“I cannot believe it. I really thought I blew it . . . I mean, the dog fell over in the middle of my demo!”
“Well, you obviously did something right. Congrats.” Eli reached out to hug her, and she stepped into his embrace. She ended up nestled under his chin, her heart at ease for the first time in days.
“So great . . . you!” Eli said, pulling away and awkwardly patting her shoulders at arm’s length.
“Thanks, thanks. I’m in shock,” Cora replied, nodding and hot-cheeked.
“Keep me posted, I want to cheer you on. Okay? Text me if anything happens between now and next week. Oh, and can I get your autograph before you go?”
Cora laugh-groaned and waltzed out the door, feeling fizzy.
THIRTY-SEVEN
* * *
“Have you thought about something like this?” Cora held her phone out to Maggie, who was sitting in her closet, making piles of clothing and accessories. Josie lounged on a stack of pastel sweaters. Cora wanted to make sure that Maggie was in a positive headspace for her reunion with Darnell, since the gala was today.
“ ‘Institutional Giving Associate.’ Huh? What is it?”
“It’s a job, Maggie,” Cora replied. “The Circle Theater is hiring.”
“Theater? Seriously?”
Cora sighed. “Have you completely forgotten your theater roots? Remember, before you got sucked into retail? You getting a job in a theater makes perfect sense.”
“I’m not exactly qualified for this,” Maggie said as she read the job description quietly. “ ‘Securing support from corporate and government sources . . . grant writing . . . managing the donor cycle . . . stewarding relationships’ . . . I’ve never done any of this stuff.”
“Yes, but you got people to part with their money every single day at Saks. Fund-raising is just like sales.”
Maggie stared into space. “I guess it sort of is. At Saks I could get an eighty-year-old woman in leather. I could get a twenty-two-year-old in culottes. Everyone I touched spent money.” She looked at Cora, her eyes shining. “I definitely could get old geezers and tech millionaires to donate some dollars to a worthy cause like the Circle Theater.”
“See? Try it, send your stuff in!”
“You know what’s even better? One of my Facebook friends from college works there. We’re not super tight, but maybe she could walk my résumé to the right person?”
“Meant to be. Oh, hey, before I forget, I’ve got someone coming over to do my makeup in a bit.” She said it casually, trying to play it off like it was an afterthought.
“Okay, cool,” Maggie said, her mind clearly racing toward her bright future as a theater fund-raiser. “Hey, C, thanks for finding this job. I never would’ve thought of it.”
“It’s for me as much as for you. I want my happy Maggie back. This sad girl stuff doesn’t suit you.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I’m moving on. Look, I’m organizing my closet, getting rid of shit that reminds me of that place. I took a shower today. I’m on the road to recovery.”
The doorbell rang, and Josie roused herself from her cashmere bed. Maggie had followed Cora’s protocol for Josie’s front door barking, and now she only let out a few muffled woofs whenever someone came over. Fritz was already dancing at the door when they got there, his nose flush against the seam, inhaling deeply. He looked back at Cora expectantly.
“I know!” she whispered to him. “Uncle D! Shhh!”
Cora opened the door and put her finger to her lips.
“Did you tell her?” Darnell whispered to Cora over an armful of wet sunflowers. She shook her head.
“Sort of. So pretty,” she said, gesturing to them.
“Her favorite. Did you know that? That sunflowers are her favorite? I know because she’s my boo. I pay attention.” He shook off his umbrella. “Whoo, it’s pouring out there. You picked a bad night to be Cinderella, honey.”
“It’ll stop. So are you ready to make this happen?” Cora asked him. “She’s in a good mood at least.”
“I’m ready. I need to make this right.”
Cora led Darnell into Maggie’s room with Fritz and Josie in tow. She was deep inside her closet, singing softly to herself. Darnell cleared his throat and held the flowers up in front of his face.
Maggie popped her head out of the closet. “Wait—what?”
Darnell lowered the flowers and smiled shyly at her. “I’m so sorry, Mags.”
“Oh my God, D!” She dropped the silky blouse she was hanging up and ran into his arms. “I’m so sorry for being such a bitch to you!”
“I’m sorry for screwing everything up! I hate myself!”
They separated and fell into a torrent of catch-up conversation, and Cora quietly backed out of the room, smiling at her victory. She walked into her bedroom, Darnell’s and Maggie’s voices trailing her down the hall, and was once again startled by the luminous gold dress hanging from the ceiling fan like an elegant ghost.
Her excitement about the gala had been tempered by the next steps about the show. The fizziness she’d felt about spending an evening with Charlie was taking a backseat to the new career reality she was facing. The final contestants’ video clips were being reviewed by Dalton Feretti and his people any minute, and she would be contacted for a face-to-face meeting with the World of Animals team if they liked what they saw. Cora’s stomach twisted as she envisioned Simone—the only client to date to ever truly fire her—taking part in the review process.
Mia’s e-mail didn’t say who else had made it to the final three, but Cora was convinced that Brooke Keating was one of them. She was a solid trainer with impeccable credentials, and if networking was a factor in securing the position, she’d be a sure thing. Plus, she probably hadn’t been fired by Simone Feretti.
Cora ran her fingers along the hemline of the dress. She hadn’t seen Charlie since the night of fails at Toya, and even though she simmered when she thought of all the ways he’d let her down that evening, she still wanted to make sure that every inch of her body was exfoliated, moisturized, and perfumed. Just in case.
Darnell burst into the bathroom as she wrapped a towel around her head postshower, oblivious as always to boundaries. “We’re back, baby. Reunited and it feels so good.”
“It’s about time!”
“Thank you for being the bridge, I couldn’t have gotten through to her without your help. And in return, I’m gonna make you look so good. Johnny Gill is gonna rub you the right way for sure.”
“It’s Charlie Gill.”
“Whatever. Meet me in Maggie’s room when you’re all lotioned up, her light is better in there.”
Cora slipped on a pair of loose shorts and a button-down shirt and joined the party in Maggie’s room. Josie and Fritz were mouth-wrestling on the bed, and Maggie was helping Darnell unpack his supplies from a rolling suitcase. He had an arsenal of palettes and tools laid out in formation on clean white towels.
“Oh my God, C, did you hear the latest about Aaron?” Darnell motioned for her to sit on a barstool facing the window. The rain was still coming down in sheets, with occasional cracks of thunder.
She sighed. “Now that the show’s over, I’ve been repurging him. What happened? I thought all failed reality stars are taken out to pasture and shot.”
“Yeah, either that, or they leverage their fifteen minutes into something even more stupid. Turns out your boy is quite the singer.” He handed her his phone, cued up with a video.
“No, he’s not. What is this?” Cora asked Maggie.
She shook her head. “Darnell told me something’s up, but I waited to watch it with you.”
Cora hit play and the ubiquitous guitar and boom-boom-smash of bro-country music filled the room. She paused it.
“Country? Seriously?”
Darnell nodded. “Wait till you see it. You’re gonna die.”
She hit play again, and Aaron sauntered on-screen wearing a tattered baseball cap pulled low on his head and a sleevele
ss Henley unbuttoned so that his hairless chest showed. He reached up to adjust the cap and Cora noticed a new American flag tattoo on the inside of his bicep.
“Barf,” she said. And she meant it. His good looks had a new unnaturalness, as if Hollywood had put him through the leading-man machine and spat out a shinier, fitter, less human version of the Aaron she had known. When they’d first started dating, his rugged good looks had been a source of pride for Cora, as if being with such an attractive guy validated her attractiveness. Then she started to realize that he used his looks as currency, flirting with anyone who could do something for him. No matter how many times Cora pleaded with him to tone it down, he never did, leaving her to fester as he captivated every waitress, bartender, and bank teller he encountered. Now he was cashing in with a bigger audience.
The video cut to a beautiful ponytailed blonde in a tight white tank top and jean shorts climbing on a dirt bike in slow motion in a bucolic country setting. Aaron started singing.
“The way you’re hopping on your muddy bike,
makes something in your T-shirt do what I like,
you gun the engine and take off fast,
it’s country muddin’ time and you’re havin’ a blast.”
Darnell hit pause. “Do you love it or what?”
“Please tell me this isn’t what I think it is,” Cora said.
He wordlessly hit play again. The video shifted between scenes of Aaron singing in front of a bonfire surrounded by handsome good-old-boys and down-home sorority girls, and showing the blond object of his affection in various setups, like riding a dirt bike in the mud, waitressing in a crowded bar, and dancing in a honky-tonk. Cora listened closely as Aaron wailed the chorus, eyes closed and head back.
“When you’re covered in dirt, I think I’m gonna pounce,
Girl, make your ponytail bounce!”
Cora and Maggie shrieked at the exact same moment. “Noooo,” Maggie yelled. “No, no, no!”
“He’s making that stupid phrase a thing?” Cora asked in disbelief.
“Apparently. You should hear the club mash-up. They played it at Twinkle last night, and I made the connection right away. I was so excited to share this train wreck with y’all,” Darnell said, affecting a heavy southern accent. “Now let’s forget about the Fairfax cowboy and get to work on you.”
Cora groaned and handed the phone back to Darnell. “Only Aaron could turn a throwaway sexist comment into a hit song.”
“I bet they started writing it the second the words came out of his mouth. He must have an amazing publicist,” Maggie said.
“Writing a song about bouncing titties is a good thing? I thought you were a feminist?” Darnell asked.
“No, the song obviously sucks, the fact that they jumped so quickly and completely repackaging him as a country star is amazing.” Maggie looked at Cora. “I still don’t understand what you saw in him.”
“What I saw in him is exactly what the rest of the world sees in him. I mean, the guy sweet-talked his way out of a scandal and into second place! It’s easy to fall for that. The difference is I also saw what was underneath.”
“It still didn’t stop you from saying yes,” Maggie said pointedly.
“Ouch, Mags. But you’re right, and when he broke it off he saved me from the biggest mistake of my life.”
“Moving on, let’s not give that loser any more airtime,” Darnell said with authority. “I need to get to work.” He stood in front of Cora, studied her face, and began painting her with a series of brushes and sponges. After forty-five minutes of primer, foundation, lashes, and sparkle, he nodded approvingly at Cora.
“A masterpiece. Go look.”
She didn’t recognize her reflection. She looked flawless, airbrushed into glossy magazine perfection.
“Smoky eyes! You gave me smoky eyes!”
“They’re seductive. ’Cause that’s the goal, right? Maggie filled me in on how you’re gonna steal this man away from his woman tonight.”
She glared at Maggie. “Hardly. I just want to look like a real girl for a change.”
“You don’t look real, C. You look like a model,” Maggie said approvingly. “Now what are you going to do about the hair? Straighten it?”
“Never! She needs to look like herself. A less flyaway and split-ends version of herself, though.” Darnell motioned for Cora to sit down on the stool again. He worked quietly, as if he needed to focus on taming Cora’s mass of ringlets. He was done within twenty minutes.
“Voilà.”
“Amazing.” Maggie sighed.
Darnell had pulled back the hair at Cora’s temples and woven it into a deconstructed fishtail braid secured with a tiny Swarovski crystal star clip. The rest of her hair cascaded over her shoulders in fat waves.
“Oh my God, perfect! Not too fussy, not too prom-y . . . I love it! Thank you, D!” Cora bounced into his arms.
“Happy to do it. Now go get dressed. What time is he coming? I need to meet this guy.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” Maggie said. “I want to see if he’s as douchey in real life as he sounds. Judgment is coming!”
“Crap, he’s going to be here in a half hour,” Cora shouted and ran down the hall to her room.
She slipped the dress on carefully, smoothing her hands up the effortless zipper. Cora had managed to find the perfect pair of sparkly nude heels on a sale rack but had never considered that she might be forced to wear the delicate heels in a monsoon. She didn’t have an appropriate coat or wrap for the weather, either, and her lone umbrella was a giant moldering golf monstrosity her dad had forgotten in her car, which was now sitting in a repair shop awaiting a replacement part.
Fritz sat next to Cora and watched her in the mirror as she checked herself out. “Look at us,” she said to him. “Beauty and the Beast.” She knelt down and leaned her forehead against his. “You will always be my prince.” His tail thumped on the hardwood like he understood.
Her cell phone buzzed. Charlie. “I’m 2 min away. Rain just stopped. Can’t wait to c u.”
Cora’s fingers trembled as she responded. “Should I meet u downstairs?”
“Nope, coming up. Gotta meet the folks, right?” She wondered what kind of impression he was going to make on Maggie and Darnell. Few were immune to his charms. She paced through the apartment with Fritz at her heels.
She popped her head in Maggie’s room. “He’s almost here. Be nice!”
“Damn, you look hot.” Darnell sighed appreciatively. “Don’t worry, we’ll go easy on him.”
They heard a confident knock.
“Wait here!” Maggie ordered. “You need to make a grand entrance, like in the movies.” Maggie kissed Cora on the cheek and gave her shoulders a squeeze, as if begrudgingly giving her blessing for what was about to happen. Darnell and the dogs followed Maggie to the door, and Cora watched hidden around the corner.
Maggie swung the door open, obscuring Charlie on the other side of it. “Why hello, I’m Maggie,” she trilled, saccharin sweet. She reached a limp hand toward him, and Cora realized she was channeling her southern belle character with the faintest accent. “This is my friend Darnell.” Charlie stepped into view, and Cora’s heart stopped. His impeccably tailored tux fit like it had been made for him. She hoped she looked good enough to stand beside him.
“So nice to meet you both!” He shook their hands and then looked down at Fritz and Josie, expertly juggling both the humans and dogs to make sure they all got an equal share of his attention. “This must be Fritz, and you’re Josie, right?” He reached down to pet them, and Fritz sniffed his leg from a distance. Josie, ever the attention hound, spun in circles in front of him and eagerly accepted his affections.
“So what time will you be dropping our precious Cora off tonight?” Darnell asked, crossing his arms and adopting a square Dad’s tone, and Maggie threaded her hand around his bicep.
Charlie laughed and played along. “Well, sir, I’m not sure. Can I call you later?”
&nbs
p; Cora didn’t know how far the duo would take their farce, so she took a deep breath and stepped into the room before it got out of hand. “Hey, Charlie, I see you’ve met the crew.”
He looked at her and his eyes widened. “Wow, Cora. You look—”
She interrupted him, not wanting to hear his candid assessment in front of Maggie and Darnell. “I take no credit—my glam squad did it.”
“Not all of it,” he replied quietly, his eyes quickly traveling up and down her body. He walked over to her and hugged her tightly, burying his face in her neck and crushing her chest into his for a moment longer than necessary. He smelled like summer, and the feeling of his light stubble tickling her neck gave her chills. She felt electricity pass between their bodies, and wondered if Maggie and Darnell noticed sparks leaping off of them.
She saw Maggie wrinkle her nose.
Cora started chattering, eager to change the temperature in the room and shift the focus away from the magnetic attraction between them. “Did it stop raining? I don’t have the right kind of coat and my umbrella isn’t here. Mags, do you have an umbrella I can borrow? Is it muggy out there?”
“Actually, the car has a few big umbrellas, so don’t worry about it. And I’ll put my jacket down on any puddles,” Charlie said with a smile. Darnell threw his head back and laughed, already under Charlie’s spell. Cora looked at Maggie, though, and she could see her friend cataloging every move that Charlie made so that she could dissect him later.
“Okay, then, we’re off!” She waved at Maggie and Darnell and placed lipstick kisses on top of Fritz’s and Josie’s heads.
“Have fun, be good,” Darnell replied playfully.
“We’re going to dinner so we’re right behind you,” Maggie called to them as they headed out the door. “Tell Alice Goodwin we send our regards.”
Charlie couldn’t keep his eyes off Cora as he escorted her to the limo idling in front of her building. They stepped outside into what felt like a solid wall of humidity. The sidewalk hissed iridescent smoke.
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