Magnolia Wednesdays by Wendy Wax Read Free Book Online Page A

Cobb, Georgia . . .” She pulled the name of the area where her sister lived out of the air. “. . . and had to learn how to blend in to its surroundings. Live like the natives.”
    The editor leaned toward her, his head nodding faster as Vivien painted the picture.
    “There could be columns about . . . finding day care . . . a babysitter . . . striving to win the best yard award . . . being a troop leader. Selling Girl Scout cookies. Taking a ballroom dance class.” Again she pulled details of Melanie’s daily life out of her memory, offering them up, trying to convince him even as she tried to convince herself.
    She could do this. She wished she didn’t have to, would give anything to snap her fingers and go back to her old life, but she could research and write this column. In a way it wouldn’t be all that different from the way she’d investigated the worlds of gangs, drugs, corporate espionage, and financial machinations in order to report on them.
    The suburbs might seem like an alternate universe to her now, but if she went and lived there and immersed herself in the culture, she could turn the weekly column into something much larger than John Harcourt had ever imagined. Maybe aim for national syndication. Or uncover something that could propel her back into investigative journalism.
    And she wouldn’t even have to look for an expert to help her. Vivien might never have sat on a bleacher, driven a minivan, or idled in a car-pool line, but her sister had done all of those things and actually seemed to enjoy them.
    She felt a slight stirring of . . . not exactly excitement, but a determination to accept her current reality and to do what had to be done. To take advantage of the details that seemed to be falling so neatly into place.
    Hadn’t Melanie practically begged her to come recuperate at her house? And weren’t Melanie and her children, Vivien’s niece and nephew, the walking embodiment of suburban life? They were her entrée to this brave new world, her personal tour guides to life in the hinterlands.
    All she had to do was take her sister up on her invitation. While she was there she’d stick to Melanie like white on rice so she didn’t miss a single nuance of suburban life.
    Vivien looked the young man in the eye and knew she had him. She could never use her own name of course; it would be far too humiliating to ever let anyone know how low she’d sunk and how little she was forced to work for. She wouldn’t even tell her family or Stone. The number of things she wasn’t telling him gave her pause, but at the moment securing this job was her number one priority.
    “I can do this for you, and I can make it first-rate,” Vivien said. “But I’m going to have to go undercover in order to write about things the way I really see them. I can use an obvious sort of pseudonym to pique the readers’ interest. And, of course, the Weekly Encounter will have to keep my identity secret.”
    She smiled and stuck out her hand to seal the deal. “What do you think?”
    He barely hesitated, and she realized she should have asked for more money, but she would be employed and she would be reporting. What she made of it would be up to her.
    “I like it. I like it a lot,” he said, shaking her hand with real enthusiasm. “We’ll start promoting the coming of a new column next week; that will give you a couple of weeks to get situated and start filing your stories.”
    He walked her to the lobby, all but rubbing his hands together in glee. “I’ll set up an appointment for you with HR—they’ll be the only people other than me who’ll know your true identity.”
    Vivien felt lighter as she walked outside to hail a cab even though she’d already gained five pounds. Her mind whirled as she thought about all the things she’d need to take care of before she left the city—forwarding her mail, subletting her apartment, making up a suitable cover story. From the backseat of the cab, she punched in