The Pen Pal Who Turned Out to Be My New Boss novel · Chapter 19 of 24
Chapter 19: The Name
Dear Ms. Lundin,
This is formal notice that "Lark" is a registered trademark. Use of the name, by any staff member or contributor, is prohibited without license. All prior archives are the sole property of the publisher.
Rainsford Media, by counsel
I read that letter standing at Marguerite's counter in my socks, with the smell of her coffee all through the apartment.
"He filed it in September," she said. "The week before I started."
"He's had it all this time."
"He told me he'd protect the brand. I thought he meant the column."
She looked pale, and she wasn't being dramatic.
She had spent six years writing under that name, and it had just been taken from her by a man in a gold watch.
"It's not even a good name," I said.
"It was my grandmother's."
"Oh."
"Her middle name. It's the only thing in the column that was ever mine." She put the letter down. "That's why he filed it."
By nine I was at my desk, and the whole floor knew.
Gordon had sent every staff member a short memo about it, with a cheerful subject line.
The new issue's Lark page had been pulled by the printer on his orders, and it was blank.
I stared at that blank rectangle on the proof.
Tens of thousands of copies, and in the place where people had been telling the truth every month, nothing.
At eleven the two women from Brightline Media came back, in the same gray blazers, and Gordon walked them to the conference room.
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