Publishing hadn’t been what Riley had in mind when she was initially going to school to get her journalism degree, but after barely living paycheck to paycheck doing freelance writing in New York, a desk job seemed pretty good. Now that she was back in the city she grew up in, she figured she should try to get a job that would pay the bills while she continued to try and get her own work out there. Still, she wasn’t incredibly excited for either the job or the interview. That was, until she was motioned in by the woman interviewing her and seemed to have walked in on a very personal conversation. The polite thing to do was probably give her a moment by herself, but Riley couldn’t help but be nosey and want to hear whatever drama was going on over this phone call, so she sat down on the other side of the woman’s desk. It felt a little bit like she’d stumbled into The Devil Wears Prada or something, which was equally as fun to think about as considering she may know a little too much about her could-be boss.
“Oh, no, by all means. Go ahead,” Riley assured, though it seemed as if she didn’t need her permission. Though she apologized for being unprofessional, Riley kind of liked it. It definitely made this interview a lot more interesting than she had assumed it would be. “That’s men for you, right? Don’t worry about it,” she shook her head, definitely not the type to be a real stickler for the rules. Professionality wasn’t exactly her strong suit either, so who was she to judge? “Is everything okay?” she added, knowing that probably wasn’t entirely professional either. But, she also had only heard a small part of this phone call and was definitely intrigued enough to see if there was any more information to gather.
Her question seemed to remind Riley that she was meant to be interviewing for a position, causing her to reach into the bag she had set next to her to pull out a copy of her resume, setting it in front of her on the desk. “I’m Riley. Er - Riley Greene,” she introduced with a smile, remembering she should probably make a good impression. “Yeah, actually, I had an internship with a publishing company when I was still at NYU. But otherwise, my family owns a little publishing company that mainly publishes like, field guide kind of things. Like, for bird-watching, and that kind of stuff? Anyway, I would work for them in the summers, so I know the basic ins and outs of publishing.”
“Don’t even get me started,” Jane snorted, thanks to Riley’s comment about men. Maybe a month ago she wouldn’t have been so bitter, but she’d been hurt, and now she was pissed. These days she felt as if she was always angry at something. When asked if she was okay, Jane shrugged, walking back over to her desk, still smoking her cigarette. “My husband- ex-husband,” she corrected herself, “won’t stop calling me about his things, and my brother has proved himself to be a complete asshole. I just really don’t want to deal with their problems today,” Jane waved her hand dismissively. “I’m fine,” she then added. Perhaps Jane knew that she was divulging a little too much information, but what did it matter if she ranted to a perfect stranger? Who was Riley going to go gossip about Noel to? Though, she was a stranger who would’ve seemed oddly familiar to Jane, if she wasn’t so preoccupied with other things - never mind the fact that this was supposed to be an interview.
Sitting at her desk she crossed one leg over the other and took another drag, feeling herself slowly calming down. “Your family works in publishing? So what are you doing here?” Jane asked in a more business like tone. At Argos Books their primary focus was historical fiction, hence the name, and Jane had always been a fan of ancient history. Recently however, the company has been looking to broaden their appeal, which of course meant more work for Jane, and the need for an assistant. Or at least someone to screen her calls.
