Read Online A Man of Influence by Melinda Curtis - Free Book Online

rang and Chad released her. She drew a deep breath, filling her lungs with much needed air.
    â€œMs. Jackson, this is Sue Gaines from Three Filmers Productions.” The woman spoke with a smoothly modulated voice Tracy envied. “You sent in an application a few weeks ago for a producer job?”
    â€œYes.” Tracy braced herself for the worst. It was rare for her to get good news about a job application.
    â€œCongratulations. You’ve made the short list of candidates we’re considering for the position.”
    â€œWhat?” Tracy reached for the railing to steady herself. “No.”
    Chad didn’t pretend to hide his curiosity. He tilted his head and contemplated her expression with all the seriousness of a doctor she’d once met at a speech research facility.
    â€œYes.” Sue chuckled. “For this next round, we’re asking all applicants to create a three minute video segment that tells us who you are. You may feature people and things that are important to you or that shaped who you are. But you must be on screen for at least two of the three minutes.”
    On screen? Tracy did a quick visual inventory of her body parts and surroundings, because she felt as cold as if she’d fallen in the river. This was an exercise she couldn’t do. She’d have to turn them down. Responses formed in her head—so grateful, have to decline, chickening out.
    Meanwhile, Sue was barreling on quite happily. “You’ll present your video in two weeks to the interview panel in our offices. I’ll send everything you need to know in a confirmation email. Good luck!”
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” Chad asked when Tracy disconnected the call. “You look like you lost everything in the stock market.”
    Tracy shook her head, still feeling cold. “I got a call-back interview. At a film production company.”
    â€œDon’t you want the job?”
    â€œYes.” Tracy longed for the mental challenge and sense of purpose the job offered. “But...” Be on screen? “They want me to...make a video. About what makes me...me.” That was going to be one quiet film.
    Chad shrugged off her fears. “Everybody makes video résumés nowadays. Besides, didn’t you say you used to work at an ad agency? This should be right up your alley.”
    â€œThey want me. To be in the film.” Tracy tilted her head back and stared at the sky. It was a clear blue, happy sky. A sky that promised smooth sailing. Not trusting it, Tracy dropped her gaze to her sneakers. “Me. In the film. Talking. ” A sense of foreboding crept up her calves like delicate, determined spider legs, threatening her equilibrium. “I’m going to decline.” As soon as Sue sent the confirmation email. Because Tracy had been unable to spit out the words on the phone.
    Words spit about her head now: Coward. Fraidy-cat. Spineless jellyfish. Loser.
    She hated those descriptors.
    Chad bent his knees to peer into her eyes. “You’re quitting?”
    Quitter. Yep, that was appropriate, too.
    Tracy clenched her fists, hating that label, as well. “At least, I’ll have my dignity...if I bail on the interview. You, Chad the Blackmailer, don’t...have dignity or respect. Certainly not mine.” She dodged around him and his penetrating gaze, heading toward the bakery as she tossed over her shoulder, “Besides...technically, I can’t quit if I’m not hired.” That smoothly uttered sentence was a fluke, just like that job offer. She’d learned not to get her hopes up over flukes. There’d been the copywriting job last month the recruiter said she was perfect for. Tracy had sat across from her prospective boss unable to do more than nod her head and offer monosyllabic answers.
    â€œAnd here I thought you were brave.” Chad matched her escape pace perfectly, his tone just as hard on Tracy as she was on