Life, Love, & Lies

Forty-Nine

"Hey Zach, what's up?" Lolo answers her phone, wedging it between her shoulder and cheek as she continues getting ready for the day.

"I got one, I got a publisher! My book's going to be printed. Your story is going to be heard." Zach's tone is exuberant as he makes the announcement.

"What?" LoLo gasps, her mascara wand freezing mid air.

"Yeah, they read the excerpt and fell in love with the story. It's not a big publishing house, but the owner is a victim of her own father, not like you are, unfortunately in a more first-hand ways than you are. But she loved the book proposal, and she loves the idea of giving a victim a voice. She doesn't want to change anything about the story, she doesn't want her influence in it at all. She just wants you to be able to tell your story, we got one, LoLo. It's mutually beneficial too, we win, she wins. This book will be huge for us, we get published and it's out there in the world, people will be able to read your story. She wins because she gets to publish it. Your story is gonna blow up. It's going to take her little publishing house to the world. I think you'd really like her, LoLo. I want you to meet her, she wants to meet you too. When I told her that I really had spent hours upon hours speaking with you, meaning speaking with Felicity, she was over the moon excited. I really, really, want you to meet her."

"Oh Zack, that's amazing, I'm so happy, and terrified! I mean, I knew it was coming, I knew we'd get one, but holy hell we got one already? I guess I better mentally prepare the rest of the way for the world to know my secret." She chuckles nervously.

"Hey, hey, I got you, LoLo. You know we're in this together. It's happened kind of fast, but it's a good thing that it's happening. I've actually been booked for an interview, to openly confirm that the story is real, that I am writing it, or I guess that I have already written it, actually, and that I've got a publisher and we have a plan. I also need to run the cover by you, um, I gave the publisher a photo that I took of you in New York, in the penthouse. I don't think you knew I took it, even though I took it on your camera... anyway, it was perfect for this, it doesn't automatically give away who you are either. They took the picture and the vision I gave them and created exactly what I wanted the cover to look like."

"You took a picture of me and used it for the cover of my biography?" She gasps sarcastically angry, laughing at the nervousness in his voice.

"Yeah, but I didn't actually tell you I took the picture, or that I used it, so I didn't want you to be mad at me."

"Well as long as I don't look stupid it will probably be okay. But if I do look stupid you're dead man."

"You definitely don't look stupid, the cover is amazing, LoLo. I'll send it to you, you're going to love it."

"Okay, I guess I better trust you on that. So when is this interview?"

"Oh, it's this afternoon."

"Wait like today? Like in less than twelve hours?"

"In about eight actually."

"Okay, that's a little faster than I was expecting."

"Well there was an opening, someone fell through that was supposed to be on the show today, and Miriam just kind of threw me into it. That's the publishing company's owner, Miriam. Take a deep breath, it's the right time, LoLo. I feel so good about this, Dan got me an agent for my book too, who is great, and he agrees. Miriam is the right publisher,and this is the right time. The buzz is high, the speculation is all over the place. Let's just take a deep breath, the book won't be out for a few months, probably six to eight, but we can start using it. We can start pushing the idea and see how things unfold. See how people react just to the idea of knowing that in a few months they will know who you are. Let them react to the fact that they will have your story while you're still safely hidden from them."