Uh oh. The moment Julie set her jaw and locked him with that stern, motherly look, Simon's blustering sense of authority began to swiftly dissipate. He blanched instantly, and within the span of a moment he was no longer the hard-talking media mogul he clearly thought himself to do, but merely a cowed boy guiltily caught in a ruse. He held her stare for a moment before dropping his eyes to the desk and mumbling, "I said perhaps."
He jutted his lower lip out petulantly as she turned to leave, but managed to swallow enough pride to call out before she passed back out into the hallway, "Wait, wait." He called, making a strained effort to still sound resolute but only managing to come out like a begrudging child forced to apologize, "I didn't say no. I mean, we... I could use some extra talent around here." He briefly glanced to the other desks, where a staff should be. "Why don't you put together an article for next week's edition and send it to me. I'd be," his tone dropped to an almost unintelligible mumble, "happy to take a look at it."