Dana

“Good afternoon, Mr. Craig.” A woman in front of your apartment’s stoop greets you.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Mrs. Sachs sent me to read over the draft of your manuscript with you? I’m Dana Owens.” She introduces herself while offering you her hand for a handshake.

Oh shit. You completely forgot about that.

The shriek of excitement that comes from Maddy prevents you from even trying to recall what Mrs. Sachs told you at the Gala the last time you met her, as Maddy immediately reacts with “Oh my God! Are you going to start writing again, Mr. Craig?”

“I guess I am.” You answer Maddy with a chuckle, before you greet Dana back and accept her handshake. “I guess Mrs. Sachs wouldn’t allow just an e-mail of the draft, huh?” You ask her bashfully, rubbing the back of your neck out of embarrassment at the special treatment Mrs. Sachs is giving you by sending someone in person.

“Mrs. Sachs actually expected you to send the draft yesterday.” Dana reminds you, and the look of guilt on your face pretty much confirms to her you forgot about it completely. “She also told me that you had some idea that she was sending me today; from when you two last met?” Dana asks to see if you can recall that as well.

“Uhh~” You mutter out loud, and you look even guiltier now than you did just a minute ago.

“No harm done, Mr. Craig. I’ll just look over it now and I can proceed with Mrs. Sach’s assignment.” Dana tells you.

“Oh, right. Um… right this way, I guess.” You tell her, as you walk past her and enter the building. Stella, Cassie, and Maddy greet Dana and introduce themselves to her as the five of you make your way up the stairs to your apartment’s floor.

“What happened to Loretta?” You ask her about your usual editor from the publishing house.

“Loretta finally got one of her books picked up for publication, so she decided to forego doing editing work and focus on writing.” Dana answers.

“For real?” You say in shock, not having heard about that detail. “I-I should congratulate her.” You say guiltily.

“I’ve talked to her, she understands why you’ve been distant. All of us from Hopper-Collinsworth were devastated to hear about your divorce, and completely understood why you needed a break, Mr. Craig.” Dana tells you, and you nod in recognition of her condolence, but don’t want to discuss it further.

“How come Jay didn’t seem to know you were coming? Didn’t you guys text him?” Cassie asks Dana.

“Oh shit, you weren’t waiting by the stoop long were you?” You ask her.

“Unfortunately, I was hoping Mrs. Sachs would have texted him for me as she failed to give me his number. She only told me to drop by here at any time since she thought, and I quote, ‘he’s been stuck in that apartment of his for months, I assume he’d still be stuck there now’. Don’t worry though, I only dropped by after lunch and haven’t waited long by the stoop before you guys arrived.” Dana answers.

“That’s good.” You say in relief. “By the way, don’t let Mrs. Sachs know you can do a pretty good impression of her.” You joke with her.

“I’ve been planning on it actually. I’ve always wanted to get fired.” Dana replies in playful sarcasm, getting you to chuckle.

“Why would you want to get fired?” Maddy asks, missing the sarcasm completely.

“Oh! Um…” Dana reacts. She’s either unsure if Maddy’s playing with her since she thought her sarcasm was obvious, or stopping herself to think if maybe her sarcasm wasn’t as obvious as she thought.

“You’d want to get fired and be set free from tyranny if you worked under Mrs. Sachs too, Maddy.” You come in to save Dana from her predicament. Despite using harsh words, you and Dana both recognize that you both have a fondness for the old coot.

“She didn’t seem so bad at the Gala when you introduced her… Jay.” Maddy argues, catching herself to refrain from calling you ‘Mr. Craig’.

“We’re just exaggerating. Mrs. Sachs has high standards for her editors and she can be a bit bitchy, but she’s actually really caring when you get past that.” You explain.

“Cough. Stockholm Syndrome. Cough.” Stella jokes.

“It doesn’t work if you say ‘cough’ out loud.” Cassie teases her.

“You were at the Hoffman Gala?” Dana asks Maddy in particular.

“We were.” Cassie answers her, thinking the question was for everyone.

“You were all there!?” Dana continues, unable to hide how baffled she is by the thought.

“What’s so weird about us being there?” Stella asks.

“Um… no offense, but I heard it’s one of the most exclusive events in the city. Even Mrs. Sachs only got an invitation for herself with no plus one for her husband.” Dana explains.

“Yeah, well, it’s a perk of having Becca Hoffman catching feelings for your dad.” Stella jokingly replies, and the stunned silence of Dana makes you imagine that she has her eyes bulging in shock right now.

“You’re dating Rebecca Hoffman!?” Dana asks in even more shock than when she found out that you brought all the girls to the Hoffman Gala, just as you arrive at the third floor of the apartment building.

“I am.” You answer, pausing your walk to look her in the eyes as you answer, just so she knows you’re serious. “We had a date last night, actually.” You add some more.

“She’s been all over the news lately! The media didn’t mention you were dating. Is that why she quit Hoffman’s?” Dana reacts.

“We’d prefer to keep it that way, Dana. Not that we’re hiding it, but we’re not exactly looking to make our relationship media fodder either.” You tell her, and she nods in understanding of your right to your privacy. “As for why she quit Hoffman’s, I had nothing to do with it. It was her personal decision.” You tell her.

“It was mostly because her dad’s an asshole, and you can quote me on that.” Cassie chimes in.

“She’s not a journalist, baby.” You remind her.

“She can still quote me on it.” Cassie fires back. Dana just looks at you curiously as to why Cassie has such a strong reaction against Mr. Hoffman.

“It’s a long story.” You just say, trying to avoid the subject entirely.

“Short story is, Mr. Hoffman’s an asshole.” Cassie continues, still heated.

“I’ll~ take your word for it.” Dana tells her with an awkward smile, not wanting to rile Cassie up further.

You all finally enter your apartment, and you ask Dana to have a seat in the dining area while you get your laptop with the files for the drafts of your latest book. Once you grab the laptop, you join Dana and the girls who are all sitting at the dining table. It seems Cassie brought out some chips so they have something to munch on.

“Now that I think about it, this is the first time I’ve seen someone come over to check dad’s writing personally.” Stella comments.

“Yes, I’m sure that’s the case. Admittedly, this is highly irregular and not something we usually do, but Mrs. Sachs insisted I continue to drop by to ensure Mr. Craig finishes his manuscript within the new timeline she set for him.” Dana explains.

“What is the new timeline she set for me?” You ask, as you join them and place your laptop on the dining table next to Dana.

“Well, she’s hoping you'll be finished by the end of the summer.” Dana answers, and Maddy expresses her giddy excitement with a high pitched squeal.

“And she sent you to make sure I’m not slacking?” You jokingly ask, even though you already know that that’s exactly why Mrs. Sachs sent her. Instead of laughing, Dana looks away in embarrassment, and you can only think of one reason why that would be her reaction.

“She said something, didn’t she?” You ask to confirm, and Dana just raises her eyebrows and looks away again, which pretty much conveys your assumption is correct.

“Alright. Come on. I’ve been berated by her before. I can handle it. What’d she say?” You now ask.

“I’d rather not.” Dana continues.

“Why did she berate you before, Mr. Craig?” Maddy asks.

“Just due to my existence as her intern.” You answer with a laugh. “I remember she told me once that she ‘got stuck with babysitting duties’ when I started right after high school.” You answer, recalling the term she used when you two first met.

“So is that what she’s doing now? Sending Dana to babysit?” Cassie asks her.

“Is it?” You ask Dana, and she once again has a guilty smile. “Come on. Just tell me what she said.” You tell her.

“She didn’t exactly berate you, is the thing.” Dana admits, getting you even more curious. “Okay, just… just don’t tell her I told you. You know Mrs. Sachs. She likes to pretend she’s Miranda Priestly.” Dana prefaces, making you chuckle, as that’s an apt description.

“I told Mrs. Sachs it was unnecessary to personally visit you, and she went livid. She went off on a rant and shared that she visited you about a month ago; she wanted to see how you were doing. She was positive you wouldn’t remember it because you weren’t exactly… sober. She said she did a couple more times but it was either the same or worse. She even tried berating you ‘like old times’ to get you to snap out of it… but she said none of it registered; said you were too far gone. She admitted hating seeing you like that.” Dana shares, and you can’t just help but feel embarrassed around your girlfriends who just look at you with caring eyes; but all it makes you feel is like you’re a wounded puppy.

“She continued to rant that when she saw you out and about at the gala, she was relieved… but also pissed. You didn’t even call her.” Dana continues, and you feel a little guilty that you couldn’t even remember one of the few people who tried to help you during that tough time. “She told me to make sure you never wallow in your misery like that again.” Dana finally ends what Mrs. Sachs told her.

…

“So I’m Karen Eiffel now?” You joke, trying to get the mood back to something less… depressing. You get a smile of recognition from Dana, as she hears your reference to Stranger Than Fiction.

“Penny Escher at your service.” Dana replies in amusement, as you start going through your laptop to show Dana the progress of your latest book.

“Where’s that from?” Stella asks you, picking up on your intent to not stew in the emotions of Dana’s story too much.

“Stranger Than Fiction. It’s about a writer that has this weird magical connection to a real person, where whatever she writes becomes the guy’s life story.” You answer Stella, getting ‘oohs’ of interest from the girls. You then slide over your laptop to Dana so she can start reading the draft. “Um… by the way, if you need some silence while reading, I can ask the girls to—” You start saying, but Dana assures you that you and the girls can keep conversing while she works.

“We should watch that during the next movie night!” Maddy says excitedly, with Cassie and Stella matching her excitement to fully cement moving on from the previous topic.

“Is that what you girls plan to do all summer together? Watch movies?” You teasingly ask.

“I mean I’d say the other plan out loud but we might summon Lizzie.” Stella jokes back, and it makes Maddy noticeably blush.

“Should we do the next movie night tonight?” Maddy asks excitedly, trying to change the topic away from the sexual innuendo Stella started.

“I’d hold off on that.” You answer for Stella and Cassie, who both look at you teasingly, as they seem to know where your mind is headed.

“How come, Mr. Craig?” Maddy asks, a bit disappointed.

“Well, I’ve had dates with all of my girlfriends now. Except for—” You start saying before, Dana cuts you off.

“I’d hold off any plans for the next few weeks, Mr. Craig.” Dana interrupts.

“What? Why?” You ask her.

“We have a lot of work to do.”