Chapter 10
As they left, Castle asked, "So is Kenny right? Have you been avoiding Accounting since Henry returned to Tucson after you turned down his marriage proposal?"
"I haven't been intentionally avoiding Accounting. I've just been busy," Betty replied then abruptly stopped in the middle of the hallway. "Wait a minute, how did you know I turned down Henry's proposal? Wait, how did you know he proposed?"
"Uh, Daniel may have mentioned that you turned down Henry's proposal and Gio's trip to Rome," Castle said as he continued toward the elevators. In fact, when his friend wasn't talking about DJ, he would talk about his assistant whose life was like a telenovela.
"What? Why would he tell you about Henry and Gio?" Betty asked trying to catch up to his longer strides.
"I think it just came up when he told me about your trip to the Grand Canyon and California," Castle shrugged remembering the postcards Daniel had shown him.
"But why - "
"So when you got back from your trip, you ended up at Player?" he asked as he pushed the elevator call button.
"Uh, yeah," she said slightly thrown by the change in topic. "Around the time I left for my trip, Alexis made Wilhelmina editor-in-chief of Mode and transferred Daniel to Player. When I got back, I was transferred too."
Player was the premiere men's magazine at Meade and was the third bestselling no-nudity magazine in the country. As they got on the elevator, Castle commented. "I can see Daniel at Player, but it doesn't seem like a good fit for you."
Betty made a face. "It wasn't. I tried, but every idea I came up with morphed into some kind of exploitative version. For example, my idea for America's top female attorneys became America's hottest lawyers."
"Oh hey, I have that issue," Castle said then caught the look she gave him. "And that would have been a very interesting article. As the father of a teenage girl, I can appreciate your desire to show women in a more professional light."
"Thanks," she smiled, "and to be honest, I don't think Player was a very good fit for Daniel either despite what his past indiscretions may suggest."
"So how'd you end up back at Mode?"
"Wilhelmina offered to hire me as an assistant."
Castle was momentarily stunned. "Wow. Talk about filing with the enemy. How'd Daniel take it?"
"Not well," Betty confessed as they left the elevator, "but strangely enough it helped him get his job back at Mode."
"Out of curiosity, would it be possible to get a tour of Player as well?" Castle asked. "You know, as a contrast to Mode."
"I'll see what I can do."
ooOoo
Author notes: The Ugly Betty episodes referenced in this chapter are 3.1 "The Manhattan Project" and 3.2 "Filing with the Enemy"