Page 13 of Beach Bodies

‘I guess my career is in trouble,’ Carli said. Last year, poolside, after midnight, following a few drinks, when all confessions are made. The pool was glowing, the moon winking down on us.

After discovering our Calumet Heights connection, I think she felt like she could tell me anything. Nothing like shared trauma to elicit trust.

‘What? You’ve won a Grammy. You’ve made it.’

‘Noooo… Michael says I can’t book more shows unless I drop two sizes. He’s got these pills he wants me to get on… No, don’t be like that. All the girls do it… but still, I’m trying my own way first. That’s why we’re here. I can lose the pounds naturally, and… I lost a friend to pills. So.’

‘Carli, he iswayout of line. You should fire him.’

‘That’s not how things work.’ The tips of her long hair were dyed pink, fluttering over her shoulders like fairy wings as she swished her feet in the pale gleam of the water.

‘So, I’m not famous,’ I said. ‘But I do run a business back in Cincinnati. And when you get that toxic employee, you have to cut them out.’

Her brow furrowed. ‘I’m telling you, it’s not like that in the music biz. Anyway, he knows too much of my shit– enoughto ruin my career if I pissed him off. For me to get rid of Michael? He’d literally have to drop dead.’ She tossed me a glance and suppressed a laugh.

‘That bad, huh?’ I said, grinning back like I was amused, too.

Voices. Shit! Outside the door. The printer is still chugging out pages. I grab the stack that’s already printed and dive behind the desk. The pages are warm against my chest.

The door clicks open just as the printer spits out the final page. At the last minute, I remember the folder I pulled from the cabinet, just lying there on the desk.

They’re going to discover me. I will be totally calm.Hey, Vic, I was just grabbing some info on the guests so I can better serve them…Oh my fucking fuck,noone is going to buy that load of bull—

‘Yeah, it’s here on my desk…’ It’s Vic’s voice. Someone else is standing in the door. Who? Doesn’t matter. All that matters is that they don’t find me. I can see the top of the desk from my hiding spot, and I watch him grab his tablet. Somehow, he doesn’t notice the folder. ‘OK, Serena, you were right, I didn’t have it with me in training. Dear Lord, getting old isnotfor the faint of heart. Just keep that in mind, sweetie.’

‘You’re not old,’ comes a cloying voice– Serena’s. ‘But seriously, Vic, if you want me to recommend a cleanse, there’s this one that totally targets mental alertness—’

‘I have a love–hate with cleanses,’ says Vic, already back at the door, leaving.

‘Speaking of which, have you had a chance to look over the proposal I sent, for the brand partnership with CleanSlim? Ijust think it’s going to behuge, our guests are going toadorethis stuff, and I don’t want to keep their CEO waiting.’

‘I gave it a glance—’

The printer makes a wheezing noise; Vic stops in his tracks at the doorway. Turns.

‘What the—?’ He crosses the office and plucks up the final page of my printout. ‘Huh.’

My heart slams and slams against my chest. If he turns to the left from where he’s standing, he’ll see me.

He turns the page over, examines it. ‘I swear, my printer is possessed.’ Then, with an ‘oh well’ flourish, he tears it into thin ribbons and drops the shreds into the trash.

‘Do you have a second, actually?’ says Serena. ‘If we can go over that proposal together, I can answer any of your concerns—’

‘Serena, it’s ten o’clock at night!’

She laughs. ‘I’m a night owl.’

‘You just want that bonus for bringing on new co-branding,’ teases Vic. ‘Not that I blame you…’

The door clicks shut behind them and Vic turns the deadbolt.

I let my head sink down, feeling the tension burn in my neck.

That was close. Too close. Iamgetting careless. I snap the elastic hairband against my wrist. Then I uncramp my body from its crouched position and retrieve the final shredded page from the trash bin, jamming the slivers into my pocket to be pieced together later. Finally, I return Michael’s folder to the drawer.

All these close calls, and it’s just my first day here. Surely this doesn’t bode well…

But I don’t believe in omens.

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