Page 45 of Jason
“Of course for pay!”she said, miffed.“It’s ajob,Jason.”
“Okay, okay,” he said, more to himself than to her, because his heart was suddenly racing.“Directing what, exactly?”
“Corporate films.Commercials.”
“Okay,” he said carefully.
“It’s experience, Jason.And I need experience if I’m ever going to get a leg up.I want to pursue my dreams, and I can’t do that being an assistant for the rest of my life.”
“I know,” he said.His thoughts were firing like pistons.She wouldn’t really take that job, surely.Mallory wanted to tell stories—she didn’t want to direct corporate films.Didn’t she say she was working on something now?“When did this happen?”
“A few weeks ago.”
A few weeks ago, she’d crawled onto his lap in his office.He wondered if by-the-book Mallory had decided then to look for another job.He kept his gaze on the road.“I didn’t know you were looking for another job.You never said.”
“Well…I think people generally caution against telling their boss they’re looking.”
Boss.Was that what he was to her?He tended to think of them more as partners.“Makes sense,” he said.His grip of the wheel tightened as he tried to imagine doing this work without Mallory to organize him.“So, just curious here—did you do this after I made fun of the motivational posters you hung in the office?”
“What?No!”She gave him that shake of the head women make when they are annoyed.
“Then did you do it after the night in my office?”he asked, and turned his head to look at her.
The color had risen in her cheeks.She folded her arms across her middle.“I don’t remember the exact date,” she said to the window.
“Well that’s interesting, seeing as how exact dates are your thing.Anyway, thanks for letting me know,” he said casually.
She eyed him suspiciously.“That’s it?”
No, that wasn’t it.That wasn’t it at all.But Jason didn’t know whatitwas yet.He shrugged.“Have you accepted?”
“Not yet.”
Well there was a glimmer of hope.“Are you going to accept?”
“I don’t know.”She glanced down.“I’m thinking about it.”
He gripped the wheel even harder.
Neither of them spoke again until they turned into the garage at Hancock Tower.
Jason would have to worry about Mallory later.That was the story of his life—he had to put off worrying about things that mattered to him because there was always a more pressing issue that had to be dealt with.Right now, he needed his game face.He had to get someone on board to take Darien’s place before anything else could happen.Full stop.
“Today’s goal is keep Cass from trying to bring any other actors in to read for the part, got it?”he said as they walked to the elevators.“We don’t have time for that.”
“Got it,” she said, and the two of them marched through the elevator doors like a pair of soldiers off to their mission.This was just another thing he loved about Mallory—she put her helmet on just like him and threw herself into whatever the task was at hand.
Loved?That word, so casually tossed around his head, edged its way into the forefront of his mind with a big question mark.Was it really so casual?Or was there something to that word?
Really?You’re going to do this now?
They rode up to the fifty-third floor, Mallory scrolling through Twitter on her phone, searching for fall out from Darien.The elevator doors opened into a small lobby.A half-moon of a reception desk was centered on a wall emblazoned with enormous letters that spelled outBlackthorne Enterprises.
The receptionist, a tall young man who tended to wear suits so tight that Jason often wondered if he needed implements to button his jacket, stood up as they entered.“Nice to see you again, Jason.”
“You too, Chase.How are you?”
“I’m great, thank you,” he said.“The conference room is ready for you.Brock would like a word before you get started.”
