Rested after the long weekend at home, I walked into the office on Monday to find Mirelly waiting for me, although callingthat might be an exaggeration, cubicle, really.
"Harris awaits you in his office," she said, and a frown wrinkled my brow, "he wants a word."
Icy dread twisted my insides as I froze with my handbag halfway to the table.
"Now."
Heels clicking on the linoleum, she stalked off.
Was she always doing that?
Did I do something wrong? Misunderstand when Harris gave me Thursday off? Did he want me to come in on Friday, my usual day off?
Glancing at myself in the tiny mirror against the wall, I locked my bag in the drawer.
Without Sherise's skill, this was as good as it got.
Those turbulent gray eyes spoke louder than words as I tugged a stray curl of hair behind my ear, sighed, and followed Mirelly.
***
Strangely, she wasn't in the outer office.
My shoes sank into the plush carpeting as I knocked on Harris' door, and it took him a moment to answer.
"Come in?"
Seated behind the large mahogany desk with gold-rimmed glasses halfway down his nose, he watched me close the door and halt behind the chairs facing his desk.
"Sit down, Mercedes."
Unable to read his expression, I gingerly obeyed. That made three times he remembered my name and looked at me as if he saw me.
"You've left me with a bit of a mess."
He screwed the cap back on the black and gold fountain pen, placing it on his desk.
"If I misunderstood on Thursday about—"
A wave of his hand silenced me.
"This does not concern your day off, Mercedes."
Elbows resting on the armrests, he leaned back in his chair, studying me with his forehead crinkled, his hands stacked, and his fingers touching his lips. That familiar posture made my stomach drop.
"Did I do something wrong, sir?" I asked, confused, panicked, and scrambling to understand what I did or didn't do.
"Do you have any idea what this is about?"
"No, sir?" I said, shaking my head.
Was he about to fire me?
But why?
"Pagliani showcased the scene Druscilla did with Dean at a private showing to gauge the audience's reaction to our casting, and it didn't go well. He drafted a second and third audience and kept having the same reaction."
Why did he share this with me, and what did it have to do with me getting fired?
"The public loved Dean but hated Druscilla." The father in him didn't like saying those words, but the producer accepted the truth. "Being a perverse jackass, despite not having your permission, he showed those same audiences the scene with you as Arielle, and they reacted."
Heat seared my cheeks, nausea twisted my insides, sweat beaded on my brow, and I wondered why he would humiliate me like this.
Was this the point where he told me that seeing me acting was so off-putting the audience changed their minds about Druscilla?
YOU ARE READING
The Ugly Duckling (Excerpt)
Romance(Available on Amazon under Cristal Sieberhagen) I am Mercedes Benson, and if I must be honest with you, my life has been no great adventure. There have been ups and downs, but who doesn't have those? Do I have Mommy issues? Sure. Have I learned to "...
