"I'm sorry," a well-trained male secretary said once she'd been transferred. "Ms. Warner isn't available at the moment." Julia was fluent in the language of the publishing industry, and knew this translated to "Go away, loser, we don't accept unsolicited trash."
It's now or never, Julia thought, holding her breath. "Will you see if she's available for Julia James?"
A pause from New York City. Then the man asked, " Miss James?"
"Yes," Julia said. "I'll hold."
It seemed like a lifetime as she waited. A dozen horrific scenarios ran through her mind, the worst of which consisted of her being transferred to Candon and told that she shouldn't forget whose author she really was. What if Abby Warner hated her books? What if Abby Warner hated her? What if the most influential woman in modern publishing thought she was a hack, a wash-up, a dud?
Then Abby came on the line. "Sweetheart, are you okay?" The woman gave her no time to answer before she jumped in again. "Everybody's talking about it. Now why don't you tell me what's really going on?"
"It's not true, Abby. None of it."
"Oh, honey. I can't tell you what a relief that is."
"It is?" Julia asked, amazed that Abby was seeing her side of it. "Candon was thrilled. Sales are through the roof—"
"Candon wouldn't know integrity if it bit him on his ass. So I guess you want to come over to me," Abby said, but before Julia could answer, the editor blew right past her. "Of course I want you! Consider it done. And what's this I hear about a baby?"
"Completely untrue."
"Listen, Jules," Abby said. Very few people called Julia "Jules," but she made the split-second decision that if Abby Warner wanted to be one of them, all the better. "What's this agent's name, the one whose face is in front of all the cameras?"
"Richard Stone."
"Don't worry about this jerk. We've got people who dispose of men like him for a living."
Julia didn't want to think what "dispose of" might mean to the woman who'd edited an international bestseller on the top secrets of the Mob.
"Oh, Abby, that sounds great. But I'm afraid the blood's already in the water. I've got photographers camped outside my house. They're not going to give up just because Richard Stone goes away."
"Sure they are," Abby said. "I have it on good authority there's a supermodel with a bun in the oven even though her billionaire sugar daddy had a vasectomy six years ago. You're ,about to be old news."
Julia breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, Abby, that's wonderful."
"Great! Jules, I get the feeling there's something here you're not telling me."
Actually, there were a lot of things Julia hadn't told her simply because Abby hadn't allowed her time to speak. She thought about Crazy Myrtle, the fact that Lance was living with her, and the missing Veronica, and she also remembered what her mother always said about lasting relationships being rooted in truth. She adjusted her grip on the phone and aimed tor "completely reliable business associate."
"No," Julia said. "Nothing else."
Chapter Eighteen
WAY #18: Value persistence.
The single people who cope best with life are those who are persistent and surround themselves with people who don't settle for second best. People who are truly happy set their sights on their goals and then keep plugging away until they reach them.
—from 707 Ways to Cheat at Solitaire
randpa calls him Twirp," Cassie was saying. "That means small, contemptible person," she explained to Lance as Julia eased down the hall toward the nursery. She could see Nick sleeping peacefully in his crib and Lance standing beside him with Cassie mounted firmly on his back. "At first, I didn't want a little brother," Cassie went on. "But I know women have longer life expectancies, so it's okay that I'm older."
"Five going on forty, huh?" Lance said softly as Julia appeared in the doorway.
"Oh, yeah," she whispered back. She took Cassie from Lance and felt the little girl's arms and legs wrap around her. "Whatcha doing, girlie?" she asked her niece.
"I'm explaining how to be a sister, because Lance doesn't have one."
"Oh?" Julia asked, eyebrows raised. "That's very nice of you."