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“It is not polite to make a woman come out into bad weather for you,” he said. “And I… I guess I do not agree with my manager on this one.” He turned to her, and did she notice that their knees touched? Yes. Yes, she did. “I was thinking about what you said this morning: Jaelyn and I are the big draws for the event. How can I help them if I stay in my hotel room for two weeks? Is it not better that I go aroundtellingeveryone about the Studio while I’m here?”
“Oh.” He’d remembered something she’d said? He’d been thinking about it? “Well, okay, then.” And it did make sense from a marketing point of view. “So, what’s the plan now?”
“That is up to you, Megan.”
There he went again, making everything sound like a promise.The auction, her mind stuttered.He’s talking about the auction. She couldn’t even see him looking at her in the uneven lighting. Could she?
“We’ll see what Etta and Susie have to say about it,” he added, “but I will see if I can get an interview on one of the morning shows. Radio, too.”
“That’s what I’d have you do,” she said. “I know a few people at the stations. But—” His publicity team would have their own contacts. “You don’t need me for that, of course.”
“Let’s not say that yet,” he replied, and the light disappeared from the car so she could hear only his voice. He sounded amused. Megan was getting too excited. She didn’t even know if she would get along with these people.
They drove in silence through the rush hour traffic and pulled up in front of a brightly colored, low-slung building with a couple of bare trees and a snow-covered swing set out front. A churro truck stood in the light coming from floor-to-ceiling windows on one side. The rest of the neighborhood was rundown, but Megan got the sense this was the life force of the place. Her heart immediately lifted as Alessandro ushered her to the door.
“So what’s your secret surprise?” a short white woman with high blond hair asked as soon as they got inside.
“Charlene, meet Megan,” Alessandro said. “Megan knows about publicity and is going to help us now that Melanie is gone.”
“If I can,” Megan put in.
A woman with a buzz cut came out of an office. Alessandro introduced her as Etta and a green-haired woman as Susie. He didn’t have to introduce Jaelyn Jones, though of course he did. She’d almost gotten used to Alessandro’s star presence, but with Jaelyn, Megan had to start all over again. Soon she had three women and Alessandro looking at her around a dinged-up conference table with a laptop between them all.
She swallowed her starstruck tendency and began. Once she started talking, though, she lost all timidity. She put her phone in the middle of the table, and they all leaned over, squinting at their own website and social media profiles while she told them what was going wrong and how easy it would be to put it right. Every question Susie answered gave Megan more ideas, more visions, more certainty that the Studio and the community center could do so much more with their social media—and that Megan could help them do it.
Etta handed over the passwords to everything without a blink. She must really trust Alessandro’s judgment. Megan would do everything she could to earn that trust, too.
She drilled down on how much Jaelyn could do to help the cause between filming her series. Susie gave Megan a list of alumni who’d made it to the big time, and Megan swore she’d chase them down for quotes. “Really? Him? Her?” she said several times. The Studio should be legendary, not struggling, if it was connected to these people.
And Alessandro? “What can I do?” he asked.
“If you’re serious about not staying in your hotel room,” she told him, “you can get into a TV studio. Yesterday.”
“Whatever you say, boss.” He saluted. The others laughed, but Megan didn’t.
“Watch what you agree to,” she said seriously. “You’re the one without a day job right now. I’m going to be taking every spare hour you’ve got.”
“They’re all yours,” he said.
Megan would have loved to take a second to examine exactlyhowhe’d said such an innocent phrase, but she was looking at the SEO settings on the website.
“After the fundraiser, you’ll have to make sure we keep these updated for all the programs you run every week.” She tapped the screen with one finger. “The kids might be learning this in school. You could use them to keep it fresh.”
“Don’t bet on them learning anything in school,” Etta said. “Not that they’re not trying, you understand. But the funding for enough computers for everyone?”
“Oh. I’m sorry, that was stupid of me.” Megan thought fast. “Do you have a computer lab here?”
“I refer you,” Etta said in a dry tone, “to my last comment.”
“Right. Right.” Megan mentally kicked herself. “Well, I can certainly keep up with that for you if you’d like. What are you doing with the money from the fundraiser?”
Etta and Susie began talking at once. Jaelyn interrupted, and Alessandro put up his hands to stop them talking over each other. Megan laughed. “Okay! There’s a lot to do, apparently!”
Susie grinned sheepishly. Etta spread her hands out on the table. “You see our problem.”
“So,” Megan said. “We’d better make sure we bring in as much money as possible.”
“And you’ll help us?” Susie asked.
