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“Uh... yes.”
Alda’s gaze is unflinching. Steely.
“And where is your mother?” she asks me like I’m a baby.
“Upstairs. Cleaning Mr. Waylen Penmayne’s office, ma’am.”
She regards me for a long second before she speaks again.
“Come with me,girl.”
She twirls around and flies out of the room in that characteristically ethereal regal way I’ve come to associate with her. I’m left scurrying to keep up. I wouldn’t dare disobey a direct order from the ice queen herself.
Alda doesn’t bother waiting for me or give me a single clue as to where we’re headed. I might not be a genius, but it’s pretty darn obvious we’re making our way to Mom.
And I am freaking the hell out.
I’m in deep trouble. I’m in deep trouble. I’m in deep trouble.
Yep. I’ve screwed up. Big time. And it’s only been a few weeks on the job. I might’ve cost us everything with my stupidity.
Why did I want to watch those dancers? Why did I risk it all for some DVD?
I want to cry.
But I still can’t reject the dancing’s effect on me, and how much my heart yearns to be on that stage in the show...
I follow the sweeping figure of Alda Penmayne up the main foyer’s staircase until we reach her husband’s intimidating and immense office.
I see Mom turn to face us with complete surprise written blatantly on her face at the sudden intrusion. It all happens in slow motion, and now I know we’re really screwed. Mom’s eyes flicker quickly from Alda, then back to me, then back at Alda. She’s figuring it all out – she’s figuring out that it’s somethingbad. She knows that this might be it for her job here.
I gulp.
Yep, deep trouble.
“What did I tell you, maid?” Alda is asking Mom, now ignoring me. “On your first day here? Be seen and not heard, wasn’t that right?”
Mom’s gloved hands drop to her sides. She’s surrounded by cleaning products and equipment. She was deep in her task - the last thing she was expecting this moment was for her boss to come storming in with her embarrassed daughter trailing behind.
“Yes, you did,” she replies. “You said exactly that.”
Mom is stuttering and my heart is shattering into a million pieces at her scared reaction to the Penmayne matriarch.
This is it. We’ve lost the job.
“Did I not make myself clear enough?” Alda asks, her voice shattering through the room like a bullet through glass.
“You made yourselfsoclear,” Mom confirms. “Crystal clear.”
“Well, I’ve caught your daughter doing the exact opposite of that. She was heardandseen, and in the most spectacular of fashions. I caught her lurking around a room she must know she’s forbidden from and found her tampering with things she shouldn’t even be touching. Ask her yourself.”
“I am so sorry,” Mom replies, her voice breaking. “I apologize, Mrs. Penmayne. She is sorry. I am sorry. Whatever she’s done, it was wrong. It will not happen again. I apologize unreservedly.”
“An apology is not enough.”
“Please,” Mom begs. “It won’t happen again.Please.”
I’m making her do this. I’m making her plead for her job.
