Virginia and Tom looked at each other and in unison, dropped into the chairs across from Brooklyn’s desk.
“So, yeah,” Tom started. “My new assistant has access to my work emails. I left the office early that day for a doctor’s appointment and she knew we were waiting for the final letter. So she did a copy and paste into the template and she never saw the LOL. She’s new. She didn’t know that Brooklyn and I like to goof around.”
Pranks were an occasional way to let off steam in the office. Two months after Tom started work at Posh Post, Brooklyn asked him if he’d organize a company-wide puppet show. She let him go so far as to design a flyer, then she had to tell him she was full of it.
“This is what you guys get for cracking jokes,” Virginia quipped.
“Thanks,Mom.” Brooklyn did not enjoy the inference that she was somehow insubordinate at her own company. Work was brutal and Tom never complained. He deserved a little bit of fun. “And by the way, you started it.”
“I never, ever thought you would do anything other than delete it. Immediately,” Virginia said.
“That’s not helpful right now. You’re not the one who’s getting emails from random guys asking if they can get you pregnant.”
“You wanted a baby. Maybe this will help,” Virginia said.
“Wanta baby,” Brooklyn said. “And now thanks to the stupid postscript thatyouwrote, everyone in the world knows about it.”
Brooklyn’s assistant, Laurel, opened her door and poked her head inside. “I’m sorry to interrupt, and I know you told me to just take messages from the press, but Oprah’s on line one.”
“You have got to be kidding,” Brooklyn said. Her voice was all exasperation while her heart jumped at the prospect. She’d always secretly hoped Oprah would call her, but admittedly not for something like this.
“Okay. It’s not actually Oprah. It’s her production company. Close enough, right?” Laurel and Tom fist-bumped. “They didn’t seem to understand when I said you were busy. I think everyone takes their calls right away.”
“Tell them I’m getting a root canal and you’ll have to take a message.”
“Seriously?” Laurel added.
“No.” Virginia sprang out of her seat. “You have to take it. Talk to her. Explain why you did this.”
Brooklyn shot her sister a look. “Technically, I didn’t do anything. You did. And I’m not talking to anyone until we have a chance to figure this out.” She then turned her sights to Laurel. “Just go with the root canal. It’ll buy us a few hours.”
“Got it. And keep taking messages from everyone else?”
Brooklyn could just imagine the root canal story breaking out all over Twitter, and the subsequent accusations that she’d been neglecting oral hygiene, but she didn’t care at this point. “Sure.”
Laurel left and Virginia resumed her pacing. “We have to get out in front of this. It could sink Posh Male. That’s a huge initiative. Months of planning. Market research. Piles of money, down the tubes.”
The thought of that turned Brooklyn’s stomach again. She wouldn’t be able to eat anything today. This was the world’s worst diet, but it might end up being super effective. “My gut is telling me that we should wait for it to go away. Or at least die down. Let someone else do something stupid.”
Tom scrolled through this phone. “People on the internet are not being nice. They’re calling you desperate and pathetic.”
They’re not wrong.Her love for Prince came to mind, specifically the songControversy—buzzing keyboards, a swinging bass line, the Lord’s prayer, and the underlying message that the world spent entirely too much time sticking its nose into other people’s business. “Mob mentality. That’s all that is.” No one in the room was acknowledging Brooklyn’s relative calm, which she was quite proud of. Of course, she was capable of putting on a good show. She’d done it countless times for her mother, who expected very little show of emotion. Even so, Brooklyn couldn’t avoid this feeling of impending doom. She had worked so hard to make Posh Post an unquestionable success. Even her mom pretended to be proud if she was asked about it in front of someone she wanted to impress. Was that all going to go away? Had she managed to sink the unsinkable?
“I still think we need to lead the narrative. Turn the story around. We should probably hire a PR firm that specializes in this,” Virginia said.
Brooklyn’s cell phone rang. She wasn’t about to answer it, but she did glance at the screen, and when she saw who was calling, her heart abruptly squeezed tight. Alec wasn’t the type to gloat, but he was the type to ignore their argument the other night and jump ahead to asking what in the hell she was doing. “I should probably take this. Can I get some privacy?”
Tom bolted for the door and Virginia reluctantly trailed behind him, adding a parting thought. “This isn’t over, Brooklyn. We can’t ignore it. I won’t ignore it.”
Brooklyn shooed her sister away. “Yeah. Yeah. I know.” As soon as her door closed, she answered Alec’s call. “I have a feeling I know why you’re calling. I really don’t want a lecture, Alec.”
“I saw the letter.”
“You weren’t on the mailing list, were you?”
“No.”
“Good. Nowthatwould have been awkward.”
