Laurie pulled back with an amused smile. “They really do that?”
“Once.” Chloe swatted at her black braids falling into her face. “It was an awfully boring movie. I can’t really blame them.” She shuffled her papers and put on her meanest game face. “Okay, time to find our leading man. Vicky, send the next one in!”
They proceeded through another half dozen auditions, each worse than the last. Laurie was kind and encouraging throughout, but Chloe had begun to lose her patience. By the final off-tune rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, she was practically snarling.
“You were off pitch the entire song,” she snapped at Darren Evan, the slightly chubby rent-a-cop guard who worked at the school. “And those dance moves looked like you were in the middle of an electric shock therapy.”
“But it was a solid effort,” Laurie added, side-eyeing her friend. “I could really tell you were into it.”
“You were into something, but it wasn’t good,” Chloe replied with a dramatic sigh.
Darren Evan didn’t seem phased by the criticism. He tipped an imaginary hat and sailed out the door with a booming laugh.
“That wasn’t very nice.” Laurie looked at her friend with her big wide green eyes. “I’m sure you hurt a couple of those guys’ feelings.”
Chloe crossed her arms and sat back in the pew. “Well, they hurt my ears. We’re never going to find my Joseph. I can’t put on a musical about the most romantic and perfect couple in all time without my flawless Joseph.”
She thought about her family and how she’d been bragging about this play for weeks - ever since the Pastor had told her that he’d picked her play. They were all coming to see it, along with the majority of New Hope. She had to find the perfect guy.
“How’s auditions coming, ladies?”
As if sensing her desperation like a shark in bloody water, Ashley Lynn came strolling into the sanctuary. Her furry pink sweater clung to her torso and tucked into a black leather skirt over black tights. She smiled as she swayed from side to side, revealing gigantic bleached teeth that hurt to look at.
“Fantastic, thanks for asking.” Chloe slammed her notebook closed with all the scribbles she’d made about their candidates. “In fact, I think we’re almost done here. This is going to be a wonderful year for the Christmas service.”
Ashley Lynn flung her Brazillian blowout behind her shoulders and sighed. “Nothing can beat last year’s service though. You do know that I was the writer, director, and star of last year’s play?”
Chloe bit the inside of her cheek to keep from growling. Of course she knew. Ashley Lynn had practically written the headline in the stars, calling attention to herself at every instance.
“It’s just too bad that I didn’t have the time to do it again this year,” she purred. “What with my thriving attorney practice and hosting the holidays for my huge family, I just couldn’t find a spare second. But I told Pastor Steve, you can bet that Chloe Walker would be a good option. She doesn’t have nearly the time constraints I do.”
She wanted to rip that unnatural December tan right off her bronzed skin and stuff it down the back of her skimpy sweater. It felt like she’d always been competing with Ashley Lynn, even though their mothers were good friends.
They’d finished the same undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, but Ashley Lynn had gone on to law school while Chloe got her master’s in accountancy. Despite the framed degree in her room at home, she’d never felt like she’d measured up to the perfection that was Ashley Lynn.
“That’s great,” she finally managed to say through gritted teeth. Her cheeks felt like they were going to burst into flames.
Ashley Lynn frowned, her glossy lips pushed into a pucker. She patted her on the shoulder, speaking in a patronizing tone. “Don’t worry, Chlo. It’ll be good, even if it doesn’t measure up to last year’s play. Everyone will know you tried your best. And that’s what counts.”
Laurie grabbed her friend’s arm and kept her from going after Ashley Lynn as she sashayed back down the aisle without another word. It was a good thing, too, because right at that moment Pastor Steve came into the sanctuary to tidy up the room after this morning’s sermon.
“How am I ever going to find the right guy?” Chloe demanded, stomping her feet. She threw herself into a pew and pouted.
“Isn’t that the question we all ask?” Laurie smiled softly and sat next to her.
“Very funny.” Chloe hadn’t had much luck in hunting down a guy for her personal life, either. But that was a sore topic for another day. Today, she needed the perfect man for the perfect part.
“He’s out there, somewhere,” Laurie said. She patted her friend’s knee and stood to leave. “You’ll find him.”
She stared at the wooden pew in front of her. A determined fire had sprung to life behind the black irises of her eyes. She clutched her notebook to her chest and nodded her head. “Yep. And if I have to drag him here, kicking and screaming, you bet I will.”
Chloe didn’t spot the slightly frightened expression on her friend’s face. She was on the hunt and nothing could stop her.
Chapter Three
Jordan managed to avoid Eddie on his way to his car, waving at the man sitting in the cloud of smoke on the hotel’s front stoop. If he didn’t get to the foundation soon, he had a feeling his boss was going to appear in a burst of flames right in front of him and sick her horde of flying monkeys on his back. As much as he would like to tell her to go kick the bucket, he needed money to pay for rent. And gas. And food. And all those other unfortunately necessary things in life.
He had just managed to coax his Grand Am back onto the road in the direction of town when he spotted a stalled blue Chevy up ahead. Normally, he wouldn’t have given something like that another glance, but the woman who got out of the car took his breath away.