Come Dancing (36 page)

I laughed at the image.

“Although any time you feel the urge to do that,” he added, “I’d be happy to watch.”

Later that night, I put the final touches on Isabel’s manuscript as Jack took a little nap beside me in bed. I was pleased with the work I’d done, and Meredith was convinced it would be a bestseller. I stacked the pages on the bedside table, right next to my marbled notebook. Jack stirred and squinted at me as I snapped the rubber band.

“Finally finished with that thing?” he asked.

“No thanks to you.”

“You told me you were ready to take a break.”

“A fifteen-minute break. That was two hours.”

Jack propped his head on his hand. “If you wanted a fifteen-minute man, you’ve got the wrong guy,” he said, gazing at me through his eyelashes.

“That’s for sure. But you are the right guy.”

“Good. Listen, I spoke to Mary Jo today. The record company told her we’re making shitloads of money from the new album; they’re really chuffed about it. I want to take you somewhere nice and tropical over Christmas. After we go to England. Maybe Dot can join us for the first couple of days.”

I smiled at the thought of Mom telling Erwin to shove it. “She’d be over the moon.”

“Least we can do; after all, she got us back together. And you have the whole week off since you’re an associate editor now?”

“That’s right.” He’d been very proud of my new title, and insisted on having business cards printed for me since Harvey said it wasn’t in the budget.

“I’m gonna get you a very skimpy bikini to wear on the island. We’ll have a private beach, so I’ll expect you to go topless most of the time. And when we’re not rolling around getting sandy, you can read your Proust and I’ll tackle more Henry and Beezus. But I want one week with no manuscripts, all right?”

I gazed at his hair sticking up in a wild tangle, stubble peppering his face, lightning bolt askew. “I promise I’ll only read for pleasure. If you don’t watch out, you’ll turn me into a hedonist.”

“Whatever that is.” Jack pulled up my tee-shirt. “Take this thing off. Thinking about that bikini has got me all fired up again.”

Leslie Wells left her small Southern town in 1979 for graduate school in New York City. After receiving her Master’s in English Lit, she got her first job in book publishing. She has edited forty-eight
New York Times
bestsellers in her over thirty-year career, including thirteen number one
New York Times
bestsellers. Leslie has worked with numerous internationally known authors, musicians, actors, actresses, television and radio personalities, athletes, and coaches. She lives on Long Island, New York.

Visit Leslie at
www.lesliewellsbooks.com
for bonus scenes and more.

If you enjoyed
Come Dancing
, I would so appreciate it if you’d post a review on
Amazon
. Thank you so much!

Leslie

I began writing this novel in 2009, on the thirtieth anniversary of my arrival in New York City. I wanted to describe what it was like in the years 1979-1981, when Manhattan was still rough along the edges. When SoHo was still the domain of artists and galleries, and the occasional local bar or cafe. And when nightclubs like the Palladium, the Roxy, Danceteria, and the Mudd Club attracted a huge mix of people from many different strata of society.

Back then, you could go out dancing and run into just about anyone: actors, politicians, rock musicians. Celebrities weren’t surrounded by bodyguards; the assumption was that if you were allowed into a club, you were cool. No one was going to harass anybody; after all, this was
downtown
. And there were no cell phones back then. People didn’t walk around with a camera in their pockets 24/7—so if you were famous, you didn’t have to worry about being photographed every time you turned around. That made for a much more open atmosphere, where regular people rubbed shoulders with the glitterati as everyone cut loose on the dance floor.

I also wanted to write about book publishing before the advent of e-readers and computers, when we were all lugging home 400-page manuscripts every night. As with the music biz, the changes have been seismic. Unfortunately the salaries are pretty much the same, especially for assistants (when you account for inflation). I really did find those lavender shoes on the street, and I wore them until they fell apart.

A number of people have been extremely generous with their time and advice as I revised this novel over the past five years (even a long-time editor needs an editor for her own work). In 2010, my good friend Peternelle Van Arsdale did a thorough and thoughtful edit, and helped me figure out what needed trimming from my first draft. In 2012, Benee Knauer provided good suggestions for my third draft. In 2013, I received judicious notes from my friends and publishing comrades Cynthia Cannell, Jennifer Levesque, Kiki Koroshetz, and Nina Shield. The amazing Kirsten Neuhaus provided fantastic editorial advice and huge support. Jessica Hatch gave it a final polish, not to mention invaluable help with social media. Thanks to Allison Winn Scotch for her generous advice, and to wonderful Nicole Dweck for her encouragement and guidance.

The tremendously talented Laura Klynstra did a brilliant job with the book cover and interior design. Kassiah Faul of Creative B Design Studio created an amazing website for me, and Amy Bruno of bookjunkiepromotions put together a great virtual book tour.

Thanks to Bob Miller, Wendy Lefkon, Mary Ellen O’Neill, Will Schwalbe, and Gretchen Young, all of whom have been incredibly supportive of me in my publishing career. A huge shout-out to Jane Rosenman for thirty-four years of good advice, love and friendship.

Back in the day, weekend nights found me out dancing with my good friend Janet. Thanks for all the great memories.

Molte grazie
to the ladies of the Hallelujah Dinner Club: Aleaze Hodgens, Dana Lester, Sue Nicoletti, and Marcia Schenk; extra gratitude for HDC founder Hilary Osborn Malecki, a dear friend whom I always know I can count on. Also thanks to Amy Turza, a great friend for life.

I have an amazing family: Mom, Dad, Emily, Kevin, Jessica, Will, Eric, Mark, Sheri, Eric, Emma, and Nikki. I love you to the ends of the earth.

Finally, thanks to my children for putting up with their mom constantly editing other people’s books, and then working on my own novel early mornings, late nights, and weekends. A huge thank-you to Peter for reading eight zillion versions of this novel and patiently, thoughtfully commenting on each draft, each paragraph, each word. Three words for you: Up, up, up.

• Title page
  
• Table of Contents
  
• Chapter 1
  
• Chapter 2
  
• Chapter 3
  
• Chapter 4
  
• Chapter 5
  
• Chapter 6
  
• Chapter 7
  
• Chapter 8
  
• Chapter 9
  
• Chapter 10
  
• Chapter 11
  
• Chapter 12
  
• Chapter 13
  
• Chapter 14
  
• Chapter 15
  
• Chapter 16
  
• Chapter 17
  
• Chapter 18
  
• Chapter 19
  
• Chapter 20
  
• Chapter 21
  
• Chapter 22
  
• Chapter 23
  
• Chapter 24
  
• Chapter 25
  
• Chapter 26
  
• Chapter 27
  
• Chapter 28
  
• Chapter 29
  
• Chapter 30
  
• Chapter 31
  
• Chapter 32
  
• Chapter 33
  
• Chapter 34
  
• Chapter 35
  
• About the Author
  
• Acknowledgments