Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Kylie
New York was loud, rude, smelly, busy–and just like her ex, Perry.
Exhausting.
Sitting to the right of Manu at the large oval conference table here in the executive suite gave Kylie a turbocharge, her mind sharpening every second she was in such close proximity to him. The man was a legend in children’s television programming, and she had a seat at his table, literally.
Finally.
Victory was hers if she could convince them that she was the right person for the job.
There was just one problem:
She wasn’t sure she wanted the job.
Three days ago, her world fell apart, shattered like a dropped snow globe. What had been perfect and pure, picturesque and soothing, suddenly became shards of glass, all poking her heart, the world as she knew it impossible to put back together.
For a fleeting month, she had come so close to a life she wanted.
And now, two lives. Two incompatible lives that forced her to pick one.
One.
Only one.
“Nordicbeth involved television programming and commercials, right?” Elsa Foxx asked her again, the question feeling increasingly demeaning. She’d asked the same question during Kylie’s initial interview, and now Kylie’s stomach twisted.
Elsa wasn’t a fan, clearly.
“Yes.”
“That just means you understand New England ski audiences. How does that understanding apply to an international children’s market?
We translate our offering into…” The words came out of her mouth, but Kylie was paying more attention to her emotional tenor, and it didn’t feel right.
Second in command at KidzdocTV, Elsa needed to be won over if Kylie had any hope of getting this job.
And it wasn’t looking good.
Opening her mouth, Kylie replied easily, almost too easily, her inner world shedding worries as each sentence emerged. In real time, without thinking, she felt gears inside going click-click-click, some piece of her separating from worrying about the outcome of this in-person interview.
Either she got the job, or she didn’t.
The end result wasn’t worth ruining her life over.
Luke.
His name ricocheted through her head a thousand times.
Christmas night had been horrible after he fired her. Not that it wasn’t bad enough being summarily dismissed, but the worst had happened after.
She couldn’t think about that right now.
“–and New England holds charm for people, not just in terms of outdoor activities like skiing. For instance, I live near Love You, Maine, the town where love isn’t just a feeling, it’s a way of life.”
Snorts and snickers filled the room.
Kylie soldiered on.
“And there’s a camp near Luview, a camp I attended as a child.” Nostalgia gripped her, a need to be open and vulnerable. Why not? Why not be genuine?
When you had nothing to lose, it was so freeing.
“For a long time, I’ve thought about designing a fairy camp, much like the winter fae camp I designed for Nordicbeth. But a big one, in the woods. Gnome villages, fairies in the trees, that sort of thing. And I thought it would work in Luview.”
“You have a plan for this?” Elsa’s voice revealed her boredom, and something else Kylie couldn't put her finger on, but Manu leaned in.
“Hold on. Hold on,” he said suddenly, giving Kylie an appreciative look. “This camp is near Love You, Maine?”
“Yes.”
“Who did you say owns it?”
“I didn’t. But it’s Luke Luview. And his family.”
“The Luviews? The people who own the town?”
“They don’t actually own the town, but yes.”
“Love You, Maine? That crappy tourist trap where every day is Valentine’s Day?”
Kylie just stared at the woman who asked that question.
A guy snorted. “What’s next? The cheesy section of Niagara Falls where suckers buy tickets to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not?”
Manu just watched them, eyes narrowing. The room was charged with a strange tension she couldn't name.
As the New Yorkers all laughed and sneered, Kylie felt her growing anger change to something very unique and unfamiliar.
Standing slowly, she splayed her palms on the table, bending forward in a power stance, chin up, eyes wide and strong as she looked at the interviewing team.
“Let me give you some market research on Luview, Maine, folks. I’m a local there.
Born and mostly raised. But I’m also well aware of what life is really like in the town where ‘every day is Valentine’s Day.
’ It’s not some local-yokel-filled New England hillbilly small town. Oh, no. It’s all business.”
Eyebrows cocked, but people shut up.
“The town’s new director of business development and planning, Rachel Hart, did an analysis of Love You Chocolate last year, trying to help the multinational Markstone’s Chocolatier fold it into their brand.
You know what happened with that deal, I assume,” she said, not asking with a lift in her voice, but instead tapping into the fearless part of her, the part that knew that she was right. That she was powerful.
That she was in command.
“I–I don’t know,” Elsa confessed.
“The deal fell through, in part because the small-town owners decided Markstone’s didn’t offer enough.”
“So they didn’t have enough money?”
“Not money. The right branding. Revenue is up thirty-six percent for Love You Chocolate. All because of Rachel, and because people in Love You, Maine, know how to market the town. The feelings. The emotion of the place itself. And that’s how fairy camp works, too.
How fairies work, period. It’s pure emotion.
You don’t have to be anything to enjoy fairies.
You don’t have to be productive, or smart, or rich, or pretty.
You just have to like them. Kids love them.
And fairy camp gets kids outdoors, gives them a social opportunity, and they find acceptance.
Who doesn’t want that? Imagine a series for kids where they get to escape into something so simple and easy? ”
“Like Bronies,” Elsa said under her breath to murmurs of assent.
Manu gave Kylie a searching look, one that said he’d underestimated her.
Then he turned to Elsa and said, “You know we've been trying to get in there for years.”
Elsa squirmed in her seat.
“What do you mean?” Kylie asked, all the self-consciousness draining out of her. She wasn't getting this job. Why be nervous? She was done. Time to go home and–
Home.
She had no home.
No job. No partner. No–
Nothing.
Just.... nothing.
Manu explained, “I know who Rachel Hart is. Smart woman. Settled in Luview last year. We’ve been wanting to do some sort of branded show with the town, but the locals have pushed back.
Hard. The town manager has his own vision of how to market Luview, and our television shows haven't cut it. Can't get permits to film there. That reality show with Portia Starman a few years ago never took off, but the place seems tailor-made for children’s programming.”
“Really?” She was being polite. Kylie didn't know about KidzdocTV being blocked by the town manager, but she could see people like Kell Luview fighting tooth and nail against the overcommercialization.
“Make you a deal, Kylie. You get us the fairy camp and the Luview family to star in the show, and we’ll hire you to manage the pilot. If it goes well–”
“Me?” she peeped.
“You’re not an experienced showrunner, so I can’t put you in charge, but I can make you assistant, and add you as an associate producer to the credits.
That's if the pilot does well. You said you’re a local in Love You.
Use your connections. Pull strings. Cash in favors.
Get the Luview family to agree to our crew filming the creation of this fairy camp, and you’ve got a job with us. ”
“A job?”
“A contingent job offer. You’d spend most of your time on-site, in Maine. If this takes off, you’ll need to be here in New York for post-production. You have an eye for marketing, so...”
His words turned into blabber, thoughts racing. The job was contingent on getting LUKE to agree to let her film a FAIRY CAMP reality show for kids at his family’s camp.
Their former childhood camp.
What had she done?
What
Had
She
Done?
The next ten minutes mostly involved people looking at their phones as Manu and Elsa nattered on about the details, Kylie’s head turning into a giant gong being struck every second.
By the time she was shaking their hands and leaving, her face hurt from smiling, the muscles in the back of her neck tight and screaming.
She wanted a drink.
She wanted a massage.
She needed a hot tub to soak in.
But what she couldn’t have was the one thing she needed most, personally and, now, professionally.
Luke.
Stumbling down the hall, she pressed the elevator button like she was borrowing someone else's hand, heart racing, finger like clay. When the doors opened, she was relieved to find no one else in the car.
As the elevator made its descent, she held her breath.
Streets in New York smell like old oil, gasoline, and urine, but it was December 28, so add melting piles of old snow to the mix. A deep breath of fresh air made her gag.
This was not home.
Home wasn't the city anymore.
Her hotel was, fortunately, only a few blocks away, her luck at finding a place close on KidzdocTV's dime a relief. By the time she made it to her hotel room, she barely had the energy to plop down on the bed, let her mind race until it slowed down enough to cry, and breathe.
Not in that order.
The skin under her eyes felt like burlap by the time she was done, her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, suit horribly wrinkled by laying there, staring into space and crying.
She did it.
She got her chance.
And it relied on Luke.
The man who had just rejected her with breathtaking clarity.
How could she ask him for this? How could she go to him and pitch a television series based at his camp? Luke was deeply private. Overprotective. Defensive of Harriet, he'd never, ever let a crew invade his new compound to film Kylie's series.
The universe was sending her a big, flashing, red neon sign.
This is not your path.