Page 144 of Catch Me
I inspect the shirt and conclude the same thing.
“It’s beautiful though.” A remorseful note hits my tone.
“You should buy it for yourself,” she suggests. “I bet it would look great on you.”
“I couldn’t,” I protest though I keep my eyes on the shirt. I’m already envisioning the pair of black, shiny leggings that would look fantastic with this shirt. Especially if I paired it with the knee-high, six-inch boots I recently purchased.
Andreas would go crazy.
“Ha! It’s written all over your face.” Lillian points and laughs. “You’re getting the damn shirt.” She snatches it from me and heads toward the register, leaving me to follow her.
I go to protest again but my phone rings. “It’s Rebecca,” I tell Lillian . “She probably wants to know what’s taking us so long.”
“Kindly remind her she’s the one who sent us on this errand during rush hour traffic. She’s lucky if we make it back before lunch,” Lillian scoffs.
I chuckle right before answering.
“Rebecca, we’re about to check out right now. We found a couple of extra items that will go well for theQueen’s Betrayalset,” I tell her, naming another studio project that will start filming in a couple of weeks.
“I need to see you in my office,” Rebecca responds.
“Oh, okay. Well, it may take us a while to get back.”
“Make it quick. This is urgent,” she says before disconnecting the call.
“What did she say?” Lillian ’s question startles me out of staring at my blank phone screen.
“She wants to see me in her office.”
Lillian waves her hand as if that’s no big deal and then places the clothes we’ve chosen onto the counter. “She probably wants someone to run her lunch order or some other ridiculous errand.”
I laugh with Lillian but it’s hollow. The pit in my stomach tells me this is something more than a minor inconvenience from Rebecca.
As predicted, it takes us close to forty-five minutes to make it back to the studio. When we do, Lillian and I separate, and she heads into the set of the production we’re working on.
I take the long walk past the set trailers toward where the offices sit.
I send a few waves to some of the office assistants and other crew I’ve become familiar with over the past few months.
When I come to Rebecca’s door, it’s open. Still, I knock to get her attention.
She looks up at me from her desk and her face instantly turns cold.
That’s not a good sign.
“Ivy, come in and close the door.” She turns her rolling chair toward the large computer screen on her desk.
I do as she’s asked before taking a seat directly in front of her. “You wanted to see me?” I say, only because the cold silence that’s filled the room is making me uneasy. “Lillian and I were just about to do the prep work for tomorrow’s filming and?—”
“That won’t be necessary.” She types in her password, and the screen goes from her lockscreen to a large photo of Andreas standing unmistakably close to a woman … me.
There’s a devilish smile on his face as he leans close to my ear, saying something that has me grinning as well. The stance might have been easily explained away if it weren’t for Andreas’ hand on my hip, obviously inching its way underneath my shirt.
“Do you want to tell me what the hell this is?” Rebecca demands.
“It’s not …” I trail off because what’s the point of lying? It is what it looks like. “We were talking in this photo.” That’s the truth.
What happened after the photo was snapped requires a different explanation entirely. I remember that particular day very well. It was about a week or so beforeLate Nightscompleted filming.
