Camarin slipped out the door early, leaving an unsuspecting Rachel tittering and gossiping with Annalise. She had no desire to eavesdrop on a detailed account of anyone else’s sexual exploits, especially when Benji had cut her own prospects short the night before.
If she hurts DeAndre, I’ll kill her. And if I don’t get any soon, I’ll kill myself.
Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who had been left wanting. As soon as she entered the bullpen, she noticed the note on her keyboard. Without stopping to hang up her jacket, she unfolded the missive, fingers trembling.
Camarita,
I must head out of town to meet with some investors, whom I plan to lure to Trend with your bold plans for our new direction. I greatly anticipate reading your interview with Perri Evans. I’m sure it will be spectacular.
I am sorry last night didn’t work out, but I look forward to dining with you again in the near future.
Lyle
In spite of herself and her better judgment, she felt the warmth spread from her face, past her heart, right down to her bebe’, which throbbed with desire. How she craved this witty, smart, supportive man who looked past spilt coffee and airborne pens, and nevertheless accepted her, encouraged her to explore her true self.
Perhaps she could take off an evening from Benji’s next week and, instead, spend it sitting on his lap in some private space. Between their hungry kisses, he could spoon-feed her tiny dollops of caviar, and she could regale him with tales of her adventure with Mangel, assuming she made some progress this weekend and could justify having defied his order not to investigate in person.
She turned on her computer and typed Amtrak into the search bar. Despite her initial excitement, this Evans assignment certainly presented a major kink in her plans to cover the revival. She searched through train schedules and prices, as crazed as a college senior studying for midterms. Her main concern: making it from Philly to DC and back Saturday without missing any of the second evening’s revival meeting.
It turned out she’d worried for nothing. The cost of a roundtrip Acela ticket between New York to DC more than covered the cost of the cheaper, slower Northeast Regional local she was planning to take to Philly and back, plus the side trip between Philly and Washington. The surplus was even enough to cover her two nights at the Airbnb. Score! Even the schedules worked in her favor, with trains between DC and Philadelphia departing frequently enough to ensure she’d make the revival’s seven PM start, even if her interview with the singer ran overtime.
She relaxed into editing the newest feature Wynan had sent to her in-box, a thought piece analyzing how the growth speed of the average female’s fingernails equated to her life span. All hail the mystical powers of alpha-keratin. Almost as a joke, she shot off a sarcastic email to Wynan.
Any chance of including a sidebar on the dangers of biting your nails? Not only will it prevent you from predicting how long you’ll live, it can lead to several illnesses, according to Google.
A few minutes later, she received a return message.
Not a bad thought. Put something together with a few original quotes, and I’ll see if we have room to include it. Way to go. That kind of thinking is exactly how you transition a fluff magazine into something with a little more weight!
Apparently, nothing was too inconsequential for Trend to cover. No matter. Camarin sat back and grinned. Fletcher’s unannounced departure aside, this flurry of love notes, new assignments, and unexpected pocket change had transformed what had started as a questionable morning into a terrific afternoon.