Lessons Learned

could’ve rubbed her hands together with glee if she hadn’t been drinking coffee. Then she hit Denver.
    Coffee sloshed out of the cup and onto her hand.
    “Damn!” Fumbling in her briefcase, she found three crumpled tissues and began to mop up. A gossip column. Who’d have thought it? She gave herself a moment to think then relaxed. Publicity was publicity, after all. And the truth of the matter was, Franconi was gossip. Looking at it logically, the more times his name was in print, the more successful the tour. Resolved, Juliet began to read.
    She nodded absently as she skimmed the first paragraph.Chatty, shallow, but certainly not offensive. A lot of people who might not glance at the food or cooking sections would give the gossip columns a working over. All in all, it was probably an excellent break. Then she read the second paragraph.
    Juliet was up out of her folding chair. This time the coffee that dripped onto the floor went unnoticed. Her expression changed from surprised astonishment to fury in a matter of seconds. In the same amount of time, she stuffed the clippings back into their envelope. It wasn’t easy, but she gave herself five minutes for control before she walked back into the main store.
    The schedule called for another fifteen minutes, but Carlo had more than twenty people in line, and that many again just milling around. Fifteen minutes would have to be stretched to thirty. Grinding her teeth, Juliet stalked over to Bill.
    “There you are.” Friendly as always, he threw his arm over her shoulder and squeezed. “Going great guns out here. Old Carlo knows how to twinkle to the ladies without setting the men off. Damn clever sonofabitch.”
    “I couldn’t have said it better myself.” Her knuckles were white on the strap of her briefcase. “Bill, is there a phone I can use? I have to call the office.”
    “No problem at all. Y’all just come on back with me.” He led her through Psychology, into Westerns and around Romances to a door marked Private. “You just help yourself,” he invited and showed her into a room with a cluttered metal desk, a goosenecked lamp and stacks upon stacks of books. Juliet headed straight for the phone.
    “Thanks, Bill.” She didn’t even wait until the door closedbefore she started dialing. “Deborah Mortimor, please,” she said to the answering switchboard. Tapping her foot, Juliet waited.
    “Ms. Mortimor.”
    “Deb, it’s Juliet.”
    “Hi. I’ve been waiting for you to call in. Looks like we’ve got a strong nibble with the Times when you come back to New York. I just—”
    “Later.” Juliet reached into her briefcase for a roll of antacids. “I got the clippings today.”
    “Great, aren’t they?”
    “Oh sure. They’re just dandy.”
    “Uh-huh.” Deb waited only a beat. “It’s the little number in Denver, isn’t it?”
    She gave the rolling chair a quick kick. “Of course it is.”
    “Sit down, Juliet.” Deb didn’t have to see to know her boss was pacing.
    “Sit down? I’m tempted to fly back to Denver and ring Chatty Cathy’s neck.”
    “Killing columnists isn’t good for PR , Juliet.”
    “It was garbage.”
    “No, no, it wasn’t that bad. Trash maybe, but not garbage.”
    She struggled for control and managed to get a very slippery rein on her temper. Popping the first antacid into her mouth, she crunched down. “Don’t be cute, Deb. I didn’t like the insinuations about Carlo and me. Carlo Franconi’s lovely American traveling companion, ” she quoted between her teeth. “Traveling companion. It makes me sound as though I’m just along for the ride. And then—”
    “I read it,” Deb interrupted. “So did Hal,” she added, referring to the head of publicity.
    Juliet closed her eyes a moment. “And?”
    “Well, he went through about six different reactions. In the end, he decided a few comments like that were bound to come up and only added to Franconi’s—well, mystique might be the best term.”
    “I see.” Her jaw clenched, her fingers tight around the little roll of stomach pills. “That’s fine then, isn’t it? I’m just thrilled to add to a client’s mystique.”
    “Now, Juliet—”
    “Look, just tell dear old Hal that Houston went perfectly.” She was definitely going to need two pills. Juliet popped another out of the roll with her thumb. “I don’t even want you to mention to him that I called about this—this tripe in Denver.”
    “Whatever you say.”
    Taking a pen,