My mouth dropped open in disbelief. “I’m sorry. What did you just say?”

“Tyler said a producer had emailed the general account. I had them forward it to me.”

“You said you got a call.”

“Well, first I emailed the producer back. Then she called. They tracked down the woman too.”

I shook my head. “Then call them back and say no, Eleanor. This kind of thing is your specialty, not mine. You’re the one who did the Ted Talk.” I felt the anxiety creeping across my skin. “You, of all people, should know I have zero ability to speak in front of a crowd. Live television will be a disaster.”

“It’s a five-minute spot, Hayes. You say hi, she says hi, you laugh, you answer a couple questions. You’ll blink, and it will be done.” She said this like she was teaching a child how to tie their shoes.

“I don’t think I’ve ever watched New York News in my life,” I said, racking my brain for a time when I’d flipped to our local cable news station. ESPN, yes. CNN, sure. But NYN? Maybe for weather, once.

“Well, you’re missing out. Pete Killian is a New York icon.” She swooned, placing a hand to her heart. “A legend. Statue of Liberty levels of New-Yorky-ness, the Empire State Building of people—”

“Okay, I get it,” I said, exasperated. “I get it. But it still sounds excruciating.”

“Oh, Hayes, come on. You’ll be fine.” She shooed a hand in my direction. “But also, Paul thinks it’s a good idea. For promoting the business. I looped him in.”

Paul, the publicist we’d hired after the Forbes list had come out. Of course.

“We’re paying him too much money to just ignore him, Hayes,” she said in her quiet, firm voice.

“Okay,” I said begrudgingly. “For the business. That’s it.”

I walked out, headed next door to my office, and tried to think about the conference call happening in just a few minutes. But instead, my thoughts shifted back to the woman on the train.

The thought of seeing her again shook my insides like a martini, left me feeling excited, buzzed, nervous. But what was most frustrating is that I couldn’t solve the equation, couldn’t answer the question of why she was making me feel this way. I needed to clear my head, resettle, reorganize my brain so that I could focus on the day ahead.

For a split second, I thought about heading back outside, pushing through the glass doors and out into the heavy spring air to take a lap around the block. Instead, I sat down, took a deep breath, and did what I did best: I got to work.

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Franny