Home > Choose Me (The Lindstroms #4)(9)

Choose Me (The Lindstroms #4)(9)
Author: Katy Paige

“Crap, crap, crap,” she muttered, shifting her weight back and forth. It was one thing to take a break from her phone for a two-hour car ride from the airport, but believing that she could remain unavailable all day was not realistic or smart.

“Damage control,” she whispered as soon as the main screen came up.

Oh my God. Eighteen voice messages, twenty-one emails and thirty texts. Good Lord!

First, she accessed her email and typed an out-of-office automatic reply:

Jane Mays is on location and may be difficult to reach. Please

be patient and she will return your email as soon as possible.

Second, she accessed her voicemail and left the identical out-of-office message there.

Third, she turned off the “Read Receipts” function on her texting. People wouldn’t know if she got their text or not, so they’d have to call or email to be sure, and then they’d hear the out-of-office messages.

She scrolled through the texts, and immediately figured out the cause for so much clamor. Laney was sick and wasn’t able to join Sara for the shoot.

Jane put one hand on her hip, rolling her eyes as she read back through the message chain between SS (SuperStar, Laney’s nickname for Sara) and LL (LovelyLaney, Sara’s nickname for Laney).

It’s strep AND an ear infection. MD says I can’t go to Montana.

-LL

LL, I can’t do the shoot w/o u! Will b all alone!

-SS

SS, u know I’d do anything for u! But, ears could burst on plane and am contajus.

-LL

Thx for leaving me all alone with GR, PJ and Bassy. Sux. Mad @ u, LL. Still

love you forever.

-SS

Jane rolled her eyes. GR was “Gay Ray”, PJ was “Plain Jane” and “Bassy” was Sebastian Together, they were her makeup and hair artist, assistant and manager. How nice.

Jane read the remaining texts quickly, wherein LL encouraged SS to still have a good time, be beautiful, be fierce, and get laid. Classy.

For as much as Jane questioned Laney’s influence over her cousin, Jane had to admit that Sara was always easier to manage with Laney in play.

After Sara met Laney in a nightclub about a year ago, she’d become a regular part of Samara Amaya’s entourage, which had been a considerable relief to Jane.

Whereas some personal assistants might act as a coordinator, manager and friend to a supermodel or actress, Jane and Sara didn’t have that sort of connection anymore, so Jane handled the business while—more and more—Laney handled Sara.

Laney went to premieres, hung out with Sara at parties, held back her hair at the end of the night as she threw up into the closest toilet, worked out with her, and was for all intents and purposes Sara’s best friend. Well, a best friend who got paid to be a best friend and agree with everything Sara said and did.

Only once had Jane taken a shot at Laney by taunting Sara—after a particularly brutal bitch-out session—by exclaiming, “It’s no wonder you have to buy your friends!”

But Jane had had the poor taste to make the remark within earshot of Laney, and regretted it when she saw the wince of embarrassment and hurt on Laney’s face.

It made Jane realize that while Laney was firmly on Sara’s side of things, she had feelings like everyone else, and Jane took pains to treat Laney with kindness after that.

Laney was actually very useful. Sara was calmer and happier with Laney around, and Laney was quite good at getting Sara to do things that Jane couldn’t get her to do, like charity photo ops or goodwill appearances. Not to mention, Laney’s presence in Sara’s life took a lot of pressure off of Jane. Without Laney, Jane wouldn’t be able to arrive two or three days early for location shoots; she’d be forced to attend dreaded industry parties and be around Sara a lot more.

“This shoot just got a whole lot tougher,” she sighed aloud.

Jane shook her head, deleting the messages. She wrote back to tell Laney she hoped she felt better soon and reassured Sara that all would be ready for her upon arrival.

Her phone dinged angrily in response:

Where were u, Jane?! U know I hate it when LL is sick. Don’t piss me off.

Ding again, and the next text showcased all of her cousin’s charm:

Don’t forget I can fire ur ass, Janie.

Jane raised the phone over her head as if to smash it on the floor, then took a deep breath and lowered it back down slowly. Her thumbs flew as she typed a quick response.

Sara, cell service here is terrible. Have contacted local government to ask for

improvements since you’re coming to town. Getting things ready for you. Hope

Laney feels better soon. -J

A minute later she received a two-line message back:

My name is SAMARA. Don’t fuck with me, Jane.

She wrote back:

My bad. Sorry, Samara. Have to go finish unpacking your bags now. –J

Jane turned the phone over, swallowing painfully against the indignant lump in her throat. With Laney down, Sara was on the warpath. Great. Just great.

She shoved the phone into her back pocket and braced her hands on the windowsill staring down at them, at their freckles and whiteness against the medium-toned wood.

I miss my parents.

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she blinked, wishing them away. After almost fifteen years, she’d learned that tears didn’t help anything. Tears didn’t resurrect your dead parents or change your uncle into your father, no matter how much they looked alike. Tears didn’t change the fact that Jane had had to grow up in the shadow of her profoundly beautiful cousin, always outshined, always second best.

She took her phone back out, and clicked on music, then on her 60s Playlist, then on Peter and Gordon, then on “I Go to Pieces” and let the music swell around her as she lifted her gaze to the mountains beyond the meadow.

Do you hear the longing, Janie?

Jane took a ragged breath, wrapping her arms around her body and sighing heavily.

She didn’t like where her life had ended up.

She didn’t like that her cousin owned her, her parents’ untimely death forcing Jane into indentured servitude to the closest branch of her father’s family in payment for them taking her in.

She didn’t like it that she’d given up her own dreams in order to please her beloved uncle.

She didn’t like it that she’d put aside her longing to be a professional photographer in exchange for the monetary comfort of a well-paying position with her shrew of a cousin. Here she was, in one of the most beautiful places on earth stuck making sure that Sara’s underwear was neatly unpacked into a bureau, and her favorite lip gloss was ready on her bedside table. If Sara had her way, Jane would wipe her backside too.

What kind of life is this?

Jane sniffled lightly, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands.

I’m just tired, and I know Sara—Samara will be a handful without Laney.

Buck up, Jane. Turn off the waterworks. You’ll be okay. You have two days to get your head around it.

The song ended and she glanced down at her phone, realizing it was four-forty.

Lars would be here in twenty minutes, so she would just have to do the rest of the unpacking tomorrow, and then maybe he could show her the shoot locations. Sara liked to see pictures of her locations prior to her arrival so Jane would have to get some good pictures and send them before Sara arrived on Tuesday morning.

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