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“Miss Delfino?” The bubbly, blonde secretary hung up the phone at her desk. “Madeline will see you now.”
“Thanks.” Sierra threw the magazine in the chair beside her and hurried from the waiting area.
“Miss Delfino?” the secretary called out. “Good luck.”
Sierra smiled and scurried down the butterscotch-scented hallway to Madeline Chambers’ office.
“Sierra.” Madeline smiled from behind her semi-cluttered desk. “It’s always wonderful to see you.”
“Is it?”
She jumped up and pulled Sierra into a tight hug. “I’ve been worried about you.”
“So worried that you couldn’t return my texts, calls, or emails?” Sierra sat, lowering her purse off her shoulder.
“I’ve been busy.” Madeline’s smile forced attention to her crow’s feet. “It wasn’t intentional.”
“I’ve been with you for fifteen years, and you’ve always been busy.” Sierra crossed her legs in her black slacks. “You usually get back to me in twenty-four hours.”
“I apologize.” Madeline walked behind her desk in a gray skirt and matching 4-inch pumps that showed off impressive legs for a woman of fifty-six.
Sierra twisted the ring on her middle finger. “I hope you have good news for me.”
Madeline shuffled papers from one end of her desk to the other. “I called you here because I respect you and we’ve worked together so long you deserve me to do this face-to-face.”
“Do what?”
Madeline clasped her liver-spotted hands, her diamond wedding ring catching the light above them. “It’s difficult for me to say this—”
“Just spit it out.” Sierra held her breath. “I’m a big girl.”
“I’ve tried my hardest to get you something but there’s nothing.” Madeline batted her long eyelashes. “That’s why you haven’t heard from me. I was trying to make things happen, and it didn’t work out.”
“There’s nothing out there period?” Sierra’s voice cracked. “Or nothing for me?”
Madeline dropped eye contact. “Nothing for you.”
“There has to be something.”
“Sierra—”
“I owned Hollywood. Do you understand me? People loved and cherished me. I refuse to believe there’s nothing left.”
“There’s nothing I can do for you anymore.” Madeline held her palms out. “I care about you. We’ve been on this journey together for a long time, but I’ve been an agent for over thirty years, Sierra. When it’s the end...it’s just the end.”
“It’s not the end!” She pushed papers off the desk, tears flowing. “I’m a star, now you get me a role and you get me one now.”
“If I were going on my feelings for you, then I’d stick this out forever. But, I have other clients who still have a...a career. I have to focus on them. I’m sorry, Sierra. I can’t represent you anymore.”
Sierra stood, gripping the chair.
“Please don’t take this personally.”
“How can I not?” A tear settled on Sierra’s top lip. “Hollywood keeps telling me I’m nothing. I guess it’s time to face it.”
“You are not nothing. You are one of the best actresses of this generation. Better than many twice your age even.”
“What good is that if no one wants you?” She stared at the floral throw rug. “I can’t get myself roles. My dad can’t get me roles. Hugh can’t get me roles. Not even you can get me roles.” She held her breath. “I can’t move on, Madeline. I don’t know how to do anything else.”
“You’re a multimillionaire with a strong head on your shoulders. There’s plenty of opportunities for you beyond acting. I think you should reinvent yourself and find something else that interests you. Work behind the camera. Try your hand at directing.”
“I’m an actress.”
Madeline’s eyes appeared heavy with sorrow. “I wish you well in whatever you decide.”
“You can kiss my ass.” Sierra slammed the chair against the desk. “After all the money and prestige I brought to this goddamn agency, you treat me like this?”
“I’ve done the best I can.”
“Then your best stinks.” As Sierra turned to leave, she glanced out the window.
A city bus plastered with an Iris International poster featuring Gabrielle looking flawless waited at the red light.
“Typical.” Sierra shook her head as she left the office.
****
After her Iris International representative updated her on the upcoming photo shoot and commercial, Gabrielle left his office, Hugh not entering her mind until she got to the central hallway.
Hugh sat by the doorway of the lobby underneath the orange and red sign that represented Iris International’s logo.
“I don’t believe this.” She attempted to walk past, but he stood, bumping into the fake palm tree beside him. “You have the nerve to show your face here?”
“I’m sorry about earlier.” He grasped her arm. “Please, hear me out.”
“Get your hands off me, Hugh.”
A female worker flew past them, glancing at the scene.
He let go. “We need to talk.”
“About what? That crap you were saying in your office? Save it because I don’t care.” She made a right.
“Gabby, please.” Hugh followed. “Let me explain.”
“There’s nothing to explain.” Her purse swung on her arm as she marched.
“Listen damn it.”
They got to the hallway filled with photos of past Iris International spokesmodels. Otherwise known as “The Hall of Fame”.
“Gabby?” Hugh grabbed her before she reached the elevator. “Why won’t you listen?”
“Because I don’t give a shit what you have to say. I’m done with you. I was a fool to think you’d respect me. You don’t respect any woman.”
“That’s not true.” He laid his hand against the wall. “I care about you more than I have a woman in a long time.”
“Yet, you talk about me behind my back like I’m a piece of meat? That takes the cake.”
“It was a stupid thing to do, and I regret it.”
She wrapped her fingers around her purse strap. “It hurt.”
“Are you still coming by my place tonight?”
“I’m not coming back to your place, tonight or any other night.”
“Please. Gabby—”
“Hugh.” She surveyed him, frowning. “Stop begging. That’s so unattractive.”
He regained his composure, huffing.
“I thought I saw something different in you last night, Hugh. That I’d misjudged you. I was hoping I’d seen that because I wanted an excuse to get closer to you. How could I be such an idiot?”
“You’re not an idiot, I am.” His pupils dilated. “I wish I could take it back.”
“Because it was wrong to do or because I found out about it? Is that the reason you’re sorry?”
“It was wrong. I didn’t mean to disrespect you.”
“You didn’t mean for me to hear it.”
“Think about how I treat you when we’re together.” He touched her hand, igniting the arousal she felt last night. “Not how I act when we’re apart.”
“I don’t want to be with a man who acts one way with me then another way without me. That’s fake, and I’m not a fake person.”
“Be with?” He took two steps closer.
She sighed, cursing herself for making such a slip.
“You wanna be with me.” He radiated. “You said it so you can’t deny it.”
“I said that by mistake.”
“No. You want me as much as I want you.”
“No.”
“Gabby.”
“Stop it,” she yelled. “Stop manipulating the situation because you won’t catch me off guard this time.”
“If you didn’t have genuine feelings for me, then you wouldn’t be hurt about what I said in my office. Stop running from this.”
“Stop wasting your time.” She reached for the button on the side of the elevator, but he blocked her. “Get out of my way. You blew any chance you had, and I don’t want to see you again until we start filming the movie.”
“We won’t be able to stay away from each other that long.”
“Move.” She tried to walk past but he didn’t budge. “I missed lunch and I’m hungry, so move.”
“Let me buy you lunch.”
“I don’t want shit from you but to get out the way so I can leave.”
His phone rang and he snatched it, observing the screen. He groaned and put the phone back in his pocket.
“Hope you didn’t do that on my account because I’m done with this conversation.”
“It was just Sierra. She can wait.”
“Wow.” Gabrielle chuckled, stabbing her jaw with her tongue. “What a sensitive man.”
“You coming to Ian’s birthday party or not? It would be a great time to announce that you’re taking the role.”
“As if you want me there because of the movie.”
“I want you there or anywhere as long as I can see you again.” He caressed her arm. “I’ll make up what I did to you. I promise.”
“Don’t bother because I’m no longer interested.” She shoved him and pushed the elevator button. “I’m going to the party.”
His mouth spread into an eager smile.
“But, you’d better respect my date.”
He grinned. “I’ll respect Warner, I promise.”
“I’m not going with Warner.” She smiled. “I have a real date.”
Hugh’s nostrils wiggled. “With who?”
The elevator dinged, and the doors opened.
“Felix Craft. Not that it’s any of your business.”
“Felix...Felix Craft?” His face turned red, bottom lip shaking. “The movie journalist who’s done nothing but try to make my life miserable?”
Gabrielle stepped into the elevator. “The very one.”