The Work Wife by Alison B. Hart

Author:Alison B. Hart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Graydon House Books
Published: 2022-05-09T19:03:53+00:00

15

Zanne

Zanne could hear the glam squad long before she reached Holly’s closet. The laughter was the giveaway. Nobody else who worked for the Stablers laughed that loud or that regularly. The glam squad got the party started, often bringing their own bottles of Veuve and a set of speakers through which they pumped Rihanna or Lizzo, anything to make Holly feel fierce before they sent her out the door and her nerves kicked in.

When she peered through the open door, Zanne could see that the glam squad had barely started its work. Holly still had a good hour of primping ahead of her.

“How’s it going?” Zanne asked Erin, who had planted herself in her usual spot outside the closet door, close enough to be called on but away from the frenzied epicenter.

“I don’t know. She’s a little off her game. I’m hoping they can cheer her up.”

“You think?” Zanne said, as the hair dryer went on and, like a call and response, someone turned the volume up on BTS. “Can I get your help with something? I thought Gaby could stay for the party tonight. Do we have anything she can wear?”

“I’m sure there’s something in the giveaway closet. Let’s go look.”

Zanne followed Erin down the hall, past the publicist coming to check on her number two client, number one being Ted. They went down the back stairs to the long hallway where Erin and Mark had their offices, next to a secondary pantry and the giveaway closet. Erin switched on the light and while she lifted swaths of soft cotton off the racks of clothes bound for donation, Zanne checked email on her phone. Bill had found a replacement monkey, Alfie’s cousin Mabel, and the doctor working with immunonanoparticles in Tokyo had recommended an oncologist at Cedars-Sinai. When she had a minute, Zanne would review the doctor’s background. Hopefully he’d be a good fit for Nikole.

When Zanne looked up, sequins caught the light, and silk and velvet shimmered. A rainbow array of Altuzarra and Victoria Beckham and Versace glittered at her.

“These ones Holly’s worn a few times, but don’t worry, it’s all been cleaned. And these she never wore.”

“Okay, wow.”

Zanne flicked though the first rack, searching for something that would fit and flatter Gaby. Her body type was completely different from Holly’s, curvy where Holly’s was more boyish.

“She’s really not herself today. Do you think she’s okay?”

Zanne heard the wobble in Erin’s voice and looked up. Here was the essential difference between them. Erin worried about Holly, cared about her, even loved her. Zanne, on the other hand, studied Holly. She looked for patterns in the Stablers’ behaviors and inclinations that would help her predict their next moves. Caring about them would only get in the way.

Perhaps it came down to training. Erin’s MFA in poetry had taught her to listen for the melody and where it broke, but Zanne had gravitated toward a PhD for the joys of making an argument. She cared about who was enfranchised and who was not, who was up and who was down.

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