Page 14 of Nanny for the SEALs

“With the new cook?” I gave him a fist-pump. “Nice. This will be your third date, right?”

He nodded. “And since it’s our third date, I was wondering if…?”

I realized what he wanted. “You need me out of the apartment tonight.”

“Ireallylike this guy,” Maurice pleaded. “Please let us have the apartment to ourselves tonight? Pretty please? I’ll make it up to you.”

I sighed. “Yeah, okay. But you’d better get your money’s worth.”

“Girl, you know I always do.” Maurice blew me a kiss and headed out the door.

Mr. Howard was kind of like an agent, but withoutlegallyrepresenting any of us. It worked out for us aspiring actors: we had roles recommended to us, but we still had our options open in case a real agency—like Jonah Weiman’s—wanted to sign us.

Mr. Howard sat across from his desk and steepled his fingers while examining me. “Heather, darling. Are you being challenged enough?” He went on without waiting for an answer. “You excel in my coaching sessions. You are talented. And yet you have not made the jump to the next level in your career.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. How challenged am I supposed to be?”

Mr. Howard tapped his fingers together. “I heard back from the casting agent. From your last audition. He told me you lookedbored. He thought you weren’t trying at all.”

I started to protest, but stopped myself. He was right. I didn’t do well at the last audition. And I wasn’t sure why.

“Maybe I wasn’t challenged enough,” I admitted. “It was a cereal commercial, and I only had one line. It’s tough to get motivated for that.”

“You know how this goes, Heather. These arestepping stones. You need to excel at these small roles before you can move on. Even Brad Pitt started his career doing commercials.”

“I know, it’s just…”

He slid a piece of paper across the desk, then re-steepled his fingers. “I have another audition for you. It’s an anti-smoking ad. You’re auditioning for the role ofcool girl number two. You’re one of the girls who smokes in high school, then dies of lung cancer years later.”

I picked up the call sheet. “Exciting.”

“There are no small roles, my dear! Only small attitudes! Give that audition yourabsolute best, and then we can talk about finding ways to challenge your skills.”

“Thank you, Mr. Howard.”

I skimmed the script while walking to the bus stop. The dialogue was cheesy and over-dramatic. I cringed while reading it.Literallycringed.

But it was something. And it paid. At least, I assumed it paid. Ihopedit paid. Servers didn’t make much, especially in a restaurant down by Disney.

I was reading the script for a second time when I noticed movement to my left.

I started to turn, but by then it was too late. Hands snatched out, covering my mouth before I could scream. I reached for the taser in my purse, fingers clawing at the grip…

Another hand slid over my mouth, and this time it brought with it a sharp, chemical smell. I wanted to scream so I inhaled automatically…

And then everything went black.

6

Heather

I woke in darkness.

The first thing I noticed was my head. Itachedhorribly, like all the hangovers of my life had come back to haunt me. Pain throbbed in my temple with every heartbeat.

It was humid in here. I was sweating. I opened my eyes, then blinked. Nothing changed. I shifted my head and felt something move. There was a bag over my head. That’s why I couldn’t see. It was also why it felt humid—because my breath was steaming up my face.

I groaned as I tried to remember what happened. I was leaving Mr. Howard’s class. Then something else happened. It was right on the edge of my memory, but when I tried to grab onto it, the memory faded away like mist.

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