made it to the bar for Roxana’s birthday. Maybe the “birthday” was just an excuse for them to run off together.
Trying to shake off my worries, I dragged myself to the keynote address. Then I went to a panel on search engine optimization, after which I wolfed down a bagel in the food court while checking my phone for the umpteenth time, but of course there was still nothing from Ford.
Why hadn’t he called or texted me by now, even just to say he’d gotten my note? What was he doing? I was sick at the possibility that he’d slept with Claudia—and that I was at least partly to blame.
Had I done the wrong thing by leaving town? Had I pushed my husband and his ex back together by refusing to be a part of Ford’s lifestyle? I still couldn’t believe how brazen Claudia had been in her flirting—but the thing that really hurt was how Ford hadn’t seemed to mind at all. And how, ultimately, it didn’t matter how flirty they’d gotten or how inappropriate their behavior was. Because Ford wasn’t really mine.
I needed to get that through my head once and for all.
Okay. Chin up. Time to focus on the task at hand: promoting Danica Rose. Not zoning out during every seminar I could duck into and mooning over my fake husband.
Or maybe I should just track down my brothers and see about tagging along with them. That would keep me on my toes. I’d just step out to the lobby and give Stefan a call.
Whipping around abruptly, I walked right into someone, bouncing off a hard male chest.
“Well, if it isn’t the last person I expected to bump into here,” an amused voice said. “You okay?”
I looked up—right into the deep blue eyes of Andrew Apellido, of lookingglass magazine. “Andrew!” I exclaimed, immediately comforted by his familiar face. “How are you?”
“Even better than I was five seconds ago,” he said. “Delighted to see you, Emzee.”
He gave me a hug and I returned it, though I wondered if his excitement in seeing me wasn’t solely because he was interested in talking business.
“You should have told me you were in New York,” he said. “There’s nothing I love more than showing off my city to people from out of town.”
“It was a last-minute decision,” I said. “I didn’t know I was coming until last night.”
“A great decision, in my opinion,” he said. “These conferences are always hit or miss, but when you have the right person to explore them with, they can be a whole lot of fun.”
“Oh yeah?” I said. “Prove it. I’m totally overwhelmed.”
Andrew grinned. “See now, we can easily fix that. Drink? The lobby bar is great.”
If I couldn’t save my marriage or even my relationship with Ford, I was at least going to do what I could to keep my professional career afloat. Plus, I liked the guy.
“I’m in,” I said.
I was grateful to get out of the crowd and retreat to the bar, which was much quieter and calmer than I’d expected.
“My brothers love your magazine,” I told Andrew once we’d gotten our drinks.
“I appreciate it,” he said. “But I’m much more interested in hearing what you think about my magazine.”
He was clearly flirting, but he also seemed genuinely interested.
“I’m a fan,” I said. “From what I’ve seen, I think it has a lot of potential. Beyond just the images, the articles are thought provoking, almost like what Playboy used to publish. It could really make some waves, depending on what direction you take it in.”
“That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?” He took a sip of his drink, a simple tequila on the rocks. “My goal is to create the kind of magazine that everyone talks about. Publish work that’s risky—to shock and inspire our readers, make sure we’re a magazine everyone knows.”
“I’m into that,” I said. It aligned exactly with the vision I had for my own work. I craved the freedom to push boundaries, to try new things without fearing rejection from the mainstream.
“I want us to tackle the tough issues!” Andrew went on. “Not shy away from discussing what’s controversial or intense. I want to be controversial. How would you like to spend thirty days documenting the effects of climate change right here in America’s backyards, for instance?”
Nodding, I said, “Love to. It’s too easy for people to ignore photos of melting icebergs.”
“Exactly! You have to be more immediate. Get in people’s faces a little bit, or a lot.”
I was so