"Oh, I'm sure that's not true. Queen Margot seems like an cool person. I think she would—“
I interrupt her. "Let's not get into what she would or would not do and what you personally think would or would not be okay with her. You said you had three ideas. So what are the other two?"
There's a few seconds of awkward silence on the line. I hear the sound of pages flipping as she clears her throat again. "Well, okay. I've got another idea that is about you and Lars and how your relationship first started almost fifteen years ago in boarding school."
I grimace. "Again, I think you are asking me to trade on my personal relationships in order to give a inside look into the personal lives of the royals. And I don't think that Lars would appreciate it any more than Margot would. I think that one of the reasons that they both respect me is that I may be a journalist, but I'm not always asking annoying personal questions on the record when I'm hanging out with them. We're friends first. I'm a journalist second. Does that make sense to you?"
I can just imagine her pinched face, her look of disappointment complete. "I don't think that you are really getting a full picture of what I am asking you for. It's nothing that couldn't be gleaned from reading the papers…"
I clench my jaw. "I think I've already answered your question. What is the third idea?"
She blows out a breath. "Well, this one is a little more personal and a little more out there, but I was thinking that you could take a vacation with Lars or Margot and record little short video clips of reminiscing on your friendship—“
I make an aggravated noise. "Ja, no. I'm not going to do that. It seems like all of your story ideas center around my friendship with the royal family. None of the other editors have any problem with assigning me stories that are not directly related to my friends. I don't quite understand what the issue is that you seem to have."
"I don't have an issue with you, Pippa. You seem to be the one that has an issue with this newspaper. And to be frank, I don't see how we can keep employing someone that clearly has interests other than the paper at heart. So I would think long and hard about the three stories I presented. I would plan to do one of them. Because until you do, I don't think that you can be assigned another story."
My lips thin and my eyes narrow. “Have you talked to upper management about this? Because David certainly wouldn't like you poking your nose into the royal family any more than I like being asked to do it."
Freja sounds a little happy to deliver the news. "Didn’t you hear? David left the paper. We are all undergoing a radical shift right now and reconsidering the terms of employment of the lot of our writers. So I put it to you instead… Do you think that you can be useful to us? Because if not…"
My mouth opens but no words come out. I am just utterly aghast. "Are you saying that either I do the story that you seem to want or I find another job?"
I can hear her smiling through the phone. "Yes, honestly. I think you have to do some serious consideration of where your priorities lie. I suggest that you take the long weekend and think about whether or not you really want this job."
That's when I hang up the phone on her. I didn't exactly mean to do it, I am just so put off by everything she had to say and how she had to say it. I couldn't listen to another word.
I'm left staring at my phone screen, agog.
Was I just fired from the paper? It certainly feels that way.
I get a notification on my phone that Freja just shared a document with me. I open it up, biting my lower lip. It's a breakdown of each story she has asked me to pursue and how she sees each one ending up. Essentially she has already all but written the articles that she is demanding. I'm just supposed to write down some words and sign my name to this… this fiction.
I just can't believe it. As if everything else in my life is just going fine and dandy…. No, it’s definitely not.