Page 17 of Seven Minutes In Heaven
Chapter 7
“You know what?” Jake splashed more water on Claire’s face before wiping his hand with a paper towel. “I’ve seen way worse auditions. One time an actress straight-up shat herself in front of us. That doesn’t count all the ones who come in high out of their minds.”
Claire groaned into her sweater, wadded up in her hands and offering to suffocate her so she didn’t have to deal with the cruel world. “Soembarrassing! It was going well, too, right?”
Jake offered her a clean towel. She begrudgingly took it. “It wasn’t bad.”
Claire furrowed her brows. “You’re kidding me, right? I killed it.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t bad. You were better than the girl before you.”
“Really?”
“Didn’t you say you killed it? Before the barf, anyway.” Jake gestured to the bathroom door. “You’re not sick, are you?”
“No idea. I felt fine until this morning. I thought it was nervous butterflies because of the audition, but then I threw uptwice.That only happens if I get a stomach bug.”
Jake kept his distance from her.
“Very funny.” Claire dabbed her face with the towel and sighed. “Thanks for helping, though. No idea what I would have done if you hadn’t jumped in like that.”
“Continued to look like a barf bag, I guess. Are you ready?”
“In a bit…” Claire was still reeling from the embarrassment. She slid down the bathroom wall and buried her face in her sweater again. Jake didn’t leave, but he also didn’t offer to hug, pat, or console her. Sometimes, another person’s presence was the only thing necessary.
She had almost been more mortified by Jake jumping up from the panel to come help her than throwing up. Wes was not going to help her. Scott was on the phone with a custodian to come take care of it. The movie director shook his head, and the woman on the panel texted something, body turned away from the scene. Jake insisted on taking her to the bathroom to clean her up and find out what was wrong. Nobody had questioned it, for the same reasons nobody had questioned them stealing away at the engagement party.
“You’ll be okay.” Jake leaned against the wall. “Like I said, this is far from the worst I’ve seen. So what if you’re sick? If they liked how you tested well enough, they’ll give you a second chance.”
“Thought you had something to do with the decision.” Claire snorted. Damn. It still hurt to snort. “Otherwise, why the hell are you here?”
“Because I wrote the script and am one of the co-producers under one of my subsidiaries.” He shrugged. “They invited me to be on the panel, and I admit… I wanted to see how you tested after I saw your name on the shortlist. Congrats, by the way. I can assure you that neither my father nor I had anything to do with it.”
Claire sighed again. “Were you shocked to see me here?”
“Shocked? No. Slightly irritated? A bit.”
“Irritated? What have I done to you?”
He shot her a cold look.Oh, right.
“Seems I can’t escape you, Claire Finn.”
“The bathroom door’s right there.”
“Are you going to be okay?” Ah, yes, she had given him the perfect opportunity to change the subject. “Because I can give you a lift home if you want.”
“I’m fine.” Most of the nausea had finally left Claire’s body. “I’m starving, though. I haven’t eaten a damn thing today because I felt so gross.”
“I could tell. That was pretty liquidy barf.”
“Oh my God, you’re gonna make me vomit again.”
“Tell you what…” Jake helped her off the bathroom floor, his soft hands warm and strong as he guided Claire toward the door.Damn you for being so comfortable, Jacob Carter.“Why don’t you come back tomyplace? It’s only ten minutes away. I’ll order us some lunch and you can decompress before going home.”
“Don’t you have to do the other auditions?”
“There’s only one more, and she couldn’t come in until later this afternoon. C’mon. I have some time to kill.”
