“So,” she started, “That was quite the wedding—or lack thereof.”
“You came,” I muttered.
“Of course, I came. I told you I was going to come. The ceremony space was very modern. You did a decent job, minus the whole no wedding thing.”
“Oh. Well…thanks?”
She nodded once. “I’m guessing you’re here because you want your job back.”
I tried to push my heart back down to its rightful placement in my chest. Time to grovel. “Yes, ma’am. Even if I can’t go back to being a junior editor, I’ll take any position and work my way up to—”
“You have connections with Connor Roe.”
I sat up a bit straighter, thrown off by her question. “What?”
“I noticed at your almost wedding that Connor Roe was in attendance. He’s the one who dismissed us all from the venue.”
“Uh…yes. I’m sorry, what does that have to do with—”
“Why haven’t you ever told me you knew Connor Roe?”
What exactly was happening? “Um, I didn’t think it was of importance. Plus, I don’t really know him, know him, and—”
“But he came to your wedding? How would you not know someone who was invited to your wedding?”
“I’m sorry, Maiv. I don’t understand what any of this has to do with my job and me getting it back…”
“Oh, yes. Well, I can offer you your position back—”
“Oh my gosh!” I exclaimed.
She held a silencing finger up. “If you do one thing for me.”
“Anything, Maiv. I’ll do anything.”
“Good. I was hoping you’d say that.” She leaned forward on her desk, dropped the pen, and clasped her hands. “I need you to get an exclusive with Connor Roe.”
I choked on my next breath. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Connor Roe is the biggest bachelor in New York City. He is on his way to being one of the richest men in all of New York, if not the world, and he has never once done an interview. Everyone in the industry is clawing at the opportunity to get him on their cover, but he refuses to allow anyone the opportunity.”
Wow. Was Connor truly that successful? Jason had hardly ever talked about work people when we spent time together. Still, I didn’t see how I could help Maiv.
“Well, if he doesn’t want to be interviewed—”
“Senior editor,” she cut in.
“What?”
“If you get Connor Roe to come to Passion to be on the cover of our September issue, I will make you senior editor.”
No way. Senior editors always received the best projects. They were able to travel and see the world. Just a few months earlier, Abby had been in Iceland following a story about an explorer for two months. That was what I’d dreamed about, doing the big stories that allowed me to see the world at the same time, to experience different cultures, different lifestyles, to see lives bigger than my own.
“You mean it?” I pushed out, feeling as if I were dreaming. “I’d be able to travel for work and write the meaningful articles?”
“If you get Connor to do an exclusive with us, you can write whatever you want.” She held up a hand quickly. “Within reason, obviously.”
“Yes, of course.”
“So”—she narrowed her eyes—“you can do it?”
What was it about Connor that made people crave to be inside his brain so much? It was almost as if Maiv was begging for me to get him to agree to the article. Well, as close to begging as she’d ever get, at least.
I nodded. “Yes, of course. Not a problem. I’ll have him on board ASAP.”
“By Friday.”
“Friday? Like…” I gulped hard. “This Friday? Like, in a few days?”
“Yes.”
“As in, one, two, three—”
“If you can’t make it happen, that’s all you have to—”
“No! No! I can make it happen. It’s pretty much already happening. There is no doubt in my mind that Connor Roe will be on the front cover of this magazine come this September. Yup, that’s right, because me and him are buddies. Pals. Amigos. Friends. We’re pretty much Phoebe and Joey. Yup, that’s us. Ketchup and mustard. Tom and—”
“Aaliyah.”
“Yes?”
“You can leave my office now.”
“Right. Okay. Thank you, Maiv, for giving me this opportunity. This is my dream position, my dream job. I know I probably don’t deserve this at all after quitting, so thank you so much for doing this.”
“You said this is your dream job?”
“Yes, it really is.”
“Then I will say this, something I’ve learned after five failed marriages: never give up your dreams for a man again. Men die—dreams don’t.”
“Uh, thank you?” I said, uncertain how to take Maiv’s pep talk. “Wait, I’m sorry, did all of your husbands die…?”
She shrugged. “Some are just dead to me. Some of the others I’m sure were accidental.”
“Some?”
She smiled again, and well, that felt like an inappropriate time to deliver a wicked villain smile. “Why are you still in my office?” she asked.
“Right, okay, goodbye.”
I walked out, feeling as if I was floating on air. After the week from hell, it appeared the sun was slowly trying to peek out from behind my clouded mind. I pretty much skipped all the way to the subway, humming to myself the entire time, until I took a moment to pause and reality set in.
I’d promised Maiv I would get Connor to do an exclusive interview with Passion. I’d promised an interview with a man who seemed to be anti-interviews as a rule, a man who’d already given me more of his time and kindness than I deserved.
I was hoping to never have to exchange another word with anyone connected to Jason ever again, yet without Connor’s help, I’d be jobless and probably homeless soon enough. With his help, I’d have my dream position.
It was time for me to do what it seemed I did pretty well as of late: grovel some more.
19
Connor
“Please stop crying,” I begged of Rose as she sat across from me in my office. I’d been dreading having the conversation we had to have, yet I knew once
