Page 122 of An Inconvenient Marriage
But he wasn’t here. I was.
Closing my eyes, I took a deep drag of air to my lungs. Then another and another until my breathing evened out and my heart rate returned to normal.
When I opened my eyes again, it was Zach’s and Everlee’s voices inside my head. Focusing on how fiercely they believed in me, I squared my shoulders, held my head high, and I walked into the building.
I’d seen the shiny floors and bright-white walls decorated with many of Aurulia’s designs countless times in magazines over the years. Not one of them came even close to seeing it in person.
Unable to curb my curiosity, I moved to the wall to my left to study the trio of images. The moment I was close enough, I recognized them as her first designs. I could still hear her voice when she’d told the interviewer how these were more precious to her than gold. Because they gave her something no money could buy: A dream.
“Excuse me, miss, can I help you?”
I spun around to find an impeccably dressed redheaded woman staring at me as if I was something her cat had dragged in.
Ignoring the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I pasted on a smile and held out my free hand. “Hi, I’m Natalie. I was hoping to speak with Aurulia about the internship.”
Her eyes narrowed, and she slowly looked me up and down. The more she inspected me, though, the more she turned up her nose.
I took a quick peek down my body.Maybe I should have worn something dressier than a pair of light-colored jeans with a loose, light-pink button-down blouse and flats?
“I’m sorry,” she sneered without taking my hand. “But you can’t see her without an appointment. Besides…” She made a show of checking her red manicured nail. “Mrs. DuBois doesn’t see applicants on Wednesdays.”
I didn’t like the way this woman was talking to me. But I knew if I said anything about it, she could most likely have me thrown out of the building.
Hiking my sketches higher, I kept my tone even. “The application on the website said to come in anytime.”
“Well, the application is wrong.” She arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow. “Might as well take your little drawings and skedaddle on out of here.”
That was as much as I could take. “If everyone around here acts like you, I definitely made a mistake.”
She reared back as if I’d slapped her. “You can’t talk to me like—”
“No.” I cut her off. “Youcan’t talk tomelike that.” I took a step closer. “Who gave you the impression you’re better than anyone else? You’re not.”
I didn’t know where any of that had come from, but holy hell, I wasn’t mad about it. Standing up to a not-so-nice person felt amazing.
Soaring and with a smile on my face, I spun around and walked smack-dab into someone. An apology was on the tip of my tongue, but before I could voice it, hands dug into my arm and yanked me back.
“Watch where you’re going!”
It took seconds to figure out the hissing came from the snippy redhead and three more for her to tug on me again. And since I was already off-balance, it was enough to send me stumbling forward.
With some luck, I regained my composure and didn’t end up sitting on my butt on the floor. My sketches weren’t so lucky. Between the tugging and tumbling, they’d slipped from my grasp and were scattered around my feet.
Great.
Barely resisting the urge to glare at the redhead, I dropped to my haunches and gathered my designs. I was vaguely aware of the secretary or whatever the heck she was profusely apologizing about my uncivilized behavior when someone crouched beside me.
“Are these yours?”
I looked to the side and had to swallow my gasp when I saw Aurulia next to me with one of my sketches in her hands.
“Yes. I’d hoped to have a minute of your time.” Stacking my sketches, I held the bundle against my chest. “I think I’d be a good fit for your internship.”
The secretary let out an obnoxious snort, and I could have sworn I heard her mutter, “Oh, please.”
But her opinion didn’t matter. Aurulia’s did.
We straightened at the same time. I kept my gaze on her while her attention shifted to the redhead.
