Emily's Reasons Why Not by Carrie Gerlach Read Free Book Online Page A

helping David. Arriving at work every day is like walking the gangplank from a ship full of serial ax murderers only to fall off into a pool of hungry Great Whites.
    “No one has forgotten your behavior at the retreat in Asheville,” Josh says as we enter an empty conference room. People follow us in and sit as far away from me as possible. “Annnnddddd, they know you’re still doing the pres.”
    “No they don’t!”
    “Yes, they do. What’s the difference between a gossipy gay guy and a gossipy hetero woman in the entertainment business?” Josh asks.
    I cock my head to the side …
    “The gay guy will stab you directly in the chest while buying you lunch at Chai and the woman will wait to shove it into your spine as you get stuck with the check.”
    “We had the talk,” I smile. “He’s officially my boyfriend.”
    “Then how come everyone thinks you’re a corporate hooker?” Josh asks. “And why are the two of you still trying to hide it?”
    “David thinks it is better for us if we keep it private. He needs me to help him and …” I stop, as I promised not to tell.
    He interrupts, “This way only you look bad, Kitten. Think about it.”
    Reason #5: If you have to hide your relationship, it isn’t worth hiding .
    In reality, David and I have been working on a press strategy to up his profile. I am on the phone twice a day with my best contact, a reporter in New York at the Hollywood Reporter , giving him the inside scoop on some upcoming projects that David is trying to get off the ground, telling him about the revolutionary work he is doing behind the scenes. I know that if I can get my favorite reporter to do this story, things will change for David. He knows it, too. So we must keep our love a secret or it will look like I am trying to help him for purely unprofessional reasons and that I am not unbiased.
    David and I go to New York for the week end to meet with my guy from, the Hollywood Reporter . Ahhh, holding hands and drinking champagne in first class on the plane is heaven.
    We check into the Carlyle Hotel on the Upper East Side. It is romantic and incredible, filled with tapestries, paisley prints, and antique furniture. Our room has a huge claw tub for two. I call down for room service and the hotel guy calls me Mrs. Jenkins. Mrs. Jenkins, I think out loud.
    Mrs. David Jenkins.
    We see a play on Broadway and then dance at the Rainbow Room. Flawless. Flawless. Flawless. Yet all the while denying any sort of contact with each other to the outside world. I don’t care. I am blissfully happy. I have set up the lunch meeting with my contact from the Hollywood Reporter for David and me on Monday. It’s all going to work out beautifully.
    My real problem is that my boss and mentor, Avery, the woman who brought me into the fold, promoted me, championed me, hates David. Really hates him. I became aware of her loathing during a meeting before I left for New York when I overheard her talking to David’s boss. She called him a, what was it? “Cocksucker.”
    You know what? A lot of people at the company hate David. He’s not making any friends. Since the merger, we have a new CEO and she really doesn’t like David.
    It has been almost two months and David still thinks I, we, shouldn’t tell anybody about our relationship. Perhaps he will change his mind after we get our media strategy plan implemented. Yet I can’t help but think, just ever so slightly, that he is screwing me in more ways than one. That I may be running the risk of throwing away my career for a guy whose days are numbered and who won’t admit he’s my boyfriend … Yet everyone knows that we’re having an affair.
    What is wrong with me? It’s as if I am watching a plane start to sputter, lose engine power, and plummet toward theground. My career is about to take a downward spiral. I can feel it.
    Reason #6: If what you’re doing for your boyfriend can get you fired, stop doing him .
    “Shit, I had doubts then.” I shake