“That’s all I need.” She phoned the valet and arranged for the car to be returned while he stood there. “Any credit will go back to the card you used when you reserved it.” She typed something into the computer. “Okay, Andrew, production is taking care of your stay, so I won’t need anything from you except a form of identification.”

He handed over his driver’s license.

She typed in the details and slid it back to him. “Now, Lori will be your assistant for the show. Here’s a packet of information she left for you.” Gia handed him a bright orange letter-sized envelope with his name and room number on it. “If you’ll just dial 18622 in the morning after eleven, she’ll come over and get you all squared away.”

“Thank you, Gia.”

“Elevators to your left. Eighteenth floor.”

He turned to leave.

“Oh,” she said. “Good luck.”

When he got to his room, he dropped his bag and turned in a circle. “Holy cow. Mom would die if she saw this.” He opened the curtain. The suite overlooked the hustle and bustle of the streets below. “I’m in New York City.” With a fist pump, he spun around. “Amazing.”

He unpacked his clothes and put all his things away. No sense acting like he was a temporary around here. He’d learned a long time ago that if he acted as if he’d already succeeded, he would. “I’ve got this.”

The bed looked so inviting with the piles of stark-white linens. He took a quick shower and then climbed between the crisp sheets.

When he woke up, it was almost noon. He ripped back the blackout curtains to huge snowflakes falling, but they didn’t seem to slow the traffic below.

He got dressed and dialed 18622. “Good morning, Lori. This is Andrew.”

“Hello, Andrew. I’m so glad you made it in okay. I’ve got the adjoining room. Can I come over?”

“Absolutely.”

He hung up the phone and met a blonde about his age at his door. “Come on in.” He stepped out of the way and let the door close as he followed her into the sitting room of the suite.

“Not sure you’ve had time to really look around yet, but you’ll notice a couple of things missing. No phone. No regular television. There’s a long list of On Demand you can watch, though.”

“I hadn’t even noticed. No television? I’m here for a television show. What’s that all about?”

“Just part of the sequestering process. I don’t make the rules. I just make sure you follow them. It’s just a few days. No one usually minds.”

Lori’s accent was southern, but more like Texas than the coast. “I’m fine with it. Just wondering. So this sequester thing, I thought that was hype for the show.”