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Ruben had messaged, wishing me good luck, that he was proud of me, and if I relaxed and enjoyed the moment, nothing terrible would happen. That was easy for him to say. He didn’t have to keep celebrities, musicians, supermodels, and my boss happy.
My plan was to stay hidden, out of the spotlight. Once the doors opened, there would be so many massive egos under this roof. We even had a red carpet the press covering the arrivals wasn’t allowed past. Only official company PR people were permitted within the premises itself. But, then again, that had never stopped them before.
I moved to the backstage area and spotted Riva instructing her models about who would be wearing what and in what order they would be strutting their stuff.She looked absolutely glamorous in her long red dress. Every time she moved, the lights would catch the sequins, and she shined like an angel.
I knew better.
“How are things going over here?” Linda asked as she stopped beside Riva.
“Everything’s good to go. There’ve been a few heated words about a few little things, but they’re nothing more than spot fires. I’ve easily put them out.”
Linda beamed. “Nice work, Riva. Look how far you’ve come from the jittery young girl who came into that first intern meeting. You’ve stayed classy and professional the entire way through. I’m incredibly proud of you.”
“Thank you, Linda.”
I shrunk in on myself at Linda’s words. It felt like a personal attack. Did she know I was right behind her and could hear every word she was saying?
“I believe it’s safe to say you have a bright future with the company, Riva. I was going to wait until after the show to do this, but I might as well offer you a position as a model agent for the company.”
Riva frowned. “Do we have our own models?”
“Not yet. However, Sonja wants to begin signing models to us exclusively. I mentioned you, and she was impressed with what we had to say.”
“We?”
“You’ll be working under Ramesh.”
Riva clapped her hands together. “Oh my gosh. This is so amazing. Thank you, Linda.”
“You’re welcome. Now, back to work. Good luck tonight.”
“You too.”
I quickly hurried behind a rack of garments as Linda turned and walked away. Fighting tears, I made my way toward the restrooms.
“Sienna.” Owain Llewellyn, my Welsh pop star, poked his head out of his dressing room. “My manager’s called to tell me he’s stuck in Cardiff airport because of a freak snowstorm. He was coming last minute because he had to deal with an issue with Wild’s Christmas release. Now, I won’t have anyone to encourage me. I don’t have anyone for a pep talk. I can’t perform without doing my prep. I need my manager.”
I wiped the tears from my eyes and snapped myself out of it. Now wasn’t the time for my problems.
I had an event to run.
I took Owain by the shoulders. “Oh!, listen to me,” I said, addressing him with his stage name. “You are Wales’ golden boy. You’reOh!You don’t need your manager to help you. You know why?”
“Why?”
“BecauseI’mgoing to help you. It’s my job to make sure the musicians are taken care of tonight. What kind of prep do you do?”
Relief flooded his boyish features. “Will you honestly help me?”
“Yes, of course.” I clapped my hands together. “What do you need?”
“Will you come in?”
Stepping inside, I watched as Owain put a silky scarf over his spiked blond hair. Then he handed me one of two large candles. Lighting them both, he began a kind of prayer. “Minerva, Goddess of music and the crafts. Please watch over me tonight, this most important of nights. At your mercy, give me a flawless performance. Blessed be.”
I stood there, silently watching him with a mixture of bemusement and confusion.
He looked at me. “You’re supposed to sayblessed be.”
