Emily stood straighter.
“You can’t fire me. I’m your client. I’m the one who does the firing.”
“Do I give a crap how you say it? You are done. Got that? D-O-N-E. Done!”
Emily could feel her mouth trembling. “This isn’t fair! Whatever Gus said—”
“I just told you what he said. Want me to tell you again?”
“Gus owes me money for—”
Max laughed.
“He owes me! I worked four nights and—”
“Fine. Sue him.”
“Mr. Pergozin. Please. There were extenuating circumstances—”
“That’s it. Use big words. Try and impress me with that fancy degree. You don’t got the brains you were born with; blowing a job my other clients would have killed for.”
Really? she thought, but she forced herself not to say that. Instead, she bit the bullet and said that what had happened was unfortunate, and that she would take any other gig he had…
Max laughed and laughed and laughed.
“I take it that’s a no,” Emily said with all the poise she could muster, and then she slammed the phone back into its cradle. “Stupid, horrid, miserable, awful little man!”
“Problem?” Nola said carefully.
Emily swung toward her. Her roommate held out a mug of coffee. She grabbed it and took a long swallow.
“That was my agent.”
“Uh-huh.”
“He, ah, he’s not happy.”
“No kidding.”
Emily sighed. “I lost my job at the Tune-In.”
“Oh, sweetie! That’s too bad.”
“Yeah,” Emily said unhappily. “And Max said—”
“Never mind Max. How are you for cash?”
Emily felt her face heat. “Not good. In fact, I hate to ask but—”
“Not to worry. I’ll take care of this month’s rent.”
“Oh, that’s lovely! Thank you. As soon as I find something else, I’ll—”
“Actually—actually, there’s something I have to tell you, too.”
Nola was biting her fingernails. After a while, you knew how to read a roommate. Nola’s biting her fingernails was not a good sign.
“What?”