Boy Meets Girl Read online

I call it Vivica,

  Vivica,

  My Vivica.

  * * *

  Content of Check

  Dale Carter 0002

  207 E. 3rd St. Apt. 10J

  New York, NY 10003 March 23, 2004

  Kathleen Mackenzie $10,000

  Ten thousand and 00 cents DOLLARS

  NY MetroBank

  Park Avenue, New York

  MEMO:For the Apt and shit Dale Carter

  :0003058439: 854765339 • 0002

  * * *

  * * *

  To: Jen Sadler

  Fr: Kate Mackenzie

  Re: Dale

  Oh my God. That freak Dale—you know what he did? Messengered me over a check for ten grand.

  TEN GRAND.

  What do I DO????

  Kate

  * * *

  To: Kate Mackenzie

  Fr: Jen Sadler

  Re: Dale

  What do you mean, what do you do? You cash it!

  And don’t tell me you don’t think you should. You EARNED that money. You cooked and cleaned like a slave for him for all those years, and for what? A big fat, “I have to take it one day at a time”? You take that check and you run, don’t walk, to Chase and deposit it, before he sobers up.

  * * *

  To: Jen Sadler

  Fr: Kate Mackenzie

  Re: Dale

  You’re right. I’ll deposit it after work. There’s something else I’ve got to do right now, though.

  Kate

  Hola! You have reached the line of Ida Lopez. Ida is not here to take your call. Leave a message and she will get back to you.

  (Tone)

  Hi, Mrs. Lopez? It’s Kate. Kate Mackenzie. You know, from the Journal? I just wanted to say thank you so much for the cookies. They were really delicious. You shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble. But thank you so much for thinking of me.

  Also I was wondering if your lawyer had been in touch with you yet. Because—I don’t know if you know this yet—but I got my job back, and I just now got the reinstatement papers for you on my desk. Which means the paper wants you back, Mrs. Lopez. With full benefits, and no lost pay from the time you were gone. Oh, I really hope you’ll come back, Mrs. Lopez. We really miss you around here. And you know, Stuart Hertzog just tendered his firm’s resignation as the Journal’s attorneys, so it’s not like you’ll be seeing him around anymore, either. Both he and Amy—you know, my boss? They’re gone. So please let me know, Mrs. Lopez, about whether you’re coming back. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

  (Click)

  * * *

  To: Kate Mackenzie
  Fr: Tony Salerno

  Re: Ida Lopez

  Hi, Kate. You don’t know me, I’m married to Nadine Wilcock, you know, the food critic over there at the Journal?

  Anyway, I own the restaurant Fresche—you might have heard of it. I’m also Ida Lopez’s new boss. Yeah, that’s right. Nadine told me all about Mrs. Lopez and her chocolate chip cookies and all, so I did a little investigating, and well . . . she’s my new pastry chef. No offense, but I pay her a lot more than you guys did, so I can see why she might not want to leave. Have you ever tasted her blueberry blintzes? Mind-blowing.

  So, anyway, looks like your loss is our gain . . . but it’s Ida’s gain, too.

  And you can tell all those ravenous New York Journal-ists that if they miss Ida’s home cooking, they can just come on over to Fresche anytime they want!

  Best,

  Tony Salerno

  Owner/master chef

  Fresche

  * * *

  To: Margaret Hertzog Stuart Hertzog Stacy Trent Mitchell Hertzog Janice Hertzog

  Fr: Arthur Hertzog

  Re: All of you

  Just a quick note to say there seems to be some kind of misunderstanding concerning my whereabouts. I am not, as many of you seem to believe, on my way back to New York. The fellas and I are on our way to Pebble Beach, to try our hand at the most challenging course known to man.

  I can see how this information might be upsetting to some of you. However, I had a near death experience a year ago, and it taught me one thing: Don’t waste your time on stupid shit. And frankly, all I seem to hear from some of you people is stupid shit.

  Stuart, you could have a lot worse things wrong with you than the fact that you’re a carrier for a disease that you’ll never actually have. I heard you’re engaged to that girl you brought home for Thanksgiving dinner. Mazel tov. Tell her to eat more, she’s too skinny.

  As for your problems with your brother, I have a feeling that those will soon be alleviated: I just got off the phone with Mitch, who has informed me that he has had enough with corporate law. He’s returning to his position as a public defender downtown where, he says, the clients are friendlier and less apt to commit perjury. I won’t stand in his way. Stuart, I know that by now everyone at Hertzog Webber and Doyle will have gotten used to my absence, and Mitchell’s leaving the firm shouldn’t have a deleterious effect on anything.

  Margaret, I understand that you’re upset with Mitchell for something he did to Stuart’s fiancée. I told you when they were kids, and I’ll tell you now that they’re adults: Keep out of it. It’s your own fault, anyway. If you didn’t keep on telling Stuart he was your favorite, he wouldn’t have gotten such a swelled head to begin with.

  And no, Stuart, I don’t mean that literally.

  As for Janice’s becoming a lesbian and drawing against her capital: Again, Margaret, keep out of it. I don’t know about this lesbian business, and frankly, I don’t want to know. But that money is Janice’s to do with as she pleases. I do have to draw the line at her spending it on school. I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous in my life. I will pay for Janice’s tuition, as I did for all you kids. Janice, your orca business sounds like a damned stupid idea, but it’s your money, and if it makes you happy, you kayak around Puget Sound as much as you want.

  Now I would appreciate it if you would all quit calling me, e-mailing me, Fed-Exing me, faxing me, and leaving messages for me at the hotel desk. I am on VACATION. I will let you know when it’s over. But I can tell you, it won’t be anytime soon.

  I think I can get nine more holes in before dark, so I’m off. Good-bye.

  Dad

  * * *

  To: Kate Mackenzie

  Fr: Helen Green
  Re: Professor Wingblade

  Dear Ms. Mackenzie,

  I regret to inform you that Professor Wingblade is on sabbatical this year in Uganda. Due to the lack of electricity in the remote village in which he is doing his research, he does not have access to e-mail. If your message is of an urgent nature you can attempt to send it via “snail mail.” However, the postal system in the area in which the professor is currently staying is unreliable at best. The professor has asked that all mail of a non-urgent nature be held until his return. Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance to you.

  Sincerely,

  Helen Green

  Administrative Assistant

  Department of Psychology

  College of Arts and Sciences

  University of Kentucky

  * * *

  To: Helen Green
  Fr: Kate Mackenzie

  Re: Professor Wingblade

  Dear Helen,

  You know what? It doesn’t matter. I think it’s going to be all right. Tell Professor Wingblade hi from me when he gets back.

  Kate

  * * * />
  To: Kate Mackenzie

  Fr: Mitchell Hertzog

  Re: You

  So, now that you’ve gotten your job back, you’ll probably want to start thinking about finding a place to live.

  And I just wanted to let you know, there’s a vacancy in my building. In my apartment, actually. And I was kind of wondering how you felt about that.

  Mitch

  * * *

  To: Mitchell Hertzog

  Fr: Kate Mackenzie

  Re: You

  Interesting proposition. Let’s meet at your place to discuss after work today.

  Kate

  Acknowledgments

  With thanks to the many people who helped contribute to this book (all errors are the author’s own):

  Beth Ader

  Jennifer Brown

  Elizabeth Claypoole

  Carrie Feron

  Michele Jaffe

  Laura Langlie

  Todd Sullivan

  Stephanie Vullo

  David Walton

  Dan Wasser

  About the Author

  Meg (a.k.a.) Meggin Cabot is the author of the bestselling, critically acclaimed, immensely popular Princess Diaries novels - Volumes I-III (The Princess Diaries; Princess in the Spotlight; and Princess in Love) are published by PerfectBound, along with All-American Girl and two adult contemporary books, The Boy Next Door and Boy Meets Girl. She is also the author of (among many, many other books, including even more Princess Diaries titles) She Went All the Way; Haunted: A Tale of the Mediator; and two Regency-era novels, Nicola and the Viscount and Victoria and the Rogue. Meg lives with her husband in New York City. Please visit www.megcabot.com.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

  Books by Meg Cabot

  BOY MEETS GIRL

  THE BOY NEXT DOOR

  SHE WENT ALL THE WAY

  Young Adult Titles

  THE PRINCESS DIARIES

  THE PRINCESS DIARIES, VOLUME II: PRINCESS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

  THE PRINCESS DIARIES, VOLUME III: PRINCESS IN LOVE

  THE PRINCESS DIARIES, VOLUME IV: PRINCESS IN WAITING

  THE PRINCESS DIARIES, VOLUME IV½: PROJECT PRINCESS

  PRINCESS LESSONS

  ALL AMERICAN GIRL

  HAUNTED

  NICOLA AND THE VISCOUNT

  VICTORIA AND THE ROGUE

  Credits

  Cover illustration by Paul Stinson

  Copyright

  BOY MEETS GIRL. Copyright © 2004 by Meggin Cabot.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  EPub Edition © JANUARY 2004 ISBN: 9780061809323

  FIRST EDITION

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