Page 87 of Big Sexy Love
‘Aaah!’ Mrs Ramirez sings with a smile. ‘Good girl. Life is tooshort.’
‘No. I mean… just… for the PR thing. Like you said, he probably has great…contacts.’
Anders and Mrs Ramirez stare at me like they don’t believe a word I’msaying.
Fairenough.
I don’t believe meeither.
* * *
After a speedy Google tofind out where theSunday Night Livestudios are located, I hail a cab and whizz my way to the famous Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan. It’s one good-looking skyscraper. I recognise it from so many of my favourite TV shows andmovies.
The area outside the entrance is teeming with tourists excitedly takingpictures.
‘Tourists, right?’ a woman in jeans and a leather jacket says to me, as we both try to push past the crowd in a bid to get to theentrance.
She thinks I’m a New Yorker? A little spark of pride flares in mychest.
‘Right?’ I reply with an eye-roll. ‘Totally!’
I finally reach the entrance and push through the doors into a large, glossy lobby. I look up at the ceiling – it’s painted with a giant elaborate image of some beefy naked guys holding up the ceiling. Wow. This place is cool! I’m impressed that Seth works here. It feels like the centre of somethingexciting.
I march over to the main lobby desk and inform the young man behind it that I’d like to see Seth Hartman atSundayNightLive.
The man looks me up and down. In a positive way or a negative way, I do not know. I think I look quite nice today, though, in blue jeans and a soft navy blouse with a little bow at the collar. ‘Is heexpectingyou?’
‘No. Um. Can you just tell him it’s Olive. And that I really need to talktohim.’
‘Well, we don’t usually…’ Then the guy blinks, his mouth slowly dropping open. ‘Oh my god, it’s you. You’re here? Oh wow!’ He starts to laugh and clap his hands togethergleefully.
The daftest thing about this scenario is that I can’t be sure where this guy recognises me from:Sunday Night Liveor the fact that I’ve been a running story in theNew York Daily News. Dammit. I should have remembered to wear theberet!
‘Wow. I’ll call Hartman now,’ the young man says, enthusiastically. ‘It’s the main writing day today so he might not have much time to see you, if any at all. But Iwilltry!’
‘I don’tneedlong.’
‘Wow.’ He clasps his hands to his chest. ‘How lucky you are to have been immortalised in a New York institution likeSunday Night Live. What a tale to tell,right?’
I smile and nod, a little thrown that this young person clearly thinks that being impersonated on TV is a good thing. Something I should be happy about. Even if it’s as a nutter with a fetish for bathroomvoyeurism.Huh.
The guy calls Seth and within five minutes he’s there in the lobby. Standing right in front of me. My breath catches in mythroat.
God. How did I not realise right away how sexy he is? He is very,verysexy.
‘Hello!’ I say, my heart already beating a drum through mywholebody.
‘Olive. I thought you’d be back in the UKbynow?’
‘Nope.Stillhere.’
After an odd pause in which we just stare at each other’s faces really intently, Seth shrugs. ‘Uh, is there anything I canhelpwith?’
He sounds oddly formal. Professional.Peeved?
‘I didn’t stand you up!’ I blast out. ‘I mean, you probably didn’t even notice my absence at your show, eitherway,I’m—’
‘I noticed, Olive,’ Seth murmurs in a low voice, looking me directly in the eye in a way that makes my mouthsalivate.
