An Unforeseen Turn of Events

Chapter Fifty

"Are you sure he's still interested in using our agency?" Sophie asked for the third time, her neck jutting out like an ostrich at Christine's door.

Christine meanwhile longed to collapse. The shock of meeting Ryan again was beginning to hit her and his request threatened to propel her into an anxiety attack.

Wherever did this come from? she desired to contemplate but was unable while her boss interrogated her. How in the world did he ever find out about the twins and why now?

Those questions loomed in the forefront of her mind and she yearned solitude to ponder on them, but her boss made no move to leave. Instead, she kept hitting her with more questions.

"How did he find out about our modeling agency? About you? I had no idea we were so well known on the West Coast," Sophie marveled, now sitting across from Christine. "What made him decide to contact you? As head of the model search, I wonder why he didn't contact me."

While she was lost in this thought, Christine said, "It was a shock to me too! I never expected Ryan Monti to come into the office."

"Y-you mean, you didn't know he was coming?" she asked.

"No," she said as she rifled through her appointment book, frantically thinking of a convenient lie.

"So what was the name he gave you when he made the appointment? Linda didn't have anything in her appointment book until he called her this morning." her boss shot her head up and attempted to read Christine's appointment book.

Christine picked up her book and thought of a name, "I have here Charles...Charles Walsh."

"Charles Walsh?" she put her head on her fist. "Where did he say he's from?"

Christine's leg started shaking. She blinked, pretending she had trouble reading her own writing.

"It's a foreign company," Christine sputtered out, her leg still shaking. "It looks like it's German. Hard to pronounce. He had to spell it for me."

More than anything, Christine wanted to throw her normally supportive boss out of her office. Trying to maintain her professional demeanor, she needed time alone to go over her exchange with Ryan in her head and decide what her next move should be. She couldn't even begin thinking about Daniel and the twins—this shocking, cataclysmic event was too much to absorb along with the implications it would hold for her family.

"Christine, may I see your appointment book, dear?" her words were tender but her expression was hardened—she would brook no objections.

Christine trembled. What if her boss saw nothing in her appointment book? Would she lose her job now too? What else was going to go wrong today? Would her life turn upside down, never to be the same again? Like the day she caught Ryan with that actress?

These terrorizing thoughts made Christine turn even paler. Her head pounded and she felt ready to keel over. At this moment, she imagined a humorous scenario: what if she threw upright on her boss's Ann Taylor suit?

Fortunately, Christine had a stroke of luck. Staring at her, Sophie remarked, "I see you're not feeling well. This is just as much a surprise for you too. Well, Christine, you take it easy and we'll continue with this another time." She inched toward the door, reluctant to depart. "Feel better, dear," she said as she left Christine's office, repeatedly looking back, hoping Christine would want to talk.

As soon as she closed the door, Christine's headache began to recede. She looked up at the ceiling and thanked a higher power for watching over her. But the stress proved too much.