“I-I can take constructive criticism,” Morgun stammered. “I promise, I can. And I would work hard. So hard. Twice as hard as anyone else here.”
“Tell me, do you think of yourself at all like Laney Sterling? I’m not sure how you know each other, but would you say you’re anything like her?”
“God, no,” Morgun said before she could think better. As soon as the words were out, she wished she could snatch them back, but it was too late.
David nodded. “I know. You’re not like her at all. Laney is a good person, but she’s determined. She has this drive and this fire and that burns a lot of people up. Clients have tried her on and gotten nowhere. She books her own travel. Manages her own schedule, dictates how and what she’d like done for her shoots. She does all her own editing. We didn’t plan on any of that, and at first, we found it hard to work with, but over time we adjusted. The point is, Laney’s survived in a tough industry and it takes that kind of personality and backbone to do it. Here.”
“I could…change.”
“I wouldn’t want you to change. There’s nothing wrong with being kind and big hearted.”
Morgun could feel her eyes welling up with tears. She hated it. Hated that she was proving David right just by sitting here. She’d been so excited about this. She’d been right two years ago, and she was right now—it wasn’t her work, it was her. That hurt worse than anything, because she could always get better, change her work, learn better techniques, but she couldn’t change herself.
“I might have something for you. Real estate, if you think you’d like to try it out. It’s mostly independent work and the clients are more forgiving. Plus, you can always reshoot a building. It generally won’t change from day to day or have anywhere to go. It’s a good way to get your foot in the door. We have quite a few people in that area already though, so it would be very casual. Maybe only once a month, if that, but if you’d like to try it, I can offer you that. Who knows? People are always moving on, finding new opportunities and whatnot. Maybe it could become more regular. I just don’t want to promise you something and then not be able to deliver.”
“I understand.” Morgun blinked hard, her eyes stinging for another reason now. It wasn’t much, but she hadn’t expected even that, and she was grateful. So grateful she felt like she might break down right there. Her lip trembled and she bit down on it hard to keep David from noticing. Her hands were shaking too. She finally got control of herself and broke into a huge grin. “Thank you! Really. That would be great. I really appreciate it.”
“I do have quite a few other contacts in the industry for people who do more family stuff and weddings, babies, that type of thing. I could pass your work along, if you’d like, but if you did get hired there, they’d likely need you full time. They’d be demanding. You’d probably feel overworked. You wouldn’t get to set your hours or choose your clients most of the time. I’m just telling you this because I don’t want you to give up a good thing, your own company, and then end up hating it and wishing you’d never gone down that road.”
> “Yes.” Morgun nodded. She bit her lip again. “Thank you. I’ll consider that. I’ll make sure I ask questions at the interviews, if I get any, so that I can get a feel for the fit. And I’ll consider what you said. About my own company.”
“Your still shots are very impressive. Some of the best I’ve ever seen. You’re very young and you’re very talented already. I think the real estate will be a good fit. Keep up with that and you never know. I know it’s not what you wanted to hear today, and I’m sorry I can’t offer you more.”
“No.” Morgun stood and pushed back her chair gently. She offered her hand to David, who shook it gently. “I really appreciate you giving me a chance. Any kind of chance. I thought you were going to just up and tell me that I sucked and that I was always going to suck, so thank you for not doing that.”
David smiled warmly. “Glad I could help. We have your contact number and we’ll be in touch when jobs arise. We’ll get your information before the first one and we’ll get you to fill out the hire forms. It’s a stack, I warn you.”
“That’s alright.” Morgun felt like she was swimming. It wasn’t much, but it was something. Something more than she’d had and that meant a lot.
She gathered up her portfolio and tucked it into her mustard yellow tote. It was barely big enough to hold everything, but it worked for her. She slung it over her shoulder and thanked David again before heading out of the room.
She was basically floating as she stepped out into the hallway and walked into the reception area. She treated the receptionist, a different lady than last time, to a smile and walked over to the elevator. She pushed the button to go down and waited. The thing took forever before the light even came on, and Morgun found herself tapping her right foot not out of impatience, but out of habit.
Finally, the metal doors slid open to reveal an empty elevator and Morgun stepped in. She hit the button for the main floor and waited. She was so happy about her new position, even if it was very casual, just once a month, that she didn’t even mind that she was in the world’s slowest elevator.
All of the sudden, a blur of motion flew through the doors just as they began to close. It shocked Morgun so badly that she dropped her tote off her shoulder and tried to stab at the control panel to keep the doors from crushing the person, but she couldn’t manage to find the right thing to press.
The doors opened slightly, then changed their mind and continued to shut and the blur of motion smoothed back her hair and stood ramrod straight in the other corner of the elevator.
That blur was Laney Sterling, and Morgun just happened to currently be trapped in the elevator with her for the next sixteen floors.
Chapter 15
Laney
“Morgun, Morgun, wait!” As soon as the elevator door opened, Morgun burst out like she was in there with a deadly snake waiting to wrap itself around her body and squeeze the life out of her. Laney power-walked after her. She had to get through the building’s lobby and out the front door before she could catch up with her. “Morgun! Can I talk to you for a minute?”
Morgun turned, more fire in her eyes than Laney had ever seen, and her heart basically stopped dead. It restarted painfully, slamming in ways she couldn’t ignore. Her blood surged and her pulse leapt at all her pulse points. Some of them very south of where people usually take a pulse.
“What? Can you please just leave me alone? You got what you wanted, a date for your brother’s wedding, and I got my interview. Can we just leave it at that?”
“It went that well, huh?”
“I did get a job,” Morgun admitted. Her cheeks flushed red and she turned to the side, surveying the busy street like she might consider running between the four lanes of traffic just to get to the other side where Laney couldn’t talk to her. “Thank you. It’s casual. Doing real estate photos. I’m glad for it. It’s a foot in the door, or whatever stupid thing people usually say.”
Laney could tell that Morgun was disappointed. She was disappointed for her too, but she could imagine how it went, and though Morgun clearly didn’t know it, Laney privately thought that David had done her a favor.
“I shouldn’t tell you this, or maybe I should, but honestly, I think that’s the best fit for you. Sometimes this job can be, well, draining. It’s not for people who have big hearts and really care about their artistry and their clients. That sounds horrible to say, but when I said that you have to have a thick skin to survive, it’s kind of true.”