See Jane Date by Melissa Senate Page A

leaned forward in his chair. He was having a private discussion with Remke. Morgan and I twiddled our thumbs. Gwen was silent. The baby had probably pooped again.
    I stared at Jeremy’s profile, since he was otherwise engaged. He had a strong, straight nose and a square chin chiseled out of—
    â€œSo, Gwen,” Jeremy said, snapping me out of my appraisal of his beauty, “I’d like all unsolicited manuscripts to go to Morgan from now on.” He glanced at the telephone. “With you out on leave, we’re short staffed. Nutley’s high priority, and I don’t want Jane distracted bybusywork Morgan can take on. For the next couple of months, Jane’s going to be focusing on the Nutley book as Natasha writes the first three chapters and nails the outline. I’ll handle the projects she’s baby-sitting for you, Gwen, and I’ll freelance out as necessary. We can get Morgan started on doing some preliminary line-edits, too.”
    Morgan flashed a mouthful of teeth. For once, we were both pleased at the same time.
    Remke eyed the telephone. “Gwen? Sound good to you?”
    â€œJust fine,” Gwen cheeped. “Although I’d like someone to look over Morgan’s rejection and revision letters. I know Jane’ll be busy, but perhaps she can take home Morgan’s drafts and return them the next day with comments.”
    Excuse me? It was bad enough that I had to work with the Gnat. Now I had to deal with a backstabber who was after my job?
    Remke nodded. “Good idea, Gwen. Morgan, you’re our screener now. Go to Jane with any questions or problems.”
    Morgan shot me a dagger, then turned her suddenly thrilled expression to Remke. “Great, Williaaam! Thanks for the trust, everyone. I’m really thrilled to have this opportunity to flex my editorial muscles.”
    What a suck-up. She was capitalizing on my success. Just like I was capitalizing on the Gnat’s.
    Jeremy nodded his cleft chin, then turned those magnetic Caribbean eyes on me. I immediately shot my gaze down to the table as though the scratches on the fake cherry wood were more interesting than his amazing bone structure. “I’ll expect the first chapter of Nutley’s memoir, excerpted, by next Friday.”
    Next Friday?
    â€œThat’s not a problem, is it, Jane?” Jeremy asked, tilting back in his chair again. “ Marie Claire expects the excerpt in less than three weeks. Natasha gets two weeks to write the chapter, and you get a couple of days to excerpt it into twenty-five hundred irresistible words. I get one day to check it, and copyediting and proofreading get half a day. That gives us two days to spare for major problems.”
    Drop-dead gorgeous and a math whiz. “Next Friday’s no problem,” I said, daring to look at him for one and a half seconds. “I’ve had Natasha working all weekend.”
    â€œGood job,” Remke cut in. “Keep it up. We’re done here. Black, stay a moment. We need to talk about where we are on the Backstreet Boy.”
    Next Friday. How was I supposed to do anything this week but serial date? I’d have to work with the Gnat, train Morgan, go on four blind dates (with incredibly high expectations and rattled nerves) and mysteriously present a polished excerpt of Chapter One of The Gnat Sucks to Jeremy next Friday. My shoulders slumped.
    I felt eyes on me. They belonged to Morgan.
    No way was I letting her win too.
    Â 
    Morgan trotted after me to my office. I picked up the stack of slush manuscripts from my in-box and dumped them into her outstretched tanned arms. She was beaming. Perhaps the first genuine smile I’d ever seen on her horsey face.
    I felt a drop of empathy for Morgan. She knew, like I knew, that all you needed was the chance. Once you got it, you either took it or someone else did. Morgan was taking it. In a way, I had to hand it to her, which, I literally was.
    â€œSo, um,