Page 2 of All the Right Words
‘I don’t. But Michael tells me she’s difficult.’
The safety was off. ‘She’s a pain in the arse. And she’s been hinting that’s she’s not happy with the money for a while.’
‘Oh, wonderful. Perfect time to be renegotiating the back end. I don’t even know if we’ll be inbusinesstomorrow.’
Gina’s raised an eyebrow. ‘Really?’
‘God, I don’t know. I’m still in shock. It depends on what he did, I guess. How bad it is.’
Gina nodded. That sounded right. If Michael turned out to be a serial killer, it would probably affect the share price rather dramatically.
‘But I guess I should just act like everything’s business as usual until we know anything,’ Olivia said.
‘Right.’
Olivia gave Gina a serious look. ‘You’ve always been someone Michael could rely on. I’m asking you to do the same for me. Are we on the same page?’
Gina wasn’t on any page at all yet. ‘What about Vincent? Isn’t he your guy?’
‘Vincent’s an idiot. He got this job because he’s some board member's nephew. I wantyouto be my PA.’
‘You’re going to sack him?’ Gina asked, shocked.
‘Couldn’t if I wanted to. I’ll have to dump him somewhere else in the company. I need a real ally, someone who knows this business and has a brain. I know Michael kept you in the background, but I see us as a team. You’ll be my right-hand woman.’ She paused. ‘So, will you do this? Will you help me?’
Gina didn’t take long to think about that. Perhaps she should have. But the regime was changing, and what else could she say? ‘Yeah, of course. I’ve got your back,’ Gina told Olivia. It was an easy promise to make because it would be a while before Gina understood what she was promising. How her life at Parker Press was about to change.
Two
‘Is that a crumb down your shirt?’ Brenda asked Harper Blake.
Harper brushed herself down, and a croissant crumb fell off her spotty blouse. ‘It’s part of the design,’ she lied, embarrassed. She glanced around the monochrome of the Parker Press lobby to check if anyone had heard this mother and daughter routine. But people seemed busy. People were oddly chatty at Parker this morning, Harper noticed. Numerous intense little chats were taking place throughout the office. Harper couldn’t pay it too much heed. Not with Brenda on her case.
‘OK, good. We can’t go in looking like a couple of amateurs,’ Brenda said irritably, shifting her weight on the sofa. She was obviously nervous.
Harper let the rudeness go. She had to smile through what would be a horror show of a meeting. Because her ‘Top’ client, Brenda Kildare, was also her most challenging. And today, they were going to renegotiate her contract with Michael Phelps. It was going to be a bloodbath because Brenda was going to demand more money. Money that Parker Press was not going to want to give. And when Michael Phelps said no, in his nicey-nicey way, Brenda would throw a shit fit and demand to approach one of the other companies, which Harper could easily do. But Brenda had been with Parker since the start. Moving would mean a lot of upheaval. Which she would bitch about more than the money because familiarity and routine mattered very much to Brenda. But so did money. So here they were.
‘Brenda Kildare and Harper Blake! Good morning!’ said a voice that didn’t belong to Michael Phelps. Harper looked up from the sofa to see someone she didn’t know looming over her. And ‘Loom’ was the word. The woman was tall, an Amazonian blonde. If Amazons wore Prada and spent three hundred quid on their haircuts.
‘I’m Olivia Noble,’ the Amazon introduced herself. ‘I’ll be meeting with you today.’
OK, this was tricky because where thefuckwas Michael?
‘Hi Olivia, nice to meet you. Will Michael be in the meeting today?’ Harper asked tactfully.
Olivia smiled. ‘Actually, I hope you don’t mind, but he asked me to meet with you. He’s taking some leave, you see. So I’ll be taking on his authors.’
‘Why didn’t we know this before?’ Brenda said icily, which was fair. This was quite a revelation to walk into when Michael had been their key guy for a decade.
‘It was rather a, err, last-minute decision. Health issues, I’m afraid,’ Olivia explained.
Brenda had the wisdom to take it down a notch. ‘Oh. Is he alright?’
‘Nothing a few months in Saint-Tropez won’t fix,’ Olivia assured them. ‘I hope you can forgive us for springing this on you. We only found out this morning.’
‘I hope you’ll give him our best,’ Harper said. They weren’t friends, but she was on warm terms with him. She hoped he was going to be okay. She couldn’t ask for details. Olivia’s vagueness had made it clear that it was a sensitive topic.
‘So, shall we head in?’ Olivia said, gesturing to the glass-walled conference room. They headed in. Coffee they would all drink and pastries that no one would touch waited.
