Three Girls And A Leading Man Read Free Page A

to make some headway on my monologue.
    I was going to nail this audition
if it killed me.

 
 
 
 
    Chapter Four

 
    ‘Are you a working
girl? The office can be a great place to meet your dream guy! You spend most of
your day at work, so to discount it as a man-meeting opportunity would be
foolish. Plus, if you are privy to a man’s work habits you’ll be able to
determine how likely he is to be a good provider! While it might be tempting to
neglect your early morning toilette when in a rush to get to work, I can’t
stress enough the importance of always looking your best. You never know when
you might meet Mr. Right!’ — The
Single Girl’s Guide to Finding True Love

 
    “Sandra, put that down .”
    “But I want mine to be pink!” the
eight-year-old beside me whined, her hand once again drifting toward the bottle
of hot pink dye.
    “I don’t care,” I said, reaching
forward to move the bottle out of her grasp. “We’re doing one color at a time.
I’ve told you that. Several times.”
    “Fine,” she pouted, grabbing her
bottle of blue dye and squeezing liberally all over the t-shirt in front of
her.
    I turned my attention back to
Justin, who was making a terrible mess out of his tye-dye project. “Buddy,” I
told him. “I think that’s enough green. Maybe go for something lighter.”
    Justin looked up at me and grinned,
showing that he had somehow managed to get dye all over his face, despite my
best efforts to keep the kids well-covered in smocks and gloves. I sighed.
“Better get you into the bathroom,” I told him, gingerly taking his hand.
    “Chris?” I called down the table to
my co-worker. He looked up at me and I had to laugh. He looked sweaty and
irritated and totally not into the fact that he was spending his Saturday
morning helping the kids in the theater camp tye-dye. “I’m taking Justin
inside. Keep an eye on Sandra, okay?” I looked down at the little girl, whose
hand was once again reaching for the pink dye. “She’s having a bit of trouble
listening,” I said, an edge to my voice. She looked up at me and smiled
sheepishly. It was a good thing she was so cute—otherwise Sandra would
annoy the crap out of me.
    I took Justin back inside the
theater, sighing in relief at the cool air. I steered him over to the boys
bathroom and set him up at the sink with soap. “Scrub your hands and face,
okay?”
    I walked back out into the theater
lobby and collapsed into a chair. I was exhausted. My audition for Jenner
Collins’ show had been the night before. To be honest, I think I nailed it. I
don’t like to brag, but I felt really, really good about that audition. To
celebrate, Ginny and Josh had taken me out for dinner, where I had enjoyed a
few too many vodka cranberries.
    In retrospect, that was a big
mistake. Saturday morning theater camp was never an easy task, especially when
it was this hot outside, but add a hangover and a killer headache and I was
desperately hurting.
    “Annie?”
    I spun around and saw Grayson, a
slightly senior co-worker, standing in the doorway to the stairs. I hadn’t
realized he’d been up in the office, but I shouldn’t be surprised. Though our
job titles were nearly identical, Grayson had a tendency to act like he owned
this place. It was totally annoying.
    “Why are you inside?” he asked. “I
thought you were running camp.”
    I tamped down a flash of
irritation. Grayson always talked to me this way; like he was constantly
judging my intentions. His bossiness got old really fast.
    “I had to bring Justin in,” I told
him, pointing to the bathroom. “He got some dye on his face. Chris and Maureen
are still outside with the kids.”
    He just nodded as she turned to go.
“I have some stuff for you to do in the office,” He said over his shoulder.
“Make sure you stop by after the kids leave.”
    Once he was gone, I swore under my
breath. I was not scheduled for office hours today. Why did he always assume I
would just be at his