Read Online A Love Like This by Kahlen Aymes - Free Book Online

for the January
issue of Vogue; the fashion feature. Hasn’t anyone noticed that the
clothes on these models are the wrong damn designer? I mean, Jesus!
Get Mike in here and call Kent Jared. Find out if the cover’s been
printed yet and let Denise know what’s going on so she doesn’t
waste time working on the page lay-outs until we know where we
stand. If we’ve caught it in time, maybe we can shift cover stories
between the two months. Dior will be pissed, but that’s the best
case scenario we can get. If the cover is done, we are even more
screwed. We’ll have to re-do the shoot in fast forward.”
    Andrea stood frozen as I flopped down at my
desk and put both hands in my hair. I looked up at her and stopped
in my tracks. “What are you waiting for? Go!”
    She scrambled out of my office and I stared
as the door closed with a heavy thud. I sighed deeply.
    The last week in Spain and dealing with
Ellie’s fragile emotional state had been hard enough. I hadn’t even
been home yet. Ryan was working so I came straight to the office
and right away I was faced with this bullshit. I picked up the
phone to call Meredith. She answered on the third ring.
    “Hey, babe, didn’t think you’d be back in
the office today.” She paused a second or two. “Didn’t your plane
just land? I thought you’d be rushing home to that gorgeous man and
humping his brains out.”
    I frowned. “Well, Ryan is working all day
and it’s a damn good thing I didn’t go home first. Are you aware
what’s going on with the January feature?”
    “I know the shoot was last Wednesday, but I
haven’t seen the pics yet. Why?”
    “Oh, nothing.” I leaned back and pushed my
sandaled feet on the edge of my mahogany desk. I was in ratty
jeans, a t-shirt and flip flops. Slip-on shoes were mandatory for
the airport security, albeit if all wrong for the New York winter.
“Just the shoot was on the wrong designer . Not really a big
deal. It could just fuck the whole issue,” I said with mock
casualness that I wasn’t feeling. My heart was pounding and I was
freaking out, perspiration was dotting my forehead.
    She gasped and I could see her almost jump
up from her chair in a frenzy. “How in the hell did that happen?”
she burst out. “More importantly, can you save it, Julia?”
    “How should I know at this point? I just
found out ten minutes ago! I’m taking inventory of what’s been done
and I’ll know more when I find out if the cover printed. Jesus, I’m
glad I didn’t wait until Monday to come in here. Then there
would’ve been no chance to salvage it.”
    She sighed on the phone. “Well, fuck!”
    “I couldn’t have said it better myself,” I
retorted.
    “What can you do?”
    I loved how the messes always landed in my
lap. No matter who caused it, I was expected to clean it up. I
rolled my eyes and shook my head.
    “I’m going to concentrate on the fix and
then I’ll figure out how this happened. I’m so pissed right now I’d
like to fire whoever is responsible. I may have to order a reshoot
or we may have to beg Dior to let us switch months. It won’t be
easy because they have their show in January. Not fucking February ! We’ll be lucky if they don’t pull all together.
Either way, I’m left doing a completely new shoot and it’s gonna
cost the magazine a bunch of money. If the cover is printed, we’ll
have to reshoot with the correct material this weekend.” I wondered
if the disgust I felt was obvious in my voice. Ryan was supposed to
be off on Sunday and now I had to work. “Ahhhhhh!” I almost yelled
into the phone. “This is not how I was planning on spending the
weekend, Mere. Far from it.”
    “Yes, I can imagine.”
    I huffed. No, you really can’t.
    My eyes sought out the wedding photo on my
desk. Ryan was so handsome and the way he was looking at me melted
my heart.
    When I finished the call on my office phone,
I pulled my cell phone out and sent a page to Ryan, letting him
know that I was back in