The Delivery Girl

16. Supermodel

Callen

I exit my car and head through the parking lot towards the elevators. In the small group of people waiting for the elevator, I spot Hayley in the back.

"Morning," I say as I stop next to her.

She briefly glances up from her phone. "Hey," she mumbles.

Hayley seems to be just as friendly as usual. For as long as I've known her, she's never been a morning person. "How was your weekend?"

She tucks her phone into her pocket. "Pretty busy. My best friend is getting married and I'm her maid of honour," she says. "I was helping her with making place cards."

"Oh that's nice, when is it?"

"Early February. It's a destination wedding so I'm going to need to take time off – February tenth to fourteenth."

"Yeah that's fine." Though I'd rather not admit it to her, things always nearly fall apart when she's away. Who would've thought that a CEO needs their assistant to function properly. "Julie should be able to cover."

She nods and returns her attention to her phone.

It's hard to believe that Hayley and I were almost married. Sometimes I wonder how things would've turned out if we hadn't called off the engagement and had actually gone through with it.

I've always cared about her, and I do occasionally miss how close we once were, but I don't think it would've worked out. Our dads tried setting us up as a business move; we were never going to be compatible – and I think we both knew that from the start.

"I'm getting off on the fiftieth floor," she says as we step into the elevator and she presses the button.

It takes me a moment to remember what's even on that floor. Despite it only being two floors below my office, I rarely stop there. My interactions with the team are generally quite minimal, I just don't have the capacity most of the time. I used to – back when I worked here part time while dad was still in charge. I often miss those days.

"The studio? Why?"

"The interns are trying out model photography today," she explains. "Apparently Julie knows Mackenzie Hart and got her to come."

I raise an eyebrow. "The supermodel?"

She nods, disbelief written all over her face. "Yup, I was on the phone with her this morning."

I pretend not to notice the starstruck glittering in Hayley's normally cool blue eyes. She's always been interested in fashion but wouldn't be caught dead being a big fan of anyone. She needs to learn to care less about what others think, but I suppose it's not my place to say anything.

"By the way," she says and turns to me, "You never told me how you found her."

"What do you mean?"

She looks at me like I'm an idiot. "Julie... I looked into it and she's never applied here."

I was hoping Hayley wouldn't notice. "I have my ways," I say, hoping she'll drop it.

She looks at me suspiciously, but the doors open before she gets a chance to speak. "Whatever, I'll see you later," she says as she steps out.

In the distance, I see the interns at the end of the hall in a group. My eyes are immediately caught by Julie standing to the side. Before I even realize what I'm doing, I quickly slip out through the closing doors behind Hayley.

"Actually, I'm coming too." I speed walk to catch up to her. We may be close to the same height but Hayley can walk ridiculously quickly.

"Why?" she asks, studying me. "You know you have a meeting in less than an hour, right?"