Heart Hold Fast

Chapter Eighteen

A/N: This isn't a particularly long chapter, but it's leading onto bigger things, so thank you for bearing with me. I hope you enjoy reading, and thanks for your support and understanding about slow updates.

"Miss Kordei!" There was a tentative knock at Normani's office door.

"Come in,"

The face of her shy, new assistant poked bashfully around the corner of the door.

"The photographer has just arrived,"

"Photographer for...?" Normani glanced up from her papers.

"For..." the intern hastily checked the note in her hand, "For... the Ally Brooke clothing line shoot,"

"Oh, right. Of course, that's today," sighed Normani, "Thanks, Katie. I'll go and find them now,"

Katie left, and Normani rubbed her eyes tiredly. The run up to the festive season always saw JMA absolutely overrun with marketing demands and advertising deals. Everybody in the company had been working overtime since the start of November to meet deadlines, but by early December, it was now starting to feel that the worst was over. Winter had certainly crept up on them this year.

Standing up, she stretched and gave a yawn. It was drizzling outside, with miserable smatterings of raindrops clinging to the window pane. The weather forecast had cheerfully predicted snow flurries all week, but the days had turned unexpectedly mild for the time of year, and the damp pavements and sodden ground now looked increasingly unlikely to be able to support snow cover.

Leaving her office, she initially headed down the corridor to the studio, but stopped in her tracks when it occurred to her that, quite possibly, Lauren had forgotten the photoshoot as well. Walking back to Lauren's door, she raised her hand to knock, but a voice piped up before her knuckles rapped against the wood.

"Miss Jauregui is already down there," Katie told her.

"Is she now?" Normani raised her eyebrows.

"She's the one who sent me up to get you,"

"I see," smiled Normani, "I bet she enjoyed that. How's your morning looking, Katie?"

"My morning?"

"Yes, jobs wise,"

"Oh! Well, I've got to put a stack of things in envelopes and then there's some filing..."

"That sounds terribly boring," Normani pulled a face, "Would you like to come along to this photoshoot with me today? It might be a few hours, so I don't know if that will be too long, but I think we might be able to use some extra manpower,"

The young woman's faced flushed with delight and she nodded eagerly.

"Come on then," Normani nodded towards the lift, "We better run or Lauren will throw a fit,"

"Is she very strict?" Katie asked as the elevator doors closed.

"Not usually, but today is a special occasion. We've got some particularly important guests coming in and Lauren's very anxious for it all to go well,"

The elevator glided down a few floors, and they alighted into the corridor. There were a set of double doors at the end, which opened out into a big, white, brightly lit studio. Various people were milling about, and a large white screen was set up at the far end. A camera was stood on a tripod in front of the screen, and stood with the photographer beside it was Lauren. Even from the other side of the room, it was clear to see that she was remonstrating angrily with him.

"Oh good," Normani groaned, "Katie, can you offer our guests some refreshments please? I need to defuse Lauren,"

Katie turned to see where the guests were, and immediately seized hold of Normani's sleeve.