Chapter 4
(Lisa)
The meeting with Rich loomed. Lisa’s nerves jangled.
“I’ll go with you. You should probably have someone with you, anyway, if only for moral support. I deal with contracts every day at my job, so I’ll look over any paperwork he gives you, too. I’m not completely useless in the world of the writer, after all.” She grinned as she continued to apply eye makeup.
“Sounds like a deal to me.” Lisa waited for Toni at the door.
They arrived five minutes early for the meeting. Lisa stopped outside to take several deep, calming breaths. “This is it, Toni. The first step in achieving my dream!”
Toni hugged her quickly. “Yes, it is, and you don’t want to be late.” She steered her toward the front door.
Inside the cozy little Café Lola, Lisa scanned the patrons for Rich. He was tall with a shock of well-manicured, silver hair. He would be hard to miss. And she did not miss him, he was sitting at a table by the windows in the back, where there were fewer people.
He smiled warmly and raised his hand to her.
“There he is, Toni. Come on.” The goofy, loopy smile would not leave Lisa’s face. Her insides quivered as she weaved through the seating area.
Rich stood. “I’m Rich Besser and you must be Lisa Andrews.” He offered his hand to Lisa.
“Yes, I am. Nice to make your acquaintance.” She waited until he let go of her hand and introduced Toni. “This is my best friend, Toni. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not. It’s my pleasure, Toni.” He shook her hand as well. “Please, both of you, sit.” He motioned to the chairs and took his own seat.
“I’m not really sure what to expect here, Rich. This is a first for me. I’m used to dealing with small-time publishers and editors online.” Lisa’s nerves revved up and her heart felt as if it were beating at twice the normal rate.
Rich was handsome. His silver hair, streaked with black, his dark blue eyes, thick lashes, rugged jaw line, and perfect, white teeth, set him apart from the average joes running around.
“Let’s just order coffee, take it slow, and I’ll walk you through it. This is just an informal meeting to let us get to know each other a little better and talk freely about what we both expect from this professional relationship. Deal?” His dazzling smile did its work and Lisa relaxed a fraction.
The meeting lasted a little over an hour. Satisfied that she had indeed made the right decision, at the end of the meeting, Lisa had taken some paperwork to look over and walked home with Toni.
They picked up Chinese takeout on the way, and chattered about Rich’s good looks like two teenagers, giggling and daydreaming.
In her living room, the women sat with the paperwork. Lisa donned her glasses and read through it while she ate. As she finished packets, she handed them to Toni, who made little noises of delight every now and then as she read.
The last two pages were akin to the ‘about’ sections for online publishers. Reading the mission statement, Lisa smiled. Everything was so professional, so all-encompassing, so real; she could hardly believe it all even as she read the papers. She was in. She was going to be part of a winning team—KR Publishing didn’t publish writers without talent, writers without long careers ahead of them, or writers that could only appease a small niche of customers.
Then she read the last paragraph. It had been written by the founder and was signed, KRydell.
“I wonder who this KRydell is? He’s so mysterious. Think I’ll ever get to meet the founder?” She flipped the last pages over to Toni.
Toni shrugged. “I say it’s a woman and I say she doesn’t want too many people knowing for whatever reason. Publishing has been male-dominated for so long, if I were her, I would plaster my name all over everything coming and going. Damn skippy everyone would know I was a woman, especially if I were as successful as she is.”
“You’re going with me to the office meeting tomorrow, aren’t you?”
Toni nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”
As Lisa tried to sleep that night, something about the signature tickled at her mind. KRydell. Why would that mean anything to her? Sure, it had been a new publishing house a couple of years back, but it had also taken over, sweeping up number-one best-selling authors from every genre like nobody’s business. Over the last two years, the house had never published even one book that flopped. They had all been screaming successes.
But something about that signature bothered her.