Off the Record Camryn Garrett (best book club books txt) 📖

“What if I have plans tomorrow?” I settle on.

Penny shrugs. “Then you have plans.”

My shoulders relax, but only by a fraction.

“You don’t have to come,” she continues, pulling out her phone. “But the offer’s there, if you want. Let me give you my number, just in case. You’re here for the long haul, right? The whole tour?”

The door opens and a stone-faced Louise steps back inside.

“Fifteen minutes,” she says.

I barely register her words. I can’t stop staring at Penny, who grabs one of my pens, leans over, and writes a phone number in my notebook. A few days ago, I thought she hated me. I’m not sure if she still does—or if she ever did.

“Josie?”

I blink. Penny is sitting back in her chair, looking at me expectantly.

“Yeah,” I say, flipping my notebook to a new page. “I’m here for the long haul.”

@JosieTheJournalist: am i…a cool kid?

Alice and I have barely gotten settled into our Chicago hotel on Friday night when there’s a knock at the door.

“Alice?” I say. “Did you invite any of the interns over?”

It’s sort of a joke, but she just shrugs.

“Not yet,” she says. “We were supposed to find a cool bar that doesn’t card to hang out in, but that’s for later tonight. Maybe one of your friends?”

I almost fire back that I don’t have any friends, at least not here.

Another knock. I sigh and shove my suitcase out of the way before heading to the door. I don’t know what I’m expecting, but it’s not Penny and Marius standing out in the hallway, bundled up in jackets, hats, and gloves.

“Hey,” Penny says, holding her hand up in greeting. “You ready to go?”

I blink. Marius smiles, his shoulders up close to his ears.

“Hi, Josie,” he says. “Look, I wanted to apologize about—”

“Ew, stop that,” Penny says, smacking his shoulder. “You can do that once we get her out. And you are coming out, right?”

“Oh,” I say, looking back into the room. Alice is spread out on her bed, texting someone. “Yeah, I just, uh, thought you would’ve forgotten about me.”

“I’m pretty sure that was directed at you,” Penny says, glancing at Marius. He frowns.

“No,” I say. God, why does she have to be like this? “No, I just— Forget it. Um, let me grab my bag, I guess.”

“And a jacket,” Marius calls. “It’s pretty cold.”

I get a jacket, then head out the door.

Despite the cold, it’s beautiful as we walk around downtown Chicago. I just sort of wish we’d find somewhere to sit—somewhere warm—instead of hanging out on the sidewalk. Still, the air feels cleaner. Like I can take a deep breath.

“So,” Marius says after we’ve been walking for a few minutes. “Am I allowed to apologize now?”

I glance at Penny and she shrugs.

“I don’t know,” she says. “I guess it’s up to Josie now.”

“Sure you can,” I say. “But I’d kind of like to know where we’re going first.”

“Oh!” Marius looks down at his phone. “I figured we could go to the Bean—you know, that big steel sculpture?”

“Now?”

I’d normally be embarrassed at how I’m acting, and there is a part of me that wonders if I seem too much like a baby, but it’s too cold for me to care. I can see my breath coming out in little puffs in front of me. That’s not…natural.

“He’s just being annoying,” Penny says. She’s wearing a knitted hat and scarf and looks like she stepped out of a J.Crew catalog. “We’re looking for—or supposed to be looking for—this deep-dish place. Marius, did you get us lost again?”

“It was one time, Penny—”

I giggle, despite myself. Marius stops and looks at me. His cheeks are pink, probably from the cold. He grins back.

“Just a few more minutes,” he says. “It’s probably a tourist trap.”

“Probably,” Penny agrees. “But pizza is pizza, right?”

She’s wrong. I thought this place would be dingy and dirty and sort of charming, but it looks like it was just built, with nice beige columns and sleek black furniture. I see some of the people sitting around and realize I’ve never seen pizza like this. It looks like one of the pies we ate at Thanksgiving, except it’s filled with tomato sauce.

Marius asks for a table for three in the dining room, which again totally wasn’t what I expected. At home, the pizza places are in shopping centers and have wooden tables that look like they were bought at garage sales. There’s no dining room, at least not a real one. Not only does this place have table service, there’s a gigantic menu, with sandwiches and starters or whatever, all super expensive. My five hundred dollars has already dwindled to three hundred and we’re not even halfway through the tour. Isn’t pizza supposed to be cheap?

Penny browses the menu for a second, but Marius doesn’t open his. When the waiter comes back, he just flashes this pretty grin and asks for “Whatever you recommend” in such a flattering way that even I want to blush.

“So,” Marius says as soon as the waiter leaves. “I want to apologize. Seriously, this time, even if Penny doesn’t want me to.”

Penny rolls her eyes, sipping her water.

“I told you about the movie I’m doing next,” he says, placing his hands on the table. “Roy—he expects a lot from his actors. I’ve been working and rehearsing via video chat and—well, it’s not your problem. I just wanted you to know that I would never blow you off on purpose. I overslept, and when I woke up, I had a dozen calls from Penny, and I felt horrible.”

I bite my lip. I feel uncomfortable and I don’t know why. Maybe I should ask more about the Roy Lennox movie he’s doing. Is it normal to be doing a press tour and rehearsals at the same time? How does that even work?

“Are