Page 14 of Nothing But the Truth

CHAPTER

5

Twice a week at J&J the whole company gathered for a stand-up meeting. The twenty or so minutes consisted of Joanna and Jonathan leaning out of their respective office doorways at either corner of the floor, senior and junior publicists crowding the walkway between, and all the assistants and interns getting to sit at their desks in the cubicles, which Lucy found unfair. The people with the lowest status at the company got to be the most comfortable for the whole ordeal. She couldn’t help wondering if the setup was left over from Joanna and Jonathan’s childhood, if their sibling squabbles took place from their bedroom doorways.

Lucy assumed her usual position at Oliver’s cubicle outside Joanna’s office, but instead of leaning against the little gray wall like normal, she slipped inside to avoid more questions about her well-being due to her appearance. Oliver made no comment about her taking up his space. She was nearly sitting on his lap.

She noticed Chase in his usual spot outside Jonathan’s office, looking like a puppy begging for a treat. He handed Jonathan a cup of coffee and said something about being in the kitchen already and that it was no big deal.

Lucy didn’t even try to disguise her eye roll, and she hoped he saw it.

She cast her gaze to where Joanna held her spot against her own doorframe. She leaned into the building like she was holding it up on her own, and really, everyone knew she was.

Jonathan and Joanna’s father, Jonathan Senior, founded J&J in the seventies. He named it after his two children in an illusion of equality that was in fact just a middle finger to Joanna. If there was a rightful heir to the throne, it was Joanna by about a thousand miles. More like by a communications degree, an MBA, and leadership experience that eclipsed her younger brother’s. But as fate would have it, when their father retired some twenty years before, he passed the helm to Jonathan despite Joanna being a better candidate. While she had gone to school and prepared herself to take over the company, all smooth-talking, grad-school-dropout, penchant-for-partying Jonathan had to do was rub elbows with the old boys’ club and he was a shoo-in for the position.

Lucy resented that fact on Joanna’s behalf as fiercely as she stood in awe of her ability to keep her cool as second-in-command when everyone knew she deserved to be CEO.

True to form, she took charge of the morning’s meeting.

“Good morning, everyone,” she called over the din. The room immediately fell quiet. “Not much of an update today since everyone’s got their work cut out with summer season on the horizon, but just a few things to highlight...”

Lucy felt a tug on her skirt. Reluctantly, she turned to Oliver at his desk, keeping one ear on Joanna.

Oliver pointed at his computer screen with a comically sober look on his face. It showed a picture of a candle in a bowl of water surrounded by lemons under the words Reverse the Curse.

Lucy scowled at him, and he smiled with a shrug, as if to say, It was worth a shot.

And maybe it was?

Joanna was still talking, giving an update on her client Ms. Ma’s music video, which was already making waves since its release that morning. The song blatantly embraced female sexuality and pleasure—in the same way male artists had been doing for decades—and critics were quick to call it vulgar and inappropriate. In perhaps the grandest missing of the point, some called it demeaning to women. Already exhausted by the hypocrisy, Lucy tuned out and took a half step closer to Oliver’s screen. From the corner of her eye, she saw the rest of his search results: How to Undo a Voodoo Curse; Reverse a Curse Spell; Hex Removal—Learn How To.

She felt insane for even thinking it, but... maybe?

Oliver discreetly clicked on the Hex Removal option, and it took him to a website selling protection amulets.

Lucy stifled a laugh. Of course she could buy something to solve her problem. People found a way to cash in on literally everything, mysterious maybe-curses included.

She shook her head, wondering who would curse her.

As if in response to her silent question, Chase McMillan opened his pretentious mouth.

“We’ve been negotiating with the Lakers’ front office,” he said. “I’ve got a lunch with Shawn Stevens today, and I expect a signature soon.”

Lucy tore her eyes from the hex magic website and looked from Chase to Jonathan to Joanna so quickly, she got dizzy. The fact that they were all smiling made her feel sick.

Oliver tugged on her skirt again, and she swatted his hand away because she definitely needed to pay attention.

The Lakers? Chase was talking to the Los Angeles Lakers? And he was having lunch with Shawn Stevens, the superstar basketball rookie with a three-year, twenty-million-dollar contract, on the same day she was having lunch with Lily Chu?

How did she not know this?

She knew by the smug grin on Chase’s face that her shock was obvious. He had the swagger of a teenager who just pulled off the best prank in high school history.

Dammit, Chase McMillan.

She thought back to their encounter in her office not twenty minutes before, when she called him out on trying to intimidate her. Little did she know what he had in his back pocket. He could have told her right then, but that wasn’t his style. No. He wanted to wait until they were in a room full of people to break the news, because watching her squirm in public was better than a private show.

“Terrific news, Chase,” Jonathan said. “That will be a huge win for the firm, and you personally.” He clapped Chase on the back. Lucy felt eyes searching her out from all over the room. It was no secret she and Chase were vying for the same position, but apparently it was a secret that Chase had a lunch date with a megastar too. Some of the eyes were sympathetic, and she knew exactly why.

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