Page 60 of The Boss I Can't Stand
We scrambled out of bed and back into our clothes with minimal chat, managing to get checked out and over to the costume shop within ten minutes of Finn hanging up, which felt like some kind of Olympic record. Walking in to find the correct bolt of fabric on the cutting table sent my heart soaring. I got right to work, unraveling the material and laying out the pattern Trin and Paisley had helped me prepare.
“Here,” Finn said, handing me a piece of fruit and a granola bar from the kitchenette. In the good light of the costume shop, he looked as exhausted as I felt, the dark circles under his eyes telling me he likely hadn’t slept either. I didn’t know how either of us were going to get through this day.
I was already dreaming about the moment I got to climb into my comfy guest bed tonight. “I know once you get sucked in, you’re not going to think to eat anything for hours.”
“Thanks,” I said, touched by the gesture. I reached for the can of RevX on the cutting table to wash the granola bar down, but Finn snagged it before I could grab it.
“I will brew you a coffee,” he growled at me, walking away with my RevX. “If you have any more of this shit, your heart’s going to explode.”
I couldn’t help the laugh that shot up my throat. It was ridiculous, and yet there I went, lusting over that grumpy, fabric-finding miracle-worker all over again.
No, this was worse than lust. I was feelingfond. And that was way more dangerous.
There was no time for second guessing or second fittings or second anything today. Shaw was needed on set at ten o’clock sharp, in costume, and Paisley, Trin, Carter, and I were still threading in the last stitches needed to hold the dress together at nine fifty-five.
“There!” Paisley announced, stepping away from the mannequin. “We’re done!”
Trin clasped her hands together, pressing them to her lips as she took a step back. “Thank God! I was about to have to stitch my eyelids open.”
I wanted to stand back, to take in the moment, to congratulate everyone on an insanely awesome job, but there was literally no time.
“Carter, grab the garment bag.”
He raced away.
“Paisley, Trin, help me get this thing down.” Together, we unzipped the dress from the mannequin, getting it into the garment bag. I needed to get the dress to set yesterday. Shaw had already been through hair and makeup, and X had already been to the shop three times in the last hour, breathing down my neck, only leaving when I’d sworn on my unborn children that the dress would be there on time.
“Go, go!” Paisley said, practically shoving the bag into my arms. “Go!”
“I’m taking you all out for drinks tonight!” I yelled over my shoulder as I raced from the room, linking up with the driver Finn had ordered to stand outside the costume shop until I was ready to go. I got into his golf cart, which might as well have been a racecar given the way we zoomed across the lot to the set, skidding to a stop outside the studio door.
I hopped out of the golf cart, feeling a little windswept as I ran inside. “It’s here!” I cried the moment X turned my way. “It’s done.”
Shaw, who was nervously pacing next to a dapperly dressed Kaiden, lit up when she spotted me. I rushed over as the crew threw the pop-up changing room into place around us.
“You did it!” she said, amazed. “Thank God. Again, I’m so sorry, Sierra.”
“It’s all okay. Crisis averted,” I said as Shaw shrugged out of her robe. She looked at me with watery eyes. “No tears. Not for this scene.” She laughed a bit as I helped her into the dress, zipping and clipping before pushing her out onto the soundstage.
I stepped out of the changing room to watch the scene, folding my hands together in front of me.
Please, please, please look okay.
There’d been something freeing about not having a spare second to doubt myself before. But now that the dress was on camera for the world to see, my nerves threatened to strangle me.
My eyes danced over Shaw, in character as Evelyn, taking in the work the costume team had pulled off. The light underlayer made the fabric move a bit differently during the dance scene in a way that looked pretty amazing, actually, adding extra dimension.
Shaw was beautiful. And the dress was perfect. Or, at the very least,close enough that the casual viewer would never have the slightest idea there’d been a costume swap.
I sighed in relief.
We’d done it.
When X called cut, I felt like a dang superhero, glancing across the set to find Finn waiting in the wings. His expression was unreadable. I didn’t have long to wonder about his look though, because a moment later, my phone buzzed.
Meet me in my office, he’d written.
My stomach sank. I looked up again, but he’d disappeared.Oh, no. Was something wrong with the dress? Had X complained? But that couldn’t be it. The costume looked fabulous, and the scene had gone off without a hitchandwithout us having to delay production by even a minute.
