The Out of Office Girl Read Free Page A

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    I suddenly find that Alasdair is talking and I haven’t been listening.
    ‘. . . Luther Carson. I believe the manuscript isn’t up to scratch?’
    ‘Oh! Well—’ Now I realise I have my arms folded, and my legs crossed and folded round the chair legs, like a pretzel. Slowly, so it doesn’t seem too obvious, I rearrange myself into a more confident-looking posture. ‘No, it’s not. It’s justnot personal enough. It leaves out all the most interesting parts. Brian’s very good, so I’m sure he’s done his best,’ I add quickly. Brian is the ghostwriter. ‘It just looks as though he hasn’t had any proper input from Luther yet.’
    ‘Well, we’ll have to fix that,’ Alasdair says. ‘I’m not expecting The Moon’s a Balloon . But it’s got to be readable. It’s got to have drama; it’s got to have a bitof misery – nottoo much, but we have to have his lows as well as his highs. He knows that. It’s in the contract. We put in a specific clause stipulating that there would be significant content relating to his childhood, the drugs and the divorce, and the time he disappeared for a year.’
    I nod. The mention of this clause gives me a strange, uneasy feeling – I can’t quite put my finger on it though.
    ‘So, as you know, we need a finished manuscript in about . . .?’ He looks at me expectantly. Get it right .
    ‘Four weeks.’
    ‘Four weeks at the latest, in time to have copies in early September. We need this book to turn over a million pounds this Christmas, or we won’t make budget.’
    I do know all this, but it sounds extra scary when Alasdair says it.
    ‘So, as you know, we’ve provided Luther withsomewhere to stay in Sicily – a very nice place, near Taormina, at our expense, to sort the book out. The ghostwriter is there with him. Before Olivia got ill, she and I talked about her going over there to help him, to apply some pressure, edit the book as it comes out. I think you should go.’
    What? Me go to Sicily? Has he lost his mind?
    ‘Well, of course, if you think that’s the best thing,’I hear myself saying. ‘And work with Brian?’
    ‘No, work with Luther. Sit him down and exercise your influence and generally sit on him until he finishes this book.’
    I boggle at the picture he’s just created – for a number of reasons. Is he serious? How on earth am I going to exert my influence on Luther Carson? I don’t have any influence.
    ‘Alice, we have given this some thought, and I do thinkit’s the best option. Normally we would prefer to send someone more senior, but you’re the most familiar withthe project. Olivia tells me you know everything there is to know about him. And I hear great things about your editing. She was very impressed with your work on the pet rescue memoir.’
    The pet rescue memoir: what a nightmare. Three horses, twenty cats, twelve dogs and assorted birdsand reptiles, and one author who loved animals as much as she hated humans. A batty pet lady, though, is not the same as an A-list film star. I’m about to try to phrase this in a more tactful way, but Alasdair is still speaking.
    ‘I suggest you spend a day or so wrapping up here and as soon as you can, book yourself an open return to Sicily. Daphne will help you with the details, flights and soon. Have a word with Ellen and the team downstairs to reallocate all your other work, but this takes priority.’
    This is all happening way too fast. An hour ago I was Olivia’s assistant and now she’s in hospital and I’m on my way to – to work with Luther Carson . To handle a book more important than any I’ve ever worked on before, with an author who, gorgeous as he is, is probably pretty bloodydifficult. I can’t do it. I’m not senior enough, and I don’t have enough experience. I’ll have to tell him I need time to think about it, or something.
    Alasdair looks up and says, ‘Is there anything else?’
    I open my mouth to say yes, but something stops me.
    I’ve just realised