Page 34 of Stuart Woods' Golden Hour

On the drive to Cineteca Paoletti’s studio lot, Billy checked for messages from Rogers. He knew it was unlikely there would be any this soon, and he was right.

Lizzie was waiting for them when they arrived. After escorting everyone into a conference room, she said, “I hope you’re excited for press junket day!”

“Is anyone ever excited for press junket day?” Peter asked.

“I am,” Adriene said.

“Only because it’s your first,” Tessa said.

“It’s really not that bad,” Lizzie said to Adriene. “You each get your own room. Journalists will come in, interview you for ten minutes, then cycle to the next room.”

“How many journalists?” Billy asked.

“Fifteen.”

“At ten minutes each? That’s what?” Adriene asked.

“Two and a half hours,” Billy said.

“Whoa.”

“And that’s not counting the five minutes between for moving around.”

“Andthe fact that there’s always a few that go long,” Lizzie added. “To be safe, figure it will take four hours.”

Instead of looking excited, Adriene now looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights.

“Four hours is nothing,” Lizzie assured her. “Some press junkets can last all day.”

“Allday?” Adriene said.

“Don’t worry,” Billy said. “The time will fly by.”

“And the questions are almost always the same fromreporter to reporter,” Hattie added. “After the third or fourth interview, you’ll be running on autopilot.”

“Just be yourself, and you’ll do fine,” Billy said.

Several offices had been converted into interview rooms, with comfortable chairs, beautiful flowers, and the film’s logo mounted on a backdrop. Once all of the film’s principals were in their assigned rooms, the reporters began rotating in and out.

Billy had done many events like this before, and easily charmed his way through what turned out to be three and a quarter hours of repeating himself over and over.

When the last reporter had left, Stacy stuck her head into the room and said, “That’s a wrap.”

“Next time someone suggests I come on one of these trips, please remind me to fire them.”

“Ah, come on. It wasn’t that bad.”

“Wait until you have to sit in this chair.”

“Iamwaiting.”

“I have a feeling that day will come sooner than later, and when it does, then we’ll talk.”

“I look forward to it.”

“What’s next?” he asked.

“Tessa, Peter, and Adriene are off with Lizzie to appear on an afternoon talk show. You and Hattie have nothing on the schedule until the cocktail party this evening.”

---