Read Online She'll Take It by Mary Carter - Free Book Online

it’s cool in here, I think as I step up to the desk.
    â€œMay I help you?” She is polite, but her tone carries a hint of urgency.
    â€œI’m Melanie Zeitgar,” I say, holding out my right hand. “From Fifth Avenue Temps.”
    â€œOh. You are?” It isn’t so much the way she says it—she’s still polite, but it’s the once-over she’s giving me with her eyes that makes me feel like I’m naked in the middle of the schoolyard.
    â€œYes,” I say with a bright smile. “I am.”
    She nods and finally shakes my hand. “Margaret Tomer. I’m a paralegal.”
    â€œNice to meet you, Margaret.”
    â€œLikewise. And can I tell you, I’m glad they sent you.” I beam. You see? They were going to love me here. “I told them it doesn’t look good hiring model after model after model,” Margaret continues. “Okay, so the men do like it. Who wouldn’t? But they’ve already got enough to look at. And we get plenty of female clients in here too, and they don’t need perfection thrown in their faces every minute. I told them it didn’t bode well for Abercrombie & Fitch and it won’t bode well for us. I said ‘Greg, Steve, enough of the gorgeous models. It’s not the real world.’ Unless they want to get a few hot men in here, right? Am I right? Just like Hooters. I for one would go in for a burger now and again if they had muscle-ripped men flexing their pecs and waggling their six packs at me, wouldn’t you? Welcome. It’s about time we had an average temp in here.”
    I should be used to this. I live with Kim Minx after all, the prettiest girl on the planet. But my stomach turns nonetheless, and I feel tears coming to my eyes. I bite the inside of my mouth and remind myself that I, too, am a beautiful woman. As far as we “averages” go anyway. Margaret sees the look on my face and back paddles a bit. “Not that you aren’t a pretty girl. You are dear. You’re darling. Remind me. Are you one of our new paralegals or Steve’s new assistant?” I glance at the names on the wall behind the reception desk. Greg Parks, Attorney at Law. Steve Landon, Attorney at Law.
    â€œI’m Steve’s new assistant,” I say without hesitating. Do you see what a good actress I am? It sounds so truthful that I believe it myself. Relief floods over me. I’m not a file clerk. I am never going to be a file clerk. We’re all going to be dead in a hundred years, so who cares if I lie a little along the way? Besides, bad habits are like a diet. You have to start fresh in the morning. I had already inhaled a chocolate chip muffin with 31 grams of fat and stolen a scarf, so what’s a little lie in the mix? Besides, it’s not like I’m hurting anyone. Steve obviously needs an assistant, and I’m going to be the best damn assistant he’s ever seen.
    â€œWonderful. Follow me.” Margaret bolts down the hall as if she’s on fire. I have to run to keep up. The pain in my ankle roars up, and halfway down the dim hallway I stumble over an electric cord.
    â€œUmph.” For the third time today, I hit the floor. Margaret stops and cocks her head toward the ceiling before realizing that the noise is coming from behind her.
    â€œAre you all right?” she says, staying ten feet ahead of me.
    â€œJust—an old stage injury,” I murmur.
    She waits for me to get to my feet and come toward her again. “Are you an actress then?” Margaret asks with a trace of boredom as I limp toward her.
    I stir the question around in my mind, playing out the sequence. I’ll say yes. She’ll ask what I’ve been in. I’ll gloss over the slutty nun business and tell her about the time I played the spurned ex-wife of a mobster. She’ll ask if I’ve ever been on TV or in the movies. I’ll have to admit that those are my hands and