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felt strangely guilty, as if I was somehow betraying him and lying to Lucy at the same time.
    â€œGood, good,” Lucy said, ushering me to the door. “What do you think of my office, by the way? Do you think you could be comfortable working in such a beautiful environment?”
    â€œIt’s fantastic,” I said, and as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized what her office reminded me of, the image that had been nagging for definition at the back of my mind. Lucy Fiamma’s office was very much like an igloo.

    AT THE SOUND OF Lucy’s door shutting against my sweat-damp back, Nora and Anna simultaneously swiveled their heads in my direction. Nora looked completely wretched. Anna simply looked annoyed. Both of them raised their eyebrows, forming two sets of inverted parentheses, as if to ask me what the hell I wanted
now.
Standing next to Anna was a tall blond woman wearing a tailored gray suit and clutching a briefcase in one hand. She was, I assumed, the next “candidate” scheduled to interview with Lucy. She gave me a quick, questioning look as if to ask me what to expect, but I looked right past her. I meant to get this job and I wasn’t about to offer someone else any help to take it from me, even if that help came from a simple smile. I turned toward Nora.
    â€œUm…I…Lucy…” I drew back some of the oxygen that seemed to have been sucked out of my lungs and started again. “Lucy asked if you could give me some manuscripts from today’s mail and the…um…the George proposal?”
    Nora slid out from behind her desk and began riffling through a mail tub full of manuscripts. Anna got up as well, only to sit down again on the edge of the same desk she’d wrecked before. Both of them seemed to be intent on completely ignoring the woman in the gray suit.
    â€œGuess it went okay in there?” Anna inclined her head toward Lucy’s office. I smiled at Anna as politely as I could and hoped that would suffice as a response to the nosy question I had no intention of answering.
    â€œThis’d be your desk, you know,” Anna said, patting the papers underneath her rump. “It’s the closest one to her.”
    â€œRight,” I said. “That makes sense.” I looked away from Anna for a moment, not wanting to brand the image of her backside spilling onto the desk. If I managed to get the job, it wasn’t a vision I’d want every time I reached for a Post-it.
    â€œDoes she want you to write notes? On the manuscripts?” Anna asked.
    â€œYes, that’s what she said. And I’ll fax them in.”
    â€œDo you know how to do that?”
    â€œHow to fax?”
    â€œNo, how to write a report.”
    â€œOh. Well, I—”
    â€œMake sure you put your name on it and the author’s name. And what the genre is. The genre’s very important.”
    â€œOkay,” I said. “Thanks.”
    Anna turned toward Nora. “Don’t forget to give her the George proposal, Kelly,” she said.
    Kelly? Who was Kelly?
    â€œI’m sorry,” I said to Nora/Kelly, “did I get your name wrong? I thought it was Nora?”
    Nora/Kelly sighed heavily.
    â€œIt’s my mistake,” Anna said, an air of smugness hanging around her like a low cloud. “Her real name’s Kelly, but we call her Nora. Lucy feels that Nora is a better name for her. So she’s Nora here. Sometimes I forget. Sorry.” Although she clearly wasn’t sorry at all.
    â€œI understand,” I said, although I didn’t.
    Nora/Kelly looked at me as if she’d like to vaporize me on the spot. “Here are a few random manuscripts from today,” she said through gritted teeth, “and here’s a copy of the George proposal.” She shot a poisonous glance in Anna’s direction. “You should keep them separate. You can give me a call before you fax them in. Or you can drop