cassie laughed.
    “Right, so no tea, or anything?”
    “Really, I'm fine.” Cassie smiled. “I'm just going to crawl into bed, and then I'll be bright and perky in the morning, and ready to brunch. Or at least ready to brunch.”
    “I'll see you in the morning then.” Alys blew her a