Chapter 133

At work the next day, Wendy met us, getting off the elevators. She looked like she wanted to latch onto Theo and instead held herself back.

“I’m so glad you’re feeling better,” she said, lowering her lashes at him more than a little suggestively.

He smiled at her, ignoring her hints. “Glad to be back,” he said. “That was a nasty bout of whatever. I don’t look forward to doing anything like that again anytime soon.”

I crossed my fingers and said a silent prayer to the goddess that I wouldn’t have to sacrifice him like that again. But the fact that he was always around me definitely made it more difficult.

“So,” Wendy started, hooking her arms through mine and drawing me into the office. “Have you decided what you’re pitching this morning at the meeting? “

“I have a couple of ideas,” I said.

“Wanna share?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Not a chance. Sorry, but I’m going to have to keep these secrets,” I pronounced.

She eyed me. “Hard-hitting news already?” she asked, giving me a gentle elbow as if trying to poke the truth out of me.

“Not hard-hitting so much as informative,” I said. “But I figure that if they’re informative for me, then they’ll be informative for somebody else, too.”

“Ooh, now I’m curious,” she said. “But it wouldn’t be informative for me?”

I shook my head at her. “We’re not playing twenty questions, so you can try and guess what it is that I’m going to pitch. Just wait for it. It’s not a story you want to do. I’m positive.”

“Well, if it’s a story I can help with, I’ll be happy to point you in any direction I can.”

“Thank you. That’s kind of you,” I said.

The editor in chief who I honestly hadn’t seen since the day he set me up with the Palace Pres, aside from glimpses at the back of the room during pitch meetings, actually loved my two ideas and told the rest of the reporters that this was how a new hire hit the ground running.

His praise made me blush because even though it wasn’t necessarily the ideal story for what I wanted, he was clearly buying my enthusiasm for life in Packhaven. I’d have to thank Charles for helping me brainstorm. Oh, wait. I already was returning the favor. It was mutual backscratching by me helping with his interviews.

A feeling of warmth like a cozy blanket wrapped around me. We were so good for one another. I was helping him next week interviewing the alphas. He was helping me…

Oh, that reminded me…

I hurried through the people leaving the pitch meeting and worked my way up to the editor-in-chief.

“Miss Laurentia,” he said happily. “What can I do for you?”

“Can I have a second of your time?” I asked.

“Absolutely. Walk with me to my office.”

I fell into step beside him. “I know Charles said he mentioned it to you, or one of his co-workers did, but they’re starting interviews with the alphas next week, and he asked me to sit in on it. I guess he’s already gotten permission from his superiors. They thought having somebody from the Palace Press at the interviews would be beneficial.”

“I am aware. And you have my green light to go ahead. I would like to make one request, though.”

“Sure. Whatever I can do.”

He opened the door to his office, pointed me inside, and then shut the door behind us. “I would really like to see the story before you send it off to the Palace Press panel.”

This drew a frown out of me. “Any particular reason?

He took a seat, leaning against the edge of his desk and crossing his ankles and his arms, staring at me intently. “This is more than just your regular run-of-the-mill story. Obviously, it needs to be carefully handled with tact. I am familiar with all of your other work. And I don’t want to see you get in trouble with those above us within the government.”

“So, like the governor?” I asked, taking the risk and interrupting.

He shook his head and squeezed his arms tighter, his biceps flexing. “Not the governor. It’s a little higher than that. This is why we want to be sure that we have the entire story before we release anything. So, just as you gather the information presented to me, and I’d like to help you storyboard.”

He held up both hands. “Just guidance. I swear I’m not writing your article for you. This is your baby, and you will see it in the print. I’m just going to make sure that since you’re new and you’re still learning the ins and outs of publishing through the Palace Press that they don’t squash you, and you don’t step on toes.”

“I guess a little guidance wouldn’t hurt,” I said. “Thank you for the offer.”

I forced the smile onto my face and shut all of my hesitations back down. It certainly sounded like he wanted to be more of an initial censor rather than a gatekeeper. But I would keep those thoughts to myself until I figured out more.

I still had a lot of undercover reporting to undertake before I could make any sort of conclusive decisions about my co-workers and where their loyalties lay.

“Is that everything?” he asked, standing up and walking away from his desk to go around behind it and sit in his chair.

“I think so. Is there one of those two stories that I pitched that you would like to see me do first?”

“Absolutely.” He shook his mouse, waking his computer up. “Since the municipal park has only been open for a few days, I think you should do that one second. Give the park a chance to get its feet under it. Do your research on the different places in the city that the locals would want to go and run with that one first.”

“What’s my deadline for the hidden city story?”

He made a face, thinking. “Well, since it’s not a time-sensitive article, we won’t worry about a hard deadline. But, there are a number of distinct neighborhood communities in the city. And if you’re going to have a chance to find three things the locals can’t live without in each neighborhood, that’s going to take you a while.

“Especially if the events you need to cover happen on the same nights of the week or something. So why don’t we start with… Show me a first draft in two weeks.”

“I can do that,” I said.

“You won’t need a photographer until you actually go to the events or the locations in question. So, start with your research. And then you’re free to take whomever you want from the photography department to the events with you.”

“Sounds good.”

He gave me a wave toward the door and focused in on his screen, moving on to whatever task he had next.

On my way back to my desk, I stopped by Wendy’s. “Do you have a neighborhood map of the city so that I can focus in on the different sections a little more clearly?”

“Email the graphics department. They probably have something like that drawn up. I know where the neighborhood boundaries kind of run, but I don’t know that I’ve got a hard copy of a map that you can print or anything, or even one that you can carry around on your phone. But, like I said, the graphics department probably does.”

She stood, snapping her laptop shut. “I would love to stay and chat. If you need anything else, you’re going to have to call me or text me because I’m on my way out to my next article.”

“Well, as soon as I get that map, so am I.” I gave her a little wave. “Happy writing,” I said.

She gave me a wave in return and headed out. I sat down at my computer desk and opened up my laptop. Theo rolled in an extra chair and sat behind me.

“Would you like a place at the desk,” I offered.

“That’s not necessary.” He shrugged.

“Isn’t just sitting around boring for you?” I asked.

He nodded. “It’s all part of the job. Not every moment is interesting. But then again, I’ve seen you edit. Not every moment of your job is interesting either.”

I laughed. “No, it’s definitely not. One can only find proper punctuation so stimulating.”

He chuckled and held up his phone. “I’m going to start a movie, but don’t mind me. Whenever you need to go somewhere, I’ll pause it and finish it later.”

“Well, I know what to get you for the next gift-giving holiday,” I said. “I’ll just buy you a subscription to whatever streaming service you don’t already have.”

He grinned and pointed at my laptop. “We’ll chat more at lunch,” He promised.

I sent off the email and then started organizing my thoughts on where I’d like to start while I waited for a reply. The graphics department got back to me quickly, and we left, heading across the city to start my new story.