Page 143 of A Duet of Darkness and Dreams

“Indeed,” says Lewis, gesturing for us all to sit. “First of all, Miss Rodriguez, I need to express to you how very sorry I am about such a disastrous misunderstanding.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Misunderstanding?”

He nods. “Yes.”

“I’m sorry, but I did not misunderstand.”

He leans forward. “What do you mean?”

“I mean to say,” I start, with a look at Dave. “It was made very clear to me thatEarwormno longer wanted to work together on the feature for Carnal Sins, even though I had sent in my draft earlier the day before.”

His head tilts, and if I wasn’t so nervous, it might seem comical. “What would make you so sure that we wanted our working relationship to end in such a way?”

“I would say that the phone call I received telling me I was fired was concise enough.”

He blinks. “Phone call? From whom?”

My eyes flick to the door, past where the secretary’s desk sits. He follows the trail of my eyes. “A phone call, you said?”

Nodding, I take a deep breath. “Sir, I understand the reputation of your magazine and its journalists are of the utmost importance, but she wouldn’t even let me explain.”

He leans back and holds up his hands. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Explain what? What exactly happened?”

“You—you don’t know about the article from theEast Bay Chronicle?” I ask.

He scoffs. “TheChronicle? That trash? I haven’t looked at a copy of theChroniclein ten years, ever since Yahamara turned it into what is essentially a scandal paper.”

My mouth hangs open. “So you never—”

“Miss Rodriguez,” he says calmly and with a small smile. “I think you better tell me what happened, from the beginning.”

As I explain the history I have with Simon, the subsequent article and photo he published, followed by the distressing phone call from his secretary, Harold’s face gets grimmer by the minute. I finish the story with Dave convincing me to return and confront the situation head-on versus hiding out in the Arizona desert.

“I’m so sorry if I disappointed you, sir,” I say quietly, somehow managing to keep my emotions in check. Perhaps it’s because Dave is next to me, his strength bolstering my own.

Harold leans back. “Let me just make sure I’ve understood you correctly,” he starts. “My secretary called you and explicitly stated we were no longer interested in working with you. Even though we had already sunk several hundred dollars into your exclusive feature.”

“I know that the picture in that paper makes it seem like maybe I wasn’t the most professional, but I swear—”

“We weren’t even together when that photo was taken,” Dave chimes in.

Harold’s eyebrows rise. “But you’re together now?” His gaze dips to our entwined hands.

I nod. “We are. But I promise, my journalistic integrity never faltered.”

He sighs. “Miss Rodriguez, let me be the first person atEarwormto apologize. I don’t know what could have possibly been going through Miss Watters’s head to make that decision without consulting anyone—then to lie and say you quit—but I promise there will be consequences.”

I give him a half-hearted smile.

“I have to ask . . . why did you so easily believe this would be true?”

I shrug. “I’ve had to deal with this kind of discrimination for years. From high school, through college—I had to work five times harder than the men to be taken seriously. I didn’t even have anything substantial to include in a portfolio for internships. It wasn’t until I wrote that first Carnal Sins article and even then I had to submit it under a man’s name before anyone even looked twice at me except for whether I could fetch them a coffee.”

Dave squeezes my hand, and Harold’s forehead is wrinkled deeply over his eyes.

“When you offered me the internship, I was certain it was because I knew the band and you were desperate. That, once again, I was just a woman in a convenient situation. So when the call came, I guess it just made all the fears I was already carrying with me seem valid.”

“Isabella—I’m sorry that has been your experience in journalism. Please know that an article about you in something like theEast Bay Chronicleis not something I would have taken seriously. If anything, I would’ve asked you whether you had approved such a thing, if it was taking a toll on your ability to do your job, and to let me know what you might need. I’m sorry that didn’t happen and that you were forced to believe that you are not worthy of this position. Because you are. I wouldn’t have hired you if you weren’t.”

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