Page 10 of Yule Know It When You See It
“Is that his name?” She leans on one arm and runs a finger through the gold chain hanging from her neck. “I like that.”
Is my boss getting off over Axel’sname?
I shake my head, killing the thought as soon as it forms—murdering it. After flipping through several documents and catching glimpses of hockey schedules and locations, I close the folder. “I’m confused. What does my romance column have to do with a sports writer?”
Simone stares past me, rolling her bottom lip past her teeth. She lets her eyes fall shut before lazily opening them and answering me. “I want you to partner with him.”
My esophagus detaches from my throat and falls to my feet. “I’m sorry. Partner?”
I’ve never partnered with anyone at the magazine. Ever. Am I losing my touch? Does she feel Ineeda partner?
“Yes. I want to try something a little different this year.” Simone displays her hands like a flashing headline on a billboard. “Holiday Romance in Sports.”
My grip tightens on the folder, wrinkling its edges. “I…don’t follow.”
“Hockey is in season, and I want you and Sports to attend a few games. Interview the players, interview some of the fans. Get a feel for how things change for them and their love lives during the holidays while balancing sports.”
I pick the corner of the folder, making small tears. “But how does that create a romance short story? That’s what I normally do. Fiction.”
“Oh, it’ll still be a story. Call it inspiration.”
This will surely be the death of me. Or, at the very least, the death of my career.
“Ma’am, I’m sure Axel doesn’t know the first thing about romance.”
Simone arches a thinly sculpted brow. “You’re making assumptions. Besides, that’s your department. His task is to keep the sports side of things straight. He’s your fact-checker.”
I open my mouth to ask what seems the tenth question since she dropped this bomb, but Simone pushes to her feet, pointing at the door and ushering me toward it.
“You have your assignment. Make sure you look at all the documents in the folder and start planning your strategy immediately.” She opens the door and motions with her hand for me to exit.
Strategy? Since when does writing romance require a strategy? It’s a story with prose, beats, and tone. This also seems fast—too fast to publish this close to Christmas.
“Pardon me saying, Simone, but how do you intend to publish this?”
Simone jerks her head back, almost as if surprised I thought to ask this. “It’s going to be an online exclusive this year. If things go well—let’s just say I’ll fill you in later. Anything else you’d like to question me on?”
“I—” There’s no point in arguing with her. In fact, it’s a horrible idea ever to try. “Yes, ma’am.” Hugging the folder to my chest, I scurry from her office with a new boulder weighing down my shoulders.
“Sports,” Simone yells, making eye contact with Axel and nudging her head at her office.
Axel passes me, an unmistakable sense of curiosity wrinkling his forehead. “Should I be worried?”
His sherpa-lined jacket has disappeared, and he stands near me clad in a light gray button-down with long sleeves rolled to his forearms. An intricate colorless tattoo with winding, knotted patterns peeks out, stopping at his wrist but continuing mysteriously further up his arm. How far did it go, I wonder?
Snapping back to attention, hoping he didn’t catch me staring, I reply, “She can smell fear.”
The expression he gives me is one a person would give to someone who insisted the blunt end of the sword was the lethal end. He shakes his head and is on his way to accept our shared fate. I numbly move to my desk, narrowly missing it when setting the folder down.
“Excuse me?” Desiree appears at my side, her butt pressing to the desk’s edge, gaze focusing over my shoulder. “Isthatthe new writer?”
“Why, yes, it is.” The words come out far haughtier than I intend, and I type my password with extra zeal, slamming my fingers against the keys.
Desiree holds a brown coffee mug with both hands and stares down the hall. “Jesus,” she whispers before sipping her drink.
I flub my password not once, but twice and shriek in annoyance before pressing the backspace button to start over.
“What’s your problem?” Rupert asks, catching a final glance at Axel disappearing into Simone’s office.
