Page 11 of The Boss I Can't Stand
At last, I scribbled a few annotations at the side of the page, detailing my vision about the colors, textures, and fabric choices I’d select for Tommy’s dress shirt and the embellishments like his pocket square and fedora.
“Eh!” Finn cried, making a horrendous buzzing sound. X and I jumped. “Time’s up. Pencil down.”
“Why don’t you show us what you’ve got?” X said gently.
I carried the sketchbook over to them, pointing out the different parts of my design. X examined the page. “Impressive,” he said.
Finn’s eyes were locked on my fingers. I’d used them to smudge up the pencil a bit to create shadow on the page. He reached out to brush them off the sketchbook. “You’re leaving marks.”
I bit my lip at his brief touch, curling my hand back self-consciously as his eyes lifted to my face. The intensity of his gaze making my heart race. For a moment there was something else behind that icy expression. Something that stirred warmth in my gut. Then the spell broke, and he scowled. “That’s what you’d have our leading man wearing?”
I crossed my arms. “What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s too subdued,” he said. “There’s no panache. He’s trying to win her over—how’s he going to do that by blending into the wallpaper?”
“Maybe he realizes thatnotstrutting around like a peacock is the better way to get her attention,” I pointed out, bristling. “He doesn’tneedto be the loudest, shiniest thing in the room. It’s that quiet confidence that draws her in—especially the way he letshertake the spotlight instead. This moment isn’t about flaunting his power, it’s about getting to know Evelyn.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Costume design isn’t just fashion design. The garments need to reflect the character in the moment as much as they need to look good.”
“But they alsodoneed to look good,” Finn said.
I dropped my hands to my hips. “And what would you know about costumes that look good when half yourRun ’n’ Guncharacters are shirtless or in halter tops?”
“I’d say I know my target audience,” Finn shot back.
“Well, I guess if all you’re selling is sex, then sure,” I said. “And you’d know all about that, judging by all the tabloids.”
His face screwed up. I knew I’d thrown “sassy” out the window and brought out the boxing gloves, but why the hell not? Screw this movie and screw Finn Lockhart.
“Well, at least I can say I am good at my job. That’s more than you can say. The most prestigious prize on your resume is Best Costume Design from the LA Film Festival. What do they give you for that? A participation trophy?”
Ouch. He’d clearly done his research. Or at least perused my IMDb page. “We can’t all be taking home Oscars for…” I tapped my chin. “Oh, that’s right.Run ’n’ Gunhasn’t won youanyOscars, has it?”
Finn’s eyes practically bugged out of his head as X intervened. “I’d say that concludes the interview. Thanks for coming, Sierra.” He gestured to the door, waving me out before Finn’s head could pop off his shoulders. “We’ll be in touch.”
“Yes,” Finn growled. “For more of yourexpert consultations.”
I turned on my heel, grinding my teeth as I headed for the door, pausing to look back for a brief second, loathing burning through me. “You know, Mr. Lockhart, I’m surprised more businesses haven’t tacked on an AT. You should probably scrutinize more of those receipts for those surcharges because I can guarantee that you’d save a lot of money if you send someone else.”
5
FINN
The conference room buzzed with tense energy after the final interview concluded. The time had come to make the decision on costume designer.
I paced, hand on my chin, my eyes flicking to the board where we’d pinned up the sketches from the costume designers in consideration. I’d brought Brenna in, just to get her used to these kinds of meetings, along with Jillian, my PR manager, in case she saw any prospective issue with either of the candidates, and Zev, the primary screenwriter for the adaptation. We’d let them pick through the sketches without any outside influence, and the two designs that ended up on the board belonged to Elias Tucker…and Sierra Banks.
Now it was down to me and X to make the final call. If I had it my way, I’d tear down Sierra’s sketch and pretend she’d never walked through the doors of my production company, but for some annoying reason, X was being stubborn.
“Elias Tucker’s track record is flawless,” I said, turning to X and the others. “He’s been a high-profile, high-prestige costume designer foryears, with a stack of awards to prove it. I don’t even know why this is a discussion at this point.”
“He does have an impressive track record,” Jillian said. “Which looks very nice on paper and adds to the legitimacy of the project. Just saying.”
X waved her off. “I’mon the project. It already has all the legitimacy it needs. And I only want to work with the best. Not who the critics or the Academy tell me is best, but theactualbest. The one with passion and dedication.”
“I like Sierra’s design,” Brenna said, holding her notebook to her chest like protective armor as I glanced in her direction. “It’s more…detailed.”
“Precisely,” X said.
