Take Two (8 page)

I slumped down to the floor and picked through the Skittles,
tossing the yellow ones across the room.
That
was more fun than reading the sta
ck of books I’d been assigned.

“
Melody?” my sister walked into my office. “I come to bring you lunch and you’re eating Skittles off the floor?”

“Matt Sterli
ng knocked them off my desk.”

“Matt Sterling?
” she gasped. “
Matt Sterling was
here
? Did you
see his
abs
? Did you get his autograph?
”

“Of course not.”

“What was he wearing?”

“Really Jen? He was wearing a
three piece suit,
a regular dark blue suit.”

“
W
hat about his hair? His eyes? T
ell me everything!”

Matt Sterling was
perfect, undeniably perfect. His dark smoldering eyes
nearly pinned me to my seat. His short black hair fell loosely above his eyebrows—a part of me wanted to
reach up and
run my fingers through it, just to see if it was real. He was much taller than I was—something I didn’t realize until I stood up and opened the door. Although he had been wearing a suit, I could easily envision the chiseled chest that was trapped beneath it.

“I wasn’t really paying attention,” I stood up. “He looked like
the
character he plays in the movies.”

“
Which character? The
cute and
charming executive? The
I-would-sle
ep-with-you-in-a-heartbeat over the top sexy one
?
The hot bad boy with a soft side?
The Oh-my-god-he’s-so-sexy-plea
se-keep-your-shirt-off guy
? Which one!”

All of them
…

“I guess
the charming executive one
.”

“Well,
if he comes again
could you get
his autograph and maybe take his picture
for me?”

“
I don’t think there’ll be a next time but s
ur
e,” I
took a white box
f
r
o
m her. “Thank you so much for this.”

“Not a problem. Remind me, what exactly do you do all day?”

“Watch f
ilms, read books, edit articles.
I’m in charge of a couple projects too.”

“And you get
paid
to do that? I clearly picked the wrong major.
Marine Biology? What was I thinking?
”

“Whatever,” I laughed.

“Sean’s
mom called me today. She said she’s called
you ten times since the wedding.

I
honestly
felt bad
about not returning her calls.
I
’d
always liked her. S
h
e was the
one who taught me how to dress
. I just
wasn’
t sure how to deal with his side of the family
. I wasn’t sure if they
cared that I was
left at the altar, wasn’t sure if they’d forgotten about me and were
now smitten with blonde bitch.

“What did she want?”

“To check on you, Melody!
” she seethed
. “She said Sean
offered to pay for your new condo but you never responded to his texts.”

“And I never
plan to. I don’t need his
help
!
”

“Suit yourself
,” she held up her hands. “Y
ou’re more than welcome to stay at my place after you
’
r
e
done at that fancy hotel. Just don’t bring any suede shoes. Chipper loves to chew on those.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I looked
out my window
and changed the subject.

The rest of the day
was a drag.
I couldn’
t focus on anything. All I
could think about was my
failed wedding
and
my encounter with
Matt
Sterling.
I
only rea
d two pages of an assigned book
and I
didn’t plan on
watch
ing
any movies
.

I heard
a knock at the door. “Come in
Sophie!”

If it’s
Matt
Sterling I’m going to apologize…and
kindly
ask him to take his shirt off.

Sophie entered
the room
and
sat down
.
“The rest
of your things have been placed at Trump
SoHo
, M
is
s Carter. Would you
still like to meet
with the realtor this Sunday?”

“Yes
please.”

“Okay. Y
our
catalog project
was
approved by the board
while you were gone
. They expect you to have your
team organized by October. And
M
r. Maxwell wants your review of
Sweet Attraction
by this
evening
.”

I sighed. “Take out my
27 Dresses
review
, change the n
ames of the actors and then
take the
last paragraph of my
Bride Wars
review
and slap that at the end of it.”

“Yes ma’am,” she stood up. “
Can I get you something to drink?”

“Hot chocolate?”

She smiled and walked out.

I should’ve been excited about the catalog project. I should’ve been jumping up and down and screaming. But I wasn’t. I was dreading putting together a team, working for months on a documentary
detailing
the best
and worst
romantic comedies.

I could no longer
look at
any of
them the same: I
wanted that car to run over
Jennifer Lopez
in
The Wedding Planner
,
to prevent
her from falling for an
engaged doctor
.
I wanted to
repeatedly
stab Julia Roberts for
deliberately
tr
ying to take back her best friend
in
My Best Friend’s Wedding
.
I wanted to stone and burn Ginnifer Goodwin in
Something Borrowed
.

My office phone rang. “Miss
Carter. Who am I speaking with?
”

“G
et in here,” Mr. Maxwell’s voice was clipped.

I
smoothed my blouse and
walked to his office.
Late afternoon m
eeting
s
with him were al
most al
ways about
movie premieres and parties—
events I always turned down.

“Have a seat,
” he
rubbed his chin
.
“I remem
ber when you first started here
, Melody
.
You were a freshman
in college then,
a mere intern,
a
nobody
. You were as valuable as the girl who got my coffee every morning.
”

Where is he going with this?

He
leaned back and
continued.
“You were young, dumb, and you couldn’t dress to save your life.”

“Sir, what does this—”

He wagged his finger to silence me. “
Today, y
ou’re still young, less dumb, but
at least
you can dress now…
I remember when you became the youngest printed critic, and
then the youngest major critic.
The thing about you Melody is that you’ve spent all six of your years here tr
ying to outdo everyone else. So
,
when you start to hand in subpar work, it shocks us all.”

“Subpar work?” I murmured.

“Channing Tatum is the worst thing to happen to romantic comedies since Matthew McConaughey,” he read a sheet of paper. “It might even be sa
fe to say that
the
romantic comedy genre
has
died and
been replaced with shirtless psychos batting their eyes
at their female costars.
Really
Melody
?”

“Okay, that was just one—”

“Rachel McAdams pl
ays Lisa, a home-wrecking slut
who realizes that she still loves her old college sweetheart. Instead of being her usual likable self
and finding a
new
boyfriend
, she is loathsome and downright disgusting
as she tries to win back her first love
.
Do I need to read more?”

“No,” I avoided his eyes
.

“I’m not one to pry into people’s personal live
s, but why are you
even
here
?
Your fiancé leaves you at the alt
ar
and you come back to work
weeks later?”

“I love my job.
”

“
As admirable as that is, I’m going to have to let you go for a while.
”

“What are you saying
? Are you
firing
me?”

“Of course not,” he laughed. “Are you kidding? You’re our top critic. I’m
suspending
you.”

“What? What does that even mean?”

“It means that I’ve known you for six long years
,
and after I saw y
ou at your wedding…
I knew it
would be selfish of me or
anyone else to expect you back in less than eight weeks.”

“You want me to go away for five
more weeks?”

He smiled. “Yes. A
nd
stay
away, starting Monday.
Go relax, see a therapist, whatever you need to do.
”

“Who’s going to write the
weekend suggestions? Who’s going to write the—”

“We’ll keep your name in the byline, but I’m going to let Phil cover for you.”

“Phil?
Sci-fi Phil
?”

“The very same.”

“Look, I’m sorry about my latest reviews
b
ut
not having a job
for five weeks
isn’t
going to solve anythi
ng for me
. Please—”

“Melody, you’ll still
draw yo
ur salary. You need to reflect
you know, like a
normal
person. What ha
ppened to the honeymoon
if you don’t mind me asking?”

“
Sean
let me
keep it.
”

“Is it an open ticket?”

“Yes.”

“So
why are you
in New York?”

“I don’t know…
”

“Well,
I hope you won’t be in New Y
ork next week. And
si
nce I sti
ll have you on my team for a couple
more day
s
,
”
he handed me a
pink envelope,
“
I want
you to accompany the
rest of the
group to a launch party Friday
. It
’s for Selena Ross’ new perfume
.
”

“Sir, you know I don’t
do
—”

“That wasn’t a request. The town ca
r will pick you up at nine
sharp. The theme is
A Night at the Oscars
,
”
he waved his hand across the air.