Marta Wallace was one of the top editors here at TAOAT, and Izzy’s new boss. Izzy was sort of glad Marta wouldn’t be at the office right at the beginning—she’d been very intimidating in the interview, and Izzy had been sure she wouldn’t get the job. She’d been shocked when she’d gotten the call from HR a few weeks later, and it had taken her many emails before she’d been convinced this whole thing wasn’t a trick.
She’d really thought she’d get a job at a different publishing house. When she’d still been an intern, she’d gone to a mentorship event and met Josephine Henry, an editor over at Maurice, and a Black woman like Izzy. Izzy had gotten up the courage to email Josephine later to ask her for advice. Josephine had done far more than that—she’d taken Izzy out first for coffee, and then lunch, and given her a lot of advice on how to get a job in publishing. When a job as an editorial assistant was posted at Maurice, Izzy had applied immediately. She’d been crushed when she hadn’t gotten it. But then the offer had come from Marta here at TAOAT shortly afterward, and she’d been overjoyed.
She looked around as they walked down the halls, and her eyes widened. There were books everywhere here. Being surrounded by books like this had been her dream since she was a little girl. She couldn’t believe she’d gotten here.
Rachel gestured to a cubicle. “This one is for you,” she said to Izzy. “Marta’s office is right there.” She pointed at the dark office down the hall from Izzy’s desk.
Just then, a white guy with lots of dark hair, glasses, and what even Izzy could tell was a very well-cut blazer walked by.
“Oh, hi, are you Marta’s new assistant?” he asked her.
She nodded and smiled at him. “Yes, hi! I’m Isabelle Marlowe, nice to meet you.”
He looked over his glasses at her and smiled. “I’m Gavin Ridley. I sit right over there,” he said, pointing to a desk not far away. “I was Marta’s assistant up until recently; I’m an assistant editor now.”
“Oh wow, congratulations!” Izzy said.
“Thank you,” he said. “And really, feel free to ask me for any advice about working here. Happy to help.” He waved at Izzy as he walked toward his desk.
Izzy smiled to herself. People were so nice here.
Rachel patted a stack of papers on Izzy’s desk. “There’s some paperwork here, along with a temporary badge and a few fun gifts for your first day—why don’t you go through this and then you can come find me and we can get your picture taken for your ID badge and all that good stuff.”
Izzy nodded as she sat down at her desk. “Sounds great. Thank you!”
She took her favorite pen out of her purse and diligently filled out all the paperwork sitting on her desk. Once that was done, it was time for the fun stuff. She picked up the bulky Tale as Old as Time tote bag and beamed at it. A new tote bag! She could just see herself taking this bag with her to the park on the weekends, her notebooks and pens and laptop inside, and working on that novel she’d started writing last month.
She reached inside the bag. A water bottle, a coffee mug, and…oh my God, a copy of It’s My Favorite Part! She’d been dying to read it, and they just gave it to her? Had she entered a wonderland of free books?
She grinned as she got up to go find Rachel. She couldn’t wait for her new life to begin.
Izzy walked into work on Monday morning, flashed her badge at the security guard, and made her way into the elevator. She glanced down at her phone. Thirteen more emails had popped up, just during her walk from the subway to the elevator. Five of them were from Marta. Those could wait until she sat down at her desk. Preferably after she’d downed at least half the large cup of bad coffee she was holding, but that might be asking for too much. She sighed as the elevator stopped at her floor, a sigh echoed by at least three other people in the jam-packed elevator.
She pulled her hat off on the way to her desk and shook her long braids loose. The hat had only been partial protection from the freezing-cold air outside. February in New York was so depressing. It should feel better, shouldn’t it? Winter was almost over! But instead it was cold and dreary and endless, despite being the shortest month of the year.
Her friend Priya Gupta waved at her as she walked by. Priya was another editorial assistant—she’d started at TAOAT just a few months after Izzy and she worked for Holly Moore, one of the other big editors at the company. During Priya’s first week, there had been an editorial meeting where one editor had waxed poetic about how diverse their books were that season. Of the twenty-five books in their imprint, there were three whole authors of color, none of whom were Black. She and Priya had locked eyes from across the room. They’d been friends ever since.