Diary of a Domestic Goddess

“Okay,” she said slowly, gathering her nerve. “With that in mind, I want to keep writing my column.”

The word no showed up immediately on his face, and she hastened to add, “What I mean is, a new column. New slant. But I want to keep writing.”

He lifted the copy of her column that he’d just set down. “I don’t think you’ve got the tone I’m looking for.”

“No, Edith didn’t have the tone you were looking for. You have no idea what I can do.”

He took a short breath and looked her over. “Tell me about it.”

“I know what you want now,” Kit told him confidently. She’d been in the business world long enough to know how to play businesswoman. “And I can deliver.”

“Can you?”

“Absolutely.”

“Why do you want to?”

That threw her off. “I beg your pardon?”

“Why do you want to do this?” he repeated.

“Do what exactly? Write the column?”

He nodded. “If you’re already working as the managing editor, why do you want to add more work to your load?”

“Well…” She was unsure whether or not she should tip her hand but decided she had nothing to lose. “That part of my job accounts for a third of my income.”

“You realize that’s not a particularly compelling reason for me to keep you on in that area.”

“Yes.” She wasn’t good at this business of constantly selling herself. “But in turn I’m sure you realize that you have a particularly motivated worker here. One you should recognize as a serious bargain.”

He looked amused. “How do you figure that?”

“It’s to my advantage to make myself as difficult to replace as possible. If I can do two jobs for one price, then why would you want to sack me and hire two people to replace me?” Not to mention that those columns, under her own name, would make a nice portfolio if/when she really did have to leave this place.