Read Online Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger - Free Book Online
Authors: Lauren Weisberger
Tags: Fiction
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admitted her reading preferences
to her boyfriend. The ridicule she endured from him was
life-changing; she eventually broke up with him after realizing that
no man who truly loved her (like a hero in a romance novel, it
was implied) could ever mock her so mercilessly for something she
enjoyed. We'd seen each other through new jobs and weddings
and even one lawsuit, yet if we'd run into one another on the
street or at a party, there'd be nothing more than a curt hello and a
knowing look. After missing last week's meeting, I'd been looking
forward to tonight's session all week, and I was not about to let
Will ruin it for me.
Simon, Will, and I piled immediately into a car, but when we
pulled up to the restaurant at Eighty-eighth and Second, we were
clearly not the first to arrive.
"Brace yourselves!" Simon managed to hiss just before Elaine
waddled over.
"You're late!" she barked, pointing to the back room, where a
few people had gathered. "Go deal with your people, I'll bring you
back your drinks."
I followed them to the back room of the casual but legendary
restaurant and looked around. Books covered every square patch
of wall space and competed only with framed and autographed
photographs of what seemed like every author who'd published in
the twentieth century. The woody and familiar ambience might just
feel like a regular neighborhood joint had I not been able to recognize
the handful of people who'd already clustered around the
table set for twenty: Alan Dershowitz, Tina Brown, Tucker Carlson,
Dominick Dunne, and Barbara Walters. A waitress handed me a
premixed dirty martini and I began slurping at it immediately,
downing the last drop just as the table filled completely with an
eclectic group culled primarily from the media and politics.
Will was offering a toast for Charlie Rose, whose new book we
were all gathered to celebrate, when the only other woman under
forty leaned over and said, "How'd you get roped into this one?"
"Niece of Will, given no choice."
She laughed softly and placed her hand on my lap, which
made me very nervous until I realized she was trying to discreetly
shake my hand. "I'm Kelly. I put together this little dinner party for
your uncle, so I guess I'm sort of obligated to be here, too."
"Nice to meet you," I whispered back. "I'm Bette. I was just sitting
at their apartment earlier and somehow ended up here. It
seems like a very nice dinner, though."
"Honestly? Not really my scene, either, but I think it works for
your uncle's purpose. Good group of people, everyone who
RSVP'd actually showed—which never happens—and Elaine held
up everything on her end, as usual. All in all, I'm pretty happy with
the outcome. Now if we can just keep them all from getting too
drunk, I'll say the evening was perfection."
The group quickly polished off the first round of cocktails and
was now tucking in to the salads that had appeared before them.
"When you say you 'put this on,' what does that mean, exactly?" I
asked more out of an effort to just say something rather than any
genuine interest, but Kelly didn't seem to notice.
"I own a PR company," she said, sipping a glass of white wine.
"We represent all sorts of clients—restaurants, hotels, boutiques,
record labels, movie studios, individual celebrities—and we do
what we can to increase their profile through media placements,
product launches, stuff like that."
"And tonight? Who do you represent here? Will? I didn't know
he had a PR person."
"No, tonight I was hired by Charlie's publisher to put together a
dinner of media elites, those journalists who are recognizable in
their own right. The publisher has internal PR people, of course,
but they don't always have the connections to put on something
this specialized. That's where I come in."
"Got it. So how do you know all these people?"
She just laughed. "I have an office full of people whose job it is
to know everyone worth knowing.
to her boyfriend. The ridicule she endured from him was
life-changing; she eventually broke up with him after realizing that
no man who truly loved her (like a hero in a romance novel, it
was implied) could ever mock her so mercilessly for something she
enjoyed. We'd seen each other through new jobs and weddings
and even one lawsuit, yet if we'd run into one another on the
street or at a party, there'd be nothing more than a curt hello and a
knowing look. After missing last week's meeting, I'd been looking
forward to tonight's session all week, and I was not about to let
Will ruin it for me.
Simon, Will, and I piled immediately into a car, but when we
pulled up to the restaurant at Eighty-eighth and Second, we were
clearly not the first to arrive.
"Brace yourselves!" Simon managed to hiss just before Elaine
waddled over.
"You're late!" she barked, pointing to the back room, where a
few people had gathered. "Go deal with your people, I'll bring you
back your drinks."
I followed them to the back room of the casual but legendary
restaurant and looked around. Books covered every square patch
of wall space and competed only with framed and autographed
photographs of what seemed like every author who'd published in
the twentieth century. The woody and familiar ambience might just
feel like a regular neighborhood joint had I not been able to recognize
the handful of people who'd already clustered around the
table set for twenty: Alan Dershowitz, Tina Brown, Tucker Carlson,
Dominick Dunne, and Barbara Walters. A waitress handed me a
premixed dirty martini and I began slurping at it immediately,
downing the last drop just as the table filled completely with an
eclectic group culled primarily from the media and politics.
Will was offering a toast for Charlie Rose, whose new book we
were all gathered to celebrate, when the only other woman under
forty leaned over and said, "How'd you get roped into this one?"
"Niece of Will, given no choice."
She laughed softly and placed her hand on my lap, which
made me very nervous until I realized she was trying to discreetly
shake my hand. "I'm Kelly. I put together this little dinner party for
your uncle, so I guess I'm sort of obligated to be here, too."
"Nice to meet you," I whispered back. "I'm Bette. I was just sitting
at their apartment earlier and somehow ended up here. It
seems like a very nice dinner, though."
"Honestly? Not really my scene, either, but I think it works for
your uncle's purpose. Good group of people, everyone who
RSVP'd actually showed—which never happens—and Elaine held
up everything on her end, as usual. All in all, I'm pretty happy with
the outcome. Now if we can just keep them all from getting too
drunk, I'll say the evening was perfection."
The group quickly polished off the first round of cocktails and
was now tucking in to the salads that had appeared before them.
"When you say you 'put this on,' what does that mean, exactly?" I
asked more out of an effort to just say something rather than any
genuine interest, but Kelly didn't seem to notice.
"I own a PR company," she said, sipping a glass of white wine.
"We represent all sorts of clients—restaurants, hotels, boutiques,
record labels, movie studios, individual celebrities—and we do
what we can to increase their profile through media placements,
product launches, stuff like that."
"And tonight? Who do you represent here? Will? I didn't know
he had a PR person."
"No, tonight I was hired by Charlie's publisher to put together a
dinner of media elites, those journalists who are recognizable in
their own right. The publisher has internal PR people, of course,
but they don't always have the connections to put on something
this specialized. That's where I come in."
"Got it. So how do you know all these people?"
She just laughed. "I have an office full of people whose job it is
to know everyone worth knowing.
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