The Publicist Book One and Two Read online

  “You bet, Katie. So, you getting a tan?” Kate smiled, Mac knew the answer to that question, and he also knew that from the minute she landed she probably didn’t have a single moment to herself.

  “Yeah, Mac, you caught me on the beach.” She chuckled once she was outside. The California sun felt warm and tempting. For a half a second, she considered hopping in a cab and heading to Santa Monica beach for the afternoon, but Mac’s voice quickly brought her back to reality.

  “So, how’s everything going there?”

  “I hate celebrities,” Kate said.

  Mac chuckled. “We all do, Katie, but we tolerate them because at some level they do sell books.”

  “Not the B-listers.”

  “You worried about this?” he said, genuinely concerned.

  “I’ve never felt right about it, and I think Bernie severely screwed up their expectations again. I think this guy really believes he’s gonna hit the list,” she said, referring to The New York Times Best Seller list.

  “Well, Bernie needs to set him straight; that isn’t your job, Katie. You’re the publicity, not a magician, and if Bernie’s given another author delusions of grandeur, he needs to be talked to. Do you want me to handle this?”

  “No, Mac. It’s fine, really. Day after tomorrow, we head back to the city and then in a few days we’re done. From there Bernie can handle the fallout of a non-selling book.”

  “Is he there?” Mac said, asking a question he already knew the answer to.

  “Of course not, Mac, but I’m betting he’ll be here for the red carpet event tomorrow.”

  Kate could hear Mac sigh on the other end of the phone. “Yeah, that’s probably true. I’m sorry you have to deal with this on your own.”

  “Hey, it’s fine. I’m Super Publicist, remember? If I can talk someone down off of a building, I can handle these mangled B-lister expectations.”

  It was the first time Mac had heard Kate joke about the near jump Haley did. He was glad she was finally moving past it.

  “Listen, Kate, I called because we need to go to Seattle next week and meet with this author. I was hoping we could leave on Tuesday. What’s your week like?”

  “Hang on.” Kate fumbled with her phone, checking her schedule. “It looks fine, but you might also want to check with Lulu and make sure nothing got added that didn’t sync to this thing yet.” Lulu was a publicist hopeful who aspired to have her own books one day, though for now she supported the team and handled much of the scheduling for the more senior publicity people. She also knew instinctively when Kate needed a shot of caffeine and would often surprise her with a steaming latte at just the right moment.

  “Great, I’ll check with Lu. So, you’re sure you’re going to be okay out there?”

  “Yeah, Mac, I’ll be fine. I’ll see you in a few days.”

  “Sounds good, Katie, knock ’em dead.” The line went dead. Kate shoved the phone back in its case and turned to head inside.

  “You taking a fucking break, again?”

  Kate jumped at Myrna’s voice. Of course, the vile witch would know she was missing. Kate walked past the aging wannabe, ignoring her screeching voice, and headed back inside.

  …

  The red carpet event was a huge success. Despite the fact that Phil hadn’t worked in the industry for a number of years, he still had a lot of friends—most of them also B-listers, but Kate didn’t care. It filled a room and kept the hum of conversation at an exciting peak. Bernie was there, of course. As predicted, he had shown up in time to walk the red carpet and smile for the cameras. Kate spotted him inside elbowing his way to another guest as he scanned the room for more people he needed to hob-nob with.

  Chapter Twelve

  The signing at Wassermann’s was scheduled for Friday, and everything was in place. Books were ordered, and the store had been receiving a brisk pace of calls inquiring about the event. Leslie and Melanie had a huge gay following, and Kate had spent a considerable amount of time promoting the event to publications and blogs across the ’Net, hoping and praying they would come out in droves.

  Kate’s publisher put the entire group up at the Lowe’s Hotel on Park South. It was a sprawling, luxurious place and home of The Library, a dark and intimate bar/restaurant inside the hotel that was known for its business A-listers and endless deals that were made within its walls.

  The first stop on Friday morning was to Good Morning America, then The Ellen Degeneres Show for a special New York taping, and finally, they would be off to Showbiz Tonight on CNN. While both the women had been fine during the California event, Kate noticed Melanie start to fray when they got to New York. Phil had been keeping a close eye on her to make sure she wasn’t drinking more than she should, but Kate had caught her sneaking some whiskey into her coffee that morning just before her makeup artist got there at four a.m. Phil, of course, was still sleeping—as was the foul-mouthed Myrna—so Kate decided to gently mention something to Melanie, who promptly flew into a rage.

  “Are you accusing me of drinking?”

  “Well, you did just pour whiskey into your coffee,” Kate said, trying to remain calm while the makeup person prepared to doll Melanie up.

  “I do that every morning. Now, be a dear and go see if you can scrape me up a bagel from room service.” Melanie threw her a sweet smile and Kate decided to forget it. Hopefully, Phil would show up soon and she could stop babysitting the actress. But the minute Kate’s back was turned, Melanie poured another shot into her cup.

  The timid makeup person decided to ignore what he just saw and said: “Well, Miss Melanie, are you ready to look even more beautiful than you already are?”

  Melanie smiled and sipped her coffee, relaxing more with each swallow.

  The limousine arrived at the hotel to take the crew to the first taping at six a.m. By the time the limo pulled up, Kate was already exhausted. Myrna had found a million things to yell at her about, and Phil was convinced that by Sunday their book would be at the top of the list. Kate made a mental note to turn off her cell phone that following weekend so she wouldn’t have to listen to the endless ringing when Phil called wondering why his book wasn’t even mentioned in The Times, let alone on the list.

  Leslie emerged from the hotel looking fresh and smiling at Kate. They hadn’t exchanged a lot of words, but Kate liked Leslie. She seemed pretty much happy with anything Kate did for her, and she was grateful to have at least one person in this group who didn’t badger her endlessly with insane requests. When Melanie walked out of the hotel, Kate could tell she’d had more than one sip of whiskey in her coffee. She giggled at the chauffer and tried to flirt with the doorman who seemed terrified of this aging actress’ advances.

  Kate shuffled them all into the car, and they sped off to their first taping, which, to Kate’s surprise, actually went pretty well. The interviewer had been a fan of the show and was excited to have the women on. Kate watched Melanie closely, and for whatever reason, she seemed to pull it off. Aside from her and the makeup person who had been hired for the entire day, no one would know she was probably well beyond the legal limit to drive. Thank God she was only walking, talking, and smiling. So far as Kate could see, Melanie managed to pull that off quite well.

  The morning wore on, and the signing scheduled for two p.m. that day was already drawing a crowd. As Kate predicted, it was almost all from the gay and lesbian community, and she was glad she’d taken that route. They were lined up outside the store. Wassermann’s would be pleased, and Kate knew she’d kept her promise. Maybe this would turn out to be an okay day after all.

  When they got to CNN, Melanie started to complain about her back. She’d been known for chronic back pain. When she was found nude on Rodeo Drive and her blood showed a level of painkillers, she swore it was her meds and nothing more.

  “Katie,” she smiled sweetly when they got to the CNN building, “I need some water to take my pills or I’ll never make it through this interview.”

  Kate rested her han
d on Melanie’s elbow and pulled her aside. “Melanie, listen. I’d like to help you with this, but you and I both know you’ve been drinking. Don’t deny it.” Kate added quickly when Melanie opened her mouth in protest.

  “I need you to help me pull this off; it’s a quick, fifteen minute interview. That’s all. Then we’re done, and you can have your pain pills.” Kate lied, knowing full well that Melanie needed to stay off of them at least until the signing was over, but Kate would jump off that bridge when she came to it.

  “Fine,” Melanie agreed, and stomped inside like a scolded child. Somehow, Kate didn’t believe her, and by the time they were ushered into the green room, Kate noticed Melanie swaggering a bit and realized she’d probably popped her pain pill with the flask of whatever booze she was carrying in her purse. Kate started to sweat; if Melanie screwed up this interview, Kate would have a hard time getting anyone else booked on this show because she couldn’t keep her clients in line. The problem was, these women weren’t her clients—Phil was. By default, she ended up babysitting the entire group, and Bernie was, of course, nowhere to be found.

  “What’s up with Melanie?” Robert, the handsome CNN producer who Kate met for an occasional drink asked her after watching Melanie giggle her way through most of the interview.

  “Nothing, Robert. I swear.”

  Robert put his hand on the small of her back. It was no secret he wanted more from Kate than an occasional drink, but Robert wasn’t her type. A bit too New York for her tastes, a bit too worried about making an impression and less worried about being real. Kate wanted real; she hungered for it. Robert was handsome and sweet, but far from real.

  “Don’t kid me, Kate. We both know Mel’s on something. Now tell me what it is so I know what I’m dealing with.”

  “Pain pills,” Kate said, leaving out the fifth of vodka Kate was certain Melanie had drank with it.

  “Fucking great. Okay, let me alert the host so he doesn’t spend too much time with her.”

  Robert was smart, and that was one of the reasons he’d been with CNN for over fifteen years. He was one of the best in the business and why he insisted on working at a celebrity-driven show like this one was beyond Kate. But again, Robert was all about making an impression, and he believed celebrities were the biggest impression makers of them all.

  Kate shook her head as she watched Melanie hang onto her chair to keep herself from swaying. It just cemented her decision further not to date Robert. Anyone who thought celebrities were impression-makers was not someone she could spend time with. And after watching this train wreck over the last week, Kate was tempted to swear off all celebrities. Forever.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “What the hell do you mean there were only twenty books sent for this event? We have almost two hundred people lined up outside!” Kate could hardly breathe. Somewhere, someone had screwed up the book order. Instead of ordering two hundred books, they’d ordered twenty.

  Carol the store manager looked back through her paperwork.

  “We tried calling the editor a few times to confirm that this was the correct number—a Bernard someone.” The manager fumbled with her notes. “No one ever got back to us, so we assumed this was the right number of books.”

  Kate felt the room spinning; twenty books would send Phil into a rage, not to mention what the hanger-on would say.

  “I have to get more books,” Kate insisted.

  “Kate, I’m sorry, but we can’t. There are no books in the warehouse, and we didn’t order extra copies. As I said…”

  Kate stopped listening and quickly pulled out her phone to call Bernie.

  She got his voicemail.

  She tried him at home. Nothing.

  Carol fumbled with the paper in her hand. Kate’s panic was papable. “Listen, Kate, I’m going to go and make sure they’re okay and set up out there. Let me know what you figure out. I’ll have our staff call some of the other stores and see if we can get some copies on consignment.”

  Carol closed the door behind her, leaving Kate in the stuffy room by herself to figure this out. She tried calling Lulu to see if she was at the office. Then Kate remembered the email that they’d floated around saying MD was closed that Friday to accommodate a last minute heating and air conditioning fix the company had to perform when all the systems blew out the day before. Edward had encouraged everyone to work a half-day and then head home for an early weekend. The repair process was noisy and messy, and much of the staff took him up on his offer. Lulu’s phone went to voicemail; she tried her cell, same thing. Kate started to panic. It would take her almost an hour to get from where she was to the office by cab to see if Bernie had any copies stashed in his office, which editors often did. She desperately needed to get her hands on some books. If the bookstore couldn’t get any, she’d either have to take the cab ride or face the music with Phil and Myrna.

  Carol pushed the door open and peered inside, shaking her head. Nothing. No one else had books. They were thirty minutes from the start of the event and the store had twenty copies of the book. That would get them through the first five minutes of the signing, and then Phil would spend the next three hours of this event fuming. The women had their DVDs to sign. Naturally, someone at the studio knew better than to under order on those.

  “Kate, I need to tell you something,” Carol began. “After doing some more research, it looks as though Bernie stopped the order.”

  Kate was dumbfounded. Why on earth would Bernie do that? Did he intentionally want to set this up for failure? Was he trying to undermine her?

  “Thanks, Carol. I have a few more calls to make. Let me see if I can fix this.” Kate tried to remain calm, but her hands were shaking. If Edward found out about this, she would lose The Continued Promise. Kate was certain of it. Bernie might have changed the order, but at the end of the day, the buck would stop with her. Kate punched a number in on her phone. Mac answered.

  “Yeah?”

  “Mac, it’s Kate.”

  Mac could hear the frazzle in Kate’s voice, “Katie, what’s going on?”

  Kate explained, as best she could, what she surmised had happened up to this point. “My only hope, Mac, is that there are copies in Bernie’s office. Is your assistant around. Can she go check on this for me?”

  “Kate, I’ll do it.”

  “Mac, no, you’re not even in the city, and the signing starts in thirty minutes.”

  “I’m at my apartment this weekend. I can be at the office in five and to you in less than thirty if I can find the books.” Mac kept an apartment in the city that he often stayed at for several weeks at a time. With the boys gone to college, there was no reason for him to go home anyway.

  “Are you sure, Mac?”

  “Positive. I’ll call you when I know more.”

  Kate dropped the phone in her purse and leaned against the wall. Outside she could hear Myrna’s screeching voice. She reached over to lock the office door. She needed a few more minutes by herself to figure out what she’d do if Mac couldn’t find any books.

  …

  Less than twenty minutes later, Mac showed up, books in hand. He’d found about a hundred copies stuffed in Bernie’s office, grabbed them, and then tipped the cabbie twenty dollars to break all the traffic laws and get Kate the books she needed. When Kate saw Mac’s smiling face, she nearly leapt into his arms. Mac didn’t say a word, but handed the box to one of the store clerks. The cabbie was waiting outside, trunk open with more copies. Probably not the number of copies Phil was hoping for, but considerably better than the twenty books they’d started with.

  “Mac, I can’t thank you enough. You know, if this hadn’t gone well…” Mac rested a hand on her arm. “It was my pleasure, Kate. I’m just glad I could help.”

  “You did more than help me, and you know that.”

  Mac only smiled, “Call me when this is over and let me know how it went.”

  Then, without another word, he turned to leave. Kate noticed he was wearing jea
ns and a casual white shirt. She’d never seen this look on him, but she liked it. She assumed this was who Mac really was—just a regular guy who’d landed this incredible job, but still as real as they come. She watched Mac get back into the cab, lost in thought, when Myrna’s vile mouth brought her back to reality.

  …

  When the last of the line of autograph-hungry fans passed through the line, Kate breathed a sigh of relief. The limo was already out front to take the group to the airport and she’d be done with the lot of them. Kate could hardly wait. She was exhausted but keyed up from having to keep track of Myrna’s rampant demands on the bookstore and Melanie’s constant “water” drinking. Kate knew whatever was in the plastic bottle wasn’t water but since no cameras were rolling, she could care less. As long as Melanie kept smiling and signing and kept her clothes on, Kate was thrilled.

  Kate watched as the group piled into the limo. Phil mentioned in passing that he’d be watching The Times on Sunday for his book, Kate just smiled and shook his hand. The vile mouthed hanger-on stepped into the limo, but not before shouting a slew of obscenities at the driver for parking too far from the curb. When the car finally glided into traffic, Kate stepped away from the street thankful that the whole mess was finally over and cursing Bernie for his apparent intentional undermining of the whole event. From out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a black sedan that came to a smooth stop in front of her. The backdoor opened and out stepped Mac, still in his jeans and smiling from ear to ear.

  “You did it, kid,” he laughed. “And best of all, you survived.”

  “Yes I did, but barely. I think I’ll need hours of therapy to get over this—or a stiff drink.”

  “Well, I can’t help you with the therapy. Although, I’ve been told I’m a good listener. But, I can definitely help you with the drink.” He winked.

  Kate tipped her head to one side, suddenly wondering what was going on. “Mac, what are you doing here?”

  “I decided you needed to get picked up in style, so I hired a sedan,” he paused. “Then I decided you didn’t need to be alone, so I came with it.”