Page 21 of What I'm Looking For

Before we move on, though, Grant mentions something that has Steve’s perfectly tanned face turning beet red. “Shut the fuck up, asshole.”

Grant’s smile is wide; clearly, he’s happy to have gotten to Steve. “Take a chill pill, Steve. I’m just saying you’re doing great for somebody who didn’t even finish college.”

Steve doesn’t even say goodbye. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he storms down the corridor and around the corner.

“Thanks for the samples.” This time I scored an entire tracksuit. “Nice to meet you.”

Grant’s smile is smug as he waves goodbye.

I find Steve slumped at a cafe table, head in his hands. “God, I hate that guy. I forgot what a complete dickwad he is.” When I sit down, he grabs my forearm, his face paling. “Katie, you can’t tell anybody what he said. I could lose my job.”

“Um, okay. If you’ll stop calling me Katie.”

“But that’s your name.”

“Kate is the nickname that I prefer.”

“Same difference.”

“No. Not the same.”

“Okay. Kate it is.” He squeezes my arm. “Seriously, though. This stays between you and me?”

“You really didn’t graduate from college?”

“I didn’t graduate fromTufts. My last semester was at a place that’s practically a community college. I got into some trouble—I bought a paper and got caught—and was asked to leave. It was stupid. I learned my lesson. My uncle managed to gloss it over when he got me the job, but if anyone found out all the details, it could be bad.”

I’ve never seen Steve look so unsmooth. It’s actually kind of endearing. “Sure. No problem. Not my business anyway.”

He heaves out a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Katie—Kate, I mean. I owe you. Big time.”

I waggle my eyebrows. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

He slaps me on the shoulder. “There you go. No more mad face!” He stands and claps his hands together. “All right, let’s get back in the game. Couple more plays, and then I gotta get back to the office to make some calls.” Cocking a finger gun at me, he winks. “This time, we play hard to get. Girls all know how to do that, right?”

Man. Just when I’d started to kind of like the guy.

Chapter6

BEEP. Thursday, 6:02 a.m.

Hi Will. This is the assistant AD on the Garelick Farms commercial shoot this morning. We’ve had to push back your call time so we don’t need you for hair and makeup until ten a.m. Sorry about the switchup; see you soon.

WILL

On the set of my very first commercial shoot, my knee bounces a mile a minute. What a nightmare. We’re way behind schedule. Which means I’m probably going to be late to my show tonight. If that happens, the stage manager will go ballistic. There’s no one to replace me. They might have to cancel the performance. Refund tickets. It’s a tiny nonprofit theater, so one night of lost revenue might mean they can’t pay rent. They could lose their lease on the building. Have to cancel the rest of the season. I could bring down an entire company. Just to do one stupid commercial about a carton of cream.

I grip my knees to keep from scrubbing my hands through my hair or over my face, because the hair and makeup lady yells at me if I touch what she now considers her territory, and sort through various disaster scenarios.

God, I hate this.

Well, that’s not completely true. If I’d started at seven this morning like I was supposed to, filming this commercial might’ve been fun. I had a blast at the audition making everyone in the room laugh. I still can’t believe I booked the first on-camera thing I went out for. I wonder what that investment banker Kate would have to say about it. That I’ve found my niche in the commercial market? I’ve been keeping an eye out for her at the Bull and Finch, but she hasn’t returned. Maybe if she sees the commercial on TV, she’ll come in just to say, “I told you so.”

Of course, for that to happen, I have to successfully perform the thing. Under a time crunch.

Watching the little girl do her version earlier this morning helped ease my nerves a bit. Unfortunately, the fact that the kid took forever is the reason we’re so behind.

I sit up, blow out a big breath and check my watch again. It took five hours to shoot the girl’s version. She had to go first because of child labor laws. They also started late because the crew had to work out some kinks with the props. Pretty sure they have that figured out now.

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