Chapter 6

Cade

Welp, the cat was out of the bag as far as the tattoos went. I almost died when she told me that she’d looked at my social media. There were too many things on there that I didn’t want my boss to see, and not just the silly pictures from nights out with too many shots. The silly memes and other bullshit that I posted wasn’t the kind of stuff you wanted to see from your assistant that you trusted with booking your plane tickets.

I almost wanted to escape from her and go through my pages and wonder what she’d seen. She’d said that she hadn’t seen any red flags, but there were miles between red flags and complete humiliation. Hell, I posted sex jokes on there and a whole lot of lesbian things.

My boss didn’t need to know how many scissoring jokes I’d made this week. Hopefully she hadn’t looked too hard. Maybe she’d just done a quick scroll and that was it. Otherwise, I would not survive the mortification.

This was why Hunter had told me to have public accounts and then secret accounts for close friends, but I hadn’t wanted to juggle multiple login information because I forgot my passwords enough as it was, and I would inevitably mess up and post on the wrong one, defeating the purpose.

At least things were going better with focusing now that I had my headphones. She hadn’t complained about them, and every time she’d needed me for something, she’d just sent me a message. Seemed silly, but if that was what she wanted, she was the boss.

It was unbelievable how many emails she got per day. I’d thought my inbox was bad, but it was only bad because of all the spam from companies I got and kept forgetting to unsubscribe to. Eloise got actual important emails, just a lot of them. So many were high-priority that it was blowing my mind that she was so calm about it all, but she’d been doing this for a long time, so I guess it was all old news.

Eloise had given me a very extensive template for responding to emails that she didn’t need to see. All I had to do was add the greeting and mostly copy and paste, which made it so much easier than trying to sound completely professional on my own.

She also had me going through her past social media and coming up with which posts had done the best numbers so she could replicate them with new content. And then there was coordinating the delivery of thousands of special edition hardcovers for her most-recent release so that she could sign them all individually. Apparently, I would be helping move them all from the garage to the basement where she already had tables set up because she’d done this before. We’d pack them all back up and coordinate pickup so they could be sent out by the publisher.

There were so many moving parts and keeping track of all of it made my head spin. I wasn’t panicking yet about managing it all, but it was close. Using all my tips and tricks and apps and lists helped, and I had to keep reminding myself that this was a new job, and there was always an adjustment with something new. Anyone else in my place would have felt similarly. Eloise wasn’t shy about correcting me either. The third time I hadn’t done something in the right font, she had reminded me, and I’d apologized, but she’d just moved on and gone back to work while I tried not to have a breakdown. I couldn’t make mistakes like that. I had to keep it together and impress her.

At one point I was going through the tagged posts on social media for inspiration and found some absolutely incredible fanart creators for one of her most popular romance series. My personal homework for this weekend was to read at least three of the books, which centered on a family of seven growing up and finding love. Already two of the books had been made into blockbuster movies and the third was currently in negotiations, of which I was somehow a liaison.

I pulled up a new message to Eloise and started adding some of the fanart, as well as links to the creators. Why not share and celebrate them? She’d never really done anything like that on her pages, which I found a little odd for an author who had built such a close and inclusive community on her website.

Even though this was only my second day with Eloise Roth, I got the idea that she either didn’t like social media that much, or she wasn’t as comfortable with it. Understandable, seeing as how she had built her website up years ago and had much more control than she did on other social sites. Plus, dealing with that many followers and comments and everything else was daunting even for a regular person, let alone a bestselling author. I’d already seen some that were vile and had to ban and block too many accounts. There was a reason Eloise didn’t have any easy way to contact her on her sites. She did have a general email account, which was going to be mine to manage, and that was a cesspool that I had been actively avoiding. I knew there were going to be threats and dick pics aplenty in there. Not to mention the people who had decided that romance novels were porn and that Eloise was responsible for the downfall of society. I knew that a lot of those messages were from women, and it just made me want to weep for the future of humanity.

Yeah, looking up fanart was much more enjoyable.

I also found a few memes that people had made of the books and I didn’t know if they were accurate or not, but I added those as well. Maybe we could start adding one or two of them in her weekly newsletter that I would be compiling.

I sent Eloise the message with the memes and fanart and then got a message back immediately. Taking off my headphones, I turned my chair to face her.

“This is an interesting idea,” she said, tapping her finger on the desk. “I’ve commissioned art before, but not for a long time and I’ve never highlighted individual artists. I have shared pictures of quote tattoos, but this is different.” She seemed thoughtful.

“Why don’t you start reaching out to them and ask if we can feature their art on the website? We could have a revolving carousel. You can build it out with a few images and send it to me to look over. Make sure you have at least twenty artists lined up with agreements, minimum.” Oh, was that it?

Before I could stop myself, I blurted out “I’ll get right on top of that, Rose.” Shit.

Eloise seemed stunned for a second. “Do people your age still watch that movie? I would have thought it was too passé.”

I shook my head. “No. My mom loved it and made me watch it growing up.”

Eloise let out a little scoffing sound. “Stop reminding me how much older I am than you are.”

“I’m sorry?” I said. “It’s not something I can really do anything about.”

She waved a hand and rubbed her forehead. “Yes, yes, I know. Let’s get back to work. This chapter and I are in a battle and right now, it’s winning.”

Curious about her writing process, I asked if she wanted to talk about it. “Maybe saying something out loud will help you process. I know it helps me.” More often than not, just saying what a problem was, out loud to another person led me to a solution in the moment.

“No, thank you. I’ll manage. But I do think I need a break.” That was a surprise. Eloise scheduled her breaks and she wasn’t due one for another hour at least. From what I had observed, she treated her schedule like a religion. I made a mental note of the deviation.

“Would you like me to make you some coffee?” I still had yet to conquer the French press, but I needed to practice if I was ever going to get good at it. If all else failed, I could look up a video tutorial.

“Yes, thank you. I’m going to pace around the garden for a little while.” Fair enough.

Eloise did go out to the garden and I kept glancing at her as she walked and seemed to be deep in thought as I tried not to screw up her coffee. I got the color right and made a cup for myself, tasting it and hoping I’d gotten it right.

It tasted like coffee to me, so I went ahead and brought it out to her. Maybe it would help with whatever she was trying to work out mentally.

“Here,” I said when she turned to face me. Her eyes took a second to focus on me and when they did, it was like being slammed in the chest. Those eyes were so incredible in certain lights. They were blue, but under the right conditions, violet. Like the day when I’d met her for the interview. Who had eyes like that? Seriously.

Eloise took the coffee from me and I waited for her verdict on pins and needles, trying not to fidget too much.

Eloise sipped and then nodded. “Adequate.”

Hey, I’d take it.

“I’ll let you get back to your rumination,” I said, backing away.

“My rumination?” she asked.

“Whatever it is. I’ll just go back to work.”

Eloise pivoted away from me and started walking again. Guess I was dismissed.

I went back to my desk and thought way too much about blue eyes.

* * *

Somehow I was even more mentallyexhausted after my second day, but I didn’t get cake on my way home. Wouldn’t be a responsible financial decision, and I had to start making more of those. It had to get better, right? I couldn’t already be thinking about quitting only two days into this job.

Danica was home when I got back, which was unusual. I found her slumped on the couch, looking dejected. That wasn’t a good sign.

“Hey, long time no see,” I said, dropping my shit and going to sit next to her.

“Hey,” she said, her voice dull.

“What’s wrong?” I asked when she didn’t say anything else.

“Gavin and I had a fight,” she said, referencing her boyfriend.

“Aw, I’m sorry. What did you fight about?” I was hungry, but I could see that she needed to get this out first. Then I’d make something warm and comforting for both of us and we could crash out on the couch with some edibles and a movie or something.

Danica gave me the whole long rundown, and I made all the right noises and took her side. It was easy because Gavin was being a dumbass. Even if she was in the wrong, though, I’d be on her side.

“Just give him some time to cool off and I’m sure he’ll be crawling back to you with an apology.” Danica and Gavin didn’t fight often, and it was never about anything too serious. They’d been together forever, even before Gavin transitioned, and I had the feeling that they were going to make it. The kind of relationship they had didn’t come around every day.

Danica eventually begged not to talk about Gavin and asked me about my new job, so I filled her in on Eloise and she was shocked that I’d gotten the job but told me that she was happy and thought I’d be good at it.

“I don’t know about that, but I did make her coffee adequately today, so that’s something,” I said while I rinsed rice to put in the rice cooker to go with butter chicken and some butternut squash soup I had in the fridge.

It seemed to perk her up and then we both chilled out and it was nice to let everything go for the evening.

I went to bed earlier than I normally would have because one of my library holds had come in and I was eager to read it. Probably should have been reading my boss’s books, but I was saving them for the weekend. I guess I might have been putting off reading them for fear that I wouldn’t like them. Sure, it was silly, but it was a real possibility. They just didn’t seem like my kind of thing. No offense to any of her numerous fans. Not for me, and that was fine.

But now I had this job and I was going have to familiarize myself with them, at least a little. Eloise had been busy in her career, releasing no less than two books a year, and some years more, for nearly twenty years. That was a lot to go through. So much to keep track of. Her brain kind of terrified me. How the hell could you come up with that many unique stories? How could you keep them straight?

There had to be something magic in them, though, to have that many fans and to always sell well and to get movie deals. Something that kept those loyal fans buying every single book and seeing every movie and traveling to the locations and buying merchandise.

The new book was exactly what I needed, and I passed out with page-turning remote in my hand.

* * *

“You made it through the week,”Hunter said when she took me out for happy hour wings on Friday to one of our favorite local joints.

“I did. Somehow,” I said, shaking my head. “I really don’t know how. I’m fucking tired. I thought about quitting at least once a day” The mental load of the new job was still so much, and I needed to get used to it sooner rather than later. And then there was the way that Eloise told me about the things I’d messed up. Which were more numerous than I would have liked, but there were so many times when she almost expected me to read her mind and I didn’t have those powers. She never got angry or yelled or called me names, but her quiet disapproval was almost worse. She’d also added a few other tasks, like picking up dry cleaning, returning items, and other little errands to my day and that was even more stress on top of stress. But I’d made it out alive.

“It’s good for you. Builds character,” Hunter said, and I gave her my middle finger. “Hey, that’s what my father says.”

“I don’t want to build character. I just want steady employment that doesn’t make me want to throw myself off a bridge and that also pays my bills.”

Hunter raised her beer bottle. “Let’s toast to that.”

We did and ordered a second round of wings and fries. I was happy to be with my best friend with my face covered in sauce and full of cheap beer and knowing that I didn’t have to work for the next two days. Sure, I had to do all the shit that I didn’t have time for during the week like cleaning and laundry and other chores, but still. If I wanted to lay in bed all day and read one book after another, I could. Bliss. I should also probably call my parents this weekend, and I did want to talk to my sister.

Too many things to do.

Hunter and I made a detour to Sapph to say hi to Reid while she was working and then Hunter asked if I wanted to sleep over at her place and I couldn’t say no.

Hunter’s apartment was lavish, and I already kept a bunch of my crap in her guest room. She’d offered to let me move in with her more than once, but I’d always declined. I would have felt weird living in that place with her and sooner or later it would have affected our friendship. Maybe. I didn’t want to take a risk and find out. So I stayed in my crappy place with Danica and crashed at Hunter’s whenever she asked me to.

We put on matching pajamas and she busted out her fancy skincare that I didn’t even want to know the cost of and stayed up too late eating those expensive giant cookies that she had delivered.

“I wonder what she’s doing this weekend,” I mused as I licked chocolate off my fingers.

“Who?” Hunter asked from where she was sitting on the floor with her back against the couch where she’d been scrolling through her phone. We had something mindless on the TV but neither of us was watching it.

“Eloise Roth,” I said. “It feels weird not using her full name.” I was still a little buzzed from the beers at the wing place.

“I feel like it’s something fabulous. Jetting off to New York for a Broadway show and then drinks with some other famous writers at a hidden bar that only famous people know about. Or maybe taking a private jet to Paris to meet some minor heir that she met on the exclusive dating site.” Hunter would know about that exclusive dating site. She had an account but claimed that she never checked it. I was always bugging her to let me take a look and see if I could find someone for her, but she never let me.

“I’m sure it’s something like that.” Eloise Roth wouldn’t be laying in bed and doing nothing but rot for two days, that was for sure. I wondered if she would spend time with her friend. Somehow, I just couldn’t see Eloise Roth playing board games with a bunch of noisy kids. Eloise Roth eating pizza. Now there was an image. Sure, I could see her eating something like a flatbread with goat cheese and balsamic, but regular pepperoni pizza? No way.

“What is she like?” Hunter asked, examining the ends of her hair for split ends. As if she didn’t get strict regular trims to assure that didn’t happen.

“Eloise?” I asked. Hunter nodded. “She’s a really hard worker. Like, just sits and types for hours on end. Her focus is unreal. I’m so envious of it, actually. Demanding. Strict. She likes things the way she likes them.”

“Has she let you read any of her new stuff? It would be pretty cool to get to see it before it’s published.”

“No way. I think I’d get fired for snooping. I don’t even really know what she’s working on. I mean, I know what I’ve seen from some of the emails, but I haven’t read anything. I mean, why would she need my input?” I didn’t work in publishing. Sure, I read a lot, but I wasn’t a professional in any capacity. Hell, I couldn’t spell rhythm on the first, second, or third try. I always let autocorrect handle it.

“Still, must be fun to see the back end. You’re getting a lot of experience that you can use.” That was true. For as long as I got to work with Eloise, I was going to soak it up and learn as much as I could so I could carry it with me in the future. I mean, I’d never thought about a job in publishing, but if I was gaining all these skills, wouldn’t it be smart to put them to use?

“Listen, I gotta survive three more weeks of my trial period. Let’s just hope I can get through that and then I’ll start thinking long term.”