Page 4 of In Her Arms

They were already in their usual uniform: all-black outfit with an apron to keep brushes and other equipment organized, hair tied back into ponytails, full faces of makeup. There were three today: a redheaded woman and two brunettes. She recognized them all from previous days on set. They were talented women who were incredibly good at their jobs.

“What can I say, girls? Being early is the new being on time. Did you catch last night’sLove Island?”

She didn’t actually watchLove Island, but she also didn’t like men, and what the crew didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. Besides, she liked the hair and makeup crew. They made her feel like a person instead of a ragdoll to throw around on set. As the redheaded woman, Jolene, began to pin up Goldie’s hair, she thought that the best workers on a film set were always the people just off to the side. It was all well and good being in front of the camera and getting paid—if you were getting paid, that is—but the thing about being the famous face was that...well, yourface was famous. You really couldn’t go anywhere without being recognized, and everybody around you had to contend with the fact that you were going to get a little more attention than them. Crew on set tended to be levelheaded about it, and the costuming department in particular was the most fun at parties.

Hopefully, Cameron could join their ranks.

3

CAMERON

“Idon’t think I’ve ever worked with somebody more arrogant, and I’ve worked with some truly awful people.”

Cameron sat at the Indigo Lounge’s bar while nursing a coffee. She was tired to the bone and had desperately needed a friend whose ear she could talk off. Cameron knew that when Indigo Lounge was open during the day, Esme didn’t mind the company. She especially didn’t mind the gossip.

Cameron let it loose. “She’s unbearably entitled, treats you like you’re a…a vending machine and that’s it! As if you’re not a whole person with thoughts and feelings and an entire day of work ahead of you. No, to her you’re a little flying monkey whose job it is to fetch coffee for her at all hours of the morning, which would be fine if she bothered to thank me or acknowledge me at all in a way that isn’t insulting. I don’t know if she’s capable of that. Absolutely ridiculous!”

“She sounds like an absolute nightmare! All of this after one day of work, and it sounded like a long day, bless you. Maybe she’s putting on a façade.”

Cameron lifted her elbows up as Esme sprayed natural citrus cleaning solution onto the bartop and wiped it with a rag. Her wedding ring shone. Cameron decided to try and change the subject.

“Nora really lets you use that natural stuff to clean the bar? I kinda thought she’d find a way to object to it.”

“First off, Nora may be my wife, but she does not ‘let me’ doanythingbecause this is my bar, smartass.” She whipped the rag at Cameron as she laughed.

“Secondly, I don’t see any use in wasting perfectly good product. How many oranges do we go through a week, Cam?”

“Oh, easily half a dozen boxes at least.”

“Exactly! That’s a lot of peels to be throwing out, and I have a lot of countertops and tables that need cleaning. Now, I wouldn’t use this in the kitchen?—”

“Because Sasha would never allow it.”

“Because this stuff isn’t food-safe, excuse you! That, too, though. I listen to Sasha because she has the state-mandated food hygiene training, and I know she knows what she’s talking about. Nora, on the other hand?—”

“Nora is the absolute sweetest, and I would never badmouth her to my friends first thing in the morning. That’s what you were going to say, right, darling?” Nora came down the stairs in a blazer with a pair of chinos.

“Now, honey, I wasn’t badmouthing you! I was simply saying that I trust you on money issues—or I would have said that if you’d let me finish. Not my fault you’re such a sleepyhead joining us this late.” Esme pressed a kiss to Nora’s temple, smiling.

Nora smiled back, clearly enamored. Cameron sipped at her coffee as Nora turned to face her.

“How’d your first day at work go?” Nora asked.

Cameron shrugged, but Esme grimaced and shook her head.

“That bad, huh?” Cameron sighed, cradling the cup in her hands so she didn’t have to set it down on the clean counter. “She’s not like her public persona atall,and look, I know most of them aren’t, but the difference here is really stark.”

“She’s always come across as very easygoing in interviews, very funny,” Esme added, nodding emphatically.

“Yeah, well, maybe she’s that way when she’s getting paid to talk to you. She was actually really rude to me. If I’m being honest, she’s pretty abrasive and full-on demanding all day,” said Cameron.

And also weirdly flirty, but in a backhanded way.

She was certain that this wasn’t something Goldie would want made public, which made sense. She wasn’t out publicly and Cameron could respect that, but she had to be able to talk about it because it was the strangest part of the whole day. She felt like this confusion would keep her awake because she couldn’t deny that Goldie was drop-dead gorgeous. She hoped that she hadn’t come across as too starstruck, but the second she had entered the trailer, she had been taken aback. Goldie hadn’t been wearing any makeup, and her hair was tied up in a silk headscarf. The smell of the trailer had hit her, too, a strong woody-scented candle mixing with hairspray. That first impression was a striking image that would stick with her. Cameron shook her head lightly, remembering that she was supposed to be complaining.

“She made these jokes to me, about assistants with the company being like...grown in a lab? I think she sees the people she works with as disposable or something. Hell, she even called me by the same name as her old assistant once!”

“Cam, sweetie,” Nora said, pouring herself a glass of water, “I say this with all of the love in my heart, but rich people are insane and famous people are insane. I think being richandfamous does a certain amount of damage to the brain that scientists haven’t managed to figure out yet.”

---