Killer Riff Read Free

wasn’t sure which was more entertaining, Eileen’s discomfort or Henry’s pleasure in it. This was a whole new take on Eileen’s position in the organization, and I found it fascinating.
    “It’s Molly’s column,” she protested with the annoyance of a big sister who’s been asked to baby-sit on a Friday night.
    “So you and Molly can screen them together, then the three of us will sit down and make the final selection. How’s that sound?”
    “Great,” I said quickly.
    Eileen smiled jaggedly “I look forward to it.”
    “It’ll be a party,” Henry said with a smile and a wink as he walked out of the office.
    I started to follow him, but Eileen had another idea. “Molly,” she said with a thick coating of ice.
    I turned around and launched a preemptive attack. “Eileen, I really can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate this. I know we’ve had our differences, but I also know that you’re going to be very pleased by what I bring to the magazine from this new vantage point.”
    Startled, Eileen took a moment before responding. “Isn’t that sweet. I just want to make sure we understand each other.”
    “About?”
    “About how this really changes nothing.”
    “Except what I’m doing.”
    “Yes, but you’re still doing it for me.”
    She rose to walk around her desk and get closer to me. It wasn’t going to lead to a congratulatory hug, I knew that much. For a flickering moment, I had thought this promotion might encourage a better relationship with my boss because I’d be doing what I was supposed to be doing, not pushing to do something more. But I could tell by the way her petite shoulders squared as she advanced on me that this was only going to fan the flames. She’d been working hard to keep me in my place, wherever she perceived it to be, but now Henry had lifted me out of it. Was her new hobby going to become trying to trip me up so Henry would withdraw the promotion? It sounded paranoid, but working for Eileen for any extended period brings that out in people.
    “I’m sure you’re going to do good work. And I simply won’t publish it if it isn’t,” she said as she stopped in front of me. “Just remember, The Publisher giveth, but the editor taketh away.”
    “That won’t be necessary,” I assured her. I thought about hugging her just to see what she’d do but decided not to start off my new gig by pushing my luck. Besides, I was pretty sure her head would explode, and that wouldn’t be pleasant for anyone.
    Eileen tilted her head to the side, like a cat deciding whether to play with a mouse or eat it. With an exasperated sigh, she said, “Write a sample question for your column and give it to me. I’ll write a memo to the staff about the process of being named your heir.”
    “Thank you,” I said, backing toward the door.
    Her lips twitched in the vicinity of a smile. “I had no idea you and Henry were so close.”
    “We’re not,” I said, hoping that she wasn’t suggesting what I was sure she was suggesting.
    “So this brilliant idea leapt into his head all by itself.”
    “You’d have to ask him,” I said, certain she already had and hoping she’d been more graceful with him than she was being with me.
    “Fine. Be coy, even though it doesn’t suit you.”
    “Eileen,” I ventured, emboldened by the glorious news, “maybe he just thinks I’m a good writer.”
    “Of course, how silly of me,” she oozed. “Merit.”
    “Isn’t that how you got your job?” I asked.
    I meant it as a point of perspective, but I could tell it struck a deep and dissonant chord. Eileen’s carefully plucked eyebrows knotted together, and she pointed to her office door. “Weren’t you leaving?”
    I hustled out the door and into the office bull pen, wondering what key point of Eileen’s past I had tripped over as her door slammed behind me.
    “That went well.”
    Skyler Christopher was Eileen’s current assistant, a job that turns over so often, there should be a