Virtually Mine: a love story (14 page)

It was easy for Charlie to get lost in
talking to Kate, so easy that he almost didn’t notice that Samantha had slipped
up behind him, only the scent of her perfume giving her presence away.

Charlie glanced back. He caught
Samantha’s eye, then quickly turned back to the phone. “I, uh...I gotta go for
now, Katie, but listen for me. I’ll be callin’ again soon.”

Charlie put the receiver back on its
cradle and turned to Samantha sheepishly.

Sam studied him. “You are quite good.
I’ve obviously underestimated you. Close my eyes and I’d have been charmed
myself.”

Charlie wasn’t sure whether or not to
take this as praise. “Really?”

“No wonder she re-upped this morning,
bumped to the deluxe level to boot.”

Stunned, Charlie rose. “She did?”

Sam’s complimentary tone took on a
decided chill. “Which would have pleased me no end had I not received three
complaints from Archie’s clients who haven’t heard so much as a peep from you.
Explanation?”

Charlie grappled with what to say.
Indeed, he’d spent a fair amount of time looking over Archie’s files. He’d sent
out some cards, emails, and gifts. It’s just that he hadn’t exactly serviced
them with phone calls yet. “I’ve been, uh...developing a plan,” he explained,
“a strategy, you know...catered specifically to the profiles of—”

“Make the calls.” With that, Samantha
steamed away.
 

Turning back to his desk, Charlie reached
for Archie’s stack of files. He flipped the first one open, then skipped to the
second, wondering how on God’s green earth he could muster up interest in
calling anyone other than Kate.

♥   
♥    ♥

As Wissy trained her camera on Eric’s audition with Judy, Eric could tell it
was going well, at least for him. Judy was nothing to jump up and down about,
but there was no mistaking that Wissy was firmly in his corner.

Judy
referred to her script. “
Michael. I’m... Listen, I’m really sorry, but
could you excuse me?”

As Judy walked away, Wissy stepped from
behind the lens. “Judy, thanks. Eric, could you hang outside for me?”

“Sure.” There it was, Eric exuded. Just
as he’d thought. As he waited outside the door, Eric’s confidence grew.

Soon, Wissy emerged, leaning close so as
not to be overheard. “Eric, that was excellent.”

“Did you want me to stay and read with
someone else?”

Wissy checked around secretively.
“Actually, it’s all very hush-hush, but this casting director I’m working for,
I’m thinking you could be right for a film she’s just starting.”

Impressed, Eric took the bait. “Really?”

Wissy smiled coyly and extended her card.
“Here’s my number. The script is under lock and key, but if you wanted to swing
by my apartment Saturday night and read over my shoulder, let’s just say that I
wouldn’t stop you.” With an inviting look, Wissy went back into the casting
studio and closed the door behind herself.
 

Eric gazed at Wissy’s card, and then pitched
it into the trash. She was another Samantha Raznick in the making. This time he
would dodge that bullet. As he stopped to sign out, he noticed Kate’s picture
and information card lying on the studio’s table.
She was really pretty.
Sweet, too
, he remembered. Quickly, he grabbed a pencil and jotted down
Kate’s number and address.

♥   
♥    ♥

Still outside the casting studios, Kate keyed a password into her cell to check
her machine at home. An incredulous look crossed her face as she retrieved a
message from Brad, at least whoever the real guy was, the one operating under
Eric’s facade. She listened as her Imaginary spoke:

“
I know this
whole imaginary thing is—well, it is what it is—but somehow...it’s just that my
real heart’s got itself wrapped so far around you I’m not sure what to do
.”

Even knowing he couldn’t hear her, Kate
talked back to her machine. “You’re not Eric. Who are you?”

The message continued. “
I, uh...I
gotta go for now, Katie, but I’ll be callin’ again soon
.”

A beep signaled the end of the message.
Kate saved the message, and then put the phone away, her resolve building. “Not
if I get to you first.”

Kate’s timing wasn’t always perfect, but
as providence would have it on this particular day, it was nigh on impeccable.
Kate checked around the corner just in time to see Eric as he exited the
casting studios. She dropped behind a bushy hibiscus, watching as he got into
his car.

Kate looked at her scooter helplessly and
scanned the nearby street. There was no way she could keep up. Frustratingly,
the only cab around wasn’t in service. A portly cabbie sat in the front, downing
a submarine sandwich. Kate jumped into the back seat, as much to hide from
Eric’s departing car as to commandeer the cab.

His mouth half full, the cabbie shook his
head. “No can do. I’m carbo-loading.”

“There’s a fat tip in it for you.” Kate
reached for her wallet.

At that, the cabbie put his lunch aside
and started his engine. “I do hear Atkins is good.”

Kate tracked Eric’s car intently as it
motored down the street. “Just don’t lose that guy.”

ten

♥

W
hen it
came to sneezes, there were two types of women. There were demure sneezers like
Kate, whose daintily pitched ka-choos bordered on amusing. Then, there were the
window-rattling explosions that erupted out of M.J., no matter how hard she
tried to stifle them. Alone in her apartment except for the two dogs jumping
excitedly at her feet, M.J. sneezed to high heaven.

M.J.
reached into her closet for a jacket. “
Alright, already. I’m coming. But could I
please just put on a—” Another sneeze reverberated through the apartment.
Neither Shortie nor ChaCha (the name M.J. had taken to calling the scrawny part
Chihuahua) seemed to notice at all as she scratched at her spreading case of
hives. “I’m fine, Guys. No problem. Just reminds me to dose.” With that M.J.
downed a couple of allergy caps.

By the time Freddie had joined M.J.’s dog
walking brigade, M.J. was feeling better. Whether it was the meds kicking in or
the open air of the park, she didn’t know. But with Freddie, Shortie, and
ChaCha prancing along on their leashes ahead of her, M.J.’s assurance grew. She
was multitasking, she thought. She was legit. She was walking three dogs,
getting some exercise, and talking to Kate on her cell, all at the same time.

“I’m following him,” she heard Kate
exude.

M.J. adjusted the phone at her ear. “What
do you mean, you’re following him? I thought you said he’s not the guy.”

“Yes, but he said he’s going to the
Virtually
Mine
headquarters and their address is unlisted.”

“Possibly for this very reason.”

“I’m just going to see where it’s
located,” Kate explained. “The real guy behind the model works there.”

Catching sight of a nearby squirrel,
Freddie began to bark.

“I think I heard stalking was upgraded to
felony status in California,” M.J. quipped.

“What, are you worried that Rob’s going
to turn you in?”

Suddenly, Freddie, Shortie, and ChaCha
were all straining at their leashes, anxious to get at the squirrel. M.J. did
her best to control them. “Hey, I’m working for the guy. That’s different.”

“So, maybe I’ll apply for a job at
Virtually
Mine
,” Kate answered.

Freddie led the charge as M.J.’s canine
club yanked free of her grasp. Abruptly, M.J. pocketed her cell and gave chase
to the scattering dogs, their red nylon leashes trailing behind them. “Freddie
come back! Shortie, ChaCha, no!”

Though Freddie remained intent upon the
squirrel, Shortie and ChaCha high-tailed it in two different directions. With
no time to make a decision, M.J. ran after Freddie, who leapt right over a
picnic table where two old gents were playing checkers, scattering their
game-pieces everywhere.

“Sorry!” M.J. bolted onward, crashing
into a jogger.

“Watch it!” the jogger groused.

“Freddie, wait!” M.J. cried.

Finally, the squirrel that had started
the whole melee skittered up a tree in the center of a garden. Freddie
attempted to follow, leaping at the tree trunk, barking repeatedly at his
fluffy-tailed prey.

Seeing her chance, M.J. followed Freddie
into the flowerbed and dove onto the bare dirt to snatch his leash. Filthy, she
rose and held the leash up, shouting victoriously. “There! Got ya! I am still
M.J. Poster, Dog Walker Extraordinaire!”

As if on cue, the sprinkler system
started with a vengeance, dousing M.J. and Freddie completely.

♥   
♥    ♥

Still riding in the cab, Kate listened closely to M.J.’s abandoned phone line.
“
M.J.?
Where’d you go?”

The cabbie glanced back at Kate in his
rear-view mirror. “He’s parking. You want out here?”

“Oh! Yeah. Thanks.”

With that, the cabbie pulled over to the
curb. Kate paid him the fat tip she’d promised and exited the cab, scooter in
hand. She ducked out of sight as Eric fed his parking meter just up the block,
then watched as he entered a swanky high-rise office building.

This was it, she realized. These were the
offices of
Virtually Mine
.

Stealthily, Kate peered through the
tinted front windows, tracking Eric as he boarded an elevator. As soon as the
door glided shut, Kate entered the lobby, carrying her scooter. She studied the
passing floors’ lights above the elevator as they illuminated, marking Eric’s
upward progress.

The security guard at the desk broke
Kate’s concentration. “Is there something I can help you with, Miss?”

Kate wasn’t one to lie, even to fib very
often, but given the back-against-the-wall circumstances, she rationalized. She
would treat this situation as an improvisational exercise, like Antonio had
often suggested in acting class. He had said that they should practice in real
life, and Kate decided to do just that.

Reaching back to her Virginia roots, Kate
turned on her Southern charm as she twisted toward the guard. “Me...uh, yes, I
hope so. I’m just in from Virginia, and it’s my boyfriend’s birthday. I brought
him this scooter, but shhhhh! ‘Cause it’s a big surprise an’ all. He works in
this buildin’ at a place called Virtually Mine. You know where that is, Sweet
Pea?”

The guard pointed Kate toward the
building’s directory. “Nothing here by that name.”

Kate quickly scanned the board. There it
was:
 
V.M. Enterprises
, with Samantha
Raznick’s name and the suite number listed right beside it.

Kate spun back to the guard winningly.
“That’s it.
V.M. Enterprises
, third floor. And me, I’m so completely
goofy that I went and called it by the wrong name.”

The security guard eyed Kate, clearly
softening. “I’m not really supposed to let anyone I don’t know onto that
elevator without checking ahead.”

Kate eased toward the stairway. “Believe
me, I understand completely. Rules are rules. I’ll go run up these stairs
instead and thank you for the exercise. Just remember...” With a playful flick
of the wrist, Kate locked her lips, and then glided through the stairwell door.

As unobtrusively as she could, Kate
padded through the daunting double doors and into the plushly appointed lobby
of
Virtually Mine
. A name placard announced that stylishly dressed Levon
Mink was the guy perched at the reception desk filing his nails. Levon cut his
eyes only briefly to observe Kate’s arrival.

It was hard not to feel conspicuous in
this place. For one thing, Kate realized that she was the only person in the
room wearing a dress. The rest of the lobby was populated by an assortment of
hunky guys, either leafing through magazines or checking their smart phones.
Job
applicants
, Kate supposed. With things growing more awkward by the second,
Kate drew a deep breath and gamely approached Levon. “I’m here to see Samantha
Raznick.”

Levon raised his eyes dubiously at Kate.
Other than his lids, he barely moved. “No, you’re not.”

Though she could tell her wiles weren’t cutting
it with him, Kate smiled warmly. “It’s about the job.”

Levon resumed his nail filing. “Wrong
again, Doll Face. She doesn’t do girls.”

“Excuse me?

“She hires guys. Exclusively.”

Kate pondered it for a moment, and then
leaned into the desk confidentially. “Perhaps I should have introduced
myself.
 
My name is Katherine Mae, and I
take it that Ms. Raznick has heard of the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission.”

♥   
♥    ♥

Only too glad to be finished with his shift, Dustin removed his apron. His
hopes of saying goodbye to the Doo-Wop Dinette had pretty much gone into the
dumper after his whole no-vest callback debacle. He was also fairly sure that
Wissy had moved onto passing her casting favors to Eric.