Page 20 of Home to Me

“So, production's going to be extending its stay for a while longer,” she said. “Can we get the leases extended on the properties that we've been renting?”

Lauren opened her mouth to answer, but Ben suddenly appeared just behind Bernie's shoulder, laughing and asking her, “So, have you heard the good news, Lauren? I'm gonna be staying in town awhile longer.”

He followed this up with a teasing wink.

Lauren's head was spinning. She didn't know who or what to address first. The noise of the crowd seemed overwhelming. She needed to get some semblance of control back.

Since her first instinct was always to take care of business straightaway, she chose to deal with the production assistant before all else.

“I'll get in touch with the owners,” she said. “I don't foresee there being a problem. I'll finalize the details and get in touch with you tomorrow.”

Next, she turned her attention to Bernie, saying, “Thank you so much for your efforts and the opportunity, Bernie. But I am not interested in taking any kind of test, and I have no desire to be on any kind of show.”

Then, turning quickly to Ben, she said, “And I assume that what you asked me was a rhetorical question, since that seems to be all anyone can talk about.”

Finally, with all of the poise and grace she was able to muster under the circumstances, she pulled on her coat, grabbed her purse, and strode purposefully out the door.

7

Lauren still couldn’t believe she was doing this. A screen test. Good Lord! Thinking that she could be on a television show? Double good Lord.

But the Fabulous Four had staged a late-night intervention. They’d reminded her of how capable she was. They’d reminded her of how professional she was. They’d reminded her of what an amazing opportunity this was. Most of all? They’d reminded her that, if she didn't score this gig, some other real estate agent was going to swoop in and become Hope Falls' top-dog realtor. They would take all the glory and—what really mattered to Lauren—all the commissions.

No. Not going to happen. Not without a fight.

That was the problem with this reality TV show, as the Fab Four had reminded her. They used real agents, not actors, so anyone who was cast would be here in Hope Falls, running their own competing real estate agency, and they would be high profile. A celebrity, even.

And since the majority of Lauren’s clientele weren’t from Hope Falls, but rather out-of-towners looking for high-end vacation property, Lauren couldn’t risk another agent coming in and stealing the spotlight.

That had been her take on it last night, at any rate. Oh, man. Last night, everything had seemed so clear. There was an obstacle; she was going to overcome it. Simple.

But now that she was here, she was seriously reconsidering. She wasn’t sure why she was so nervous. She’d always excelled at tests, any kind of test. And let's be serious, how hard could this really be? It’s not like it was brain surgery.

She had memorized the several lines of dialogue they’d given her when she arrived. All she had to do was say them. She could talk. She’d been doing it all her life. She did it for a living, and quite successfully.

So why the nerves?

She looked around the room. She wasn’t sure what she expected, but she was surprised to see several other candidates there.

They were all very attractive and dressed similarly to Lauren. One of them was doing ‘facial exercises’ and another was repeating the short script over and over. All of the others were touching up their caked-on makeup.

Lauren shook her head. Seriously, were these real estate agents or debutantes? She, for one, had work to do if there was going to be downtime. Deciding she would use this time to go over her e-mails, she pulled out her iPhone and began typing away.

Suddenly, she felt a shift in the room and the noisy chatter grew louder by a factor of several degrees.

She glanced up to see that Ben had strolled in and was now surrounded by admirers.

Of course he was.

She couldn’t honestly believe how these seemingly normal women were behaving. It was a disgrace. They were professionals. Did they have no pride? And if not, did they have no concern for personal branding?

Did they honestly think that if they threw themselves at Ben, they would somehow get a leg up—pun intended—on the competition?

These girls had zero self-respect.

Ben made his way over to Lauren, who, for her part, was doing her best to ignore him.

“I didn’t think you were coming,” he said smugly.

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