Maxie Duncan Box Set

by Webb, Melissa L.

  She looked at me for a moment, then back down at her script.

  “I’m Maxie,” I offered, trying once again to start a conversation.

  She looked up at me with a scowl on her lips. “Look, Maxie, I’m not here to make friends. I have no desire to be nice to you. All you are is competition. And I eat fresh meat like you for breakfast. Now…if you'll excuse me,” she said, standing up. “I have lines to learn.”

  I watched her walk away, sick to my stomach. What had I done to be treated like that? And what was so wrong with being fresh meat anyway? I preferred my steaks to be as fresh as they possibly could be. Most people did.

  I stared down at the script in my lap through blurry eyes. I had to get this part. I just had to. I had to show everyone I was someone. That I mattered in this world. Picking up the pages, I leafed through them, scanning the highlighted words. Wow. There sure were a lot of them. I read them repeatedly until my eyes couldn’t focus from the strain.

  I looked up, glancing around me. The room was almost empty. I glanced at the clock on my cell phone. I had been reading my lines for over four hours. Where had all that time gone?

  “Maxie Duncan?” someone called from a doorway.

  I stood up quickly. “That’s me,” I called.

  “You’re up. Follow me,” the guy said, heading back where he came from.

  I hurried after him. I hoped the last four hours proved well spent because it was now or never. I was racing for my destiny.

  The guy led me down a hallway into some kind of conference room. Two men and a woman sat behind a table. I stood there, smiling as brightly as I could, hoping they couldn’t hear how loudly my heart was pounding.

  “So, Maxine,” one of the men spoke.

  “Please,” I said, interrupting him, “call me Maxie.”

  He rolled his eyes and started again. “So, Maxie, where is your headshot?”

  I stared at him, a blank look on my face. What the heck was that? “Headshot?”

  “Yes, Ms. Duncan. Where is your photo and resume?” the woman asked harshly.

  “Oh,” I said, feeling very, very awkward standing there. “I don’t have one. This is my first time doing anything like this.”

  “Great,” the man said, shutting the notebook in front of him. He turned and looked at the guy who brought me in. “Please, show the next one in, Gary. We’re done here.”

  I froze. That was it? It was over just like that? “Please,” I begged, “I can do this.”

  The other guy looked at him and shrugged. “She’s here. We might as well see how she does.” He looked me up and down. “She certainly has the look.”

  I felt hope beginning to grow in me. Maybe my destiny hadn’t been squashed yet.

  “Fine,” the rude man said. “You’ve got two minutes, kid. You better dazzle us.”

  I smiled. “Thank you.” I glanced down at the script in my hand. “Where do you want me to start?”

  The woman looked down at the notebook in front of her. “Why don’t you read the scene where Mitch and Audrey break up. Jonathan here will start it for you,” she said, motioning to the nice guy next to her.

  “I’m sorry, Audrey. But we’re just not the same as we use to be,” Jonathan read to me. “Our lives have taken two different paths. It’s over.”

  The lines he read brought images of Stephen to my mind. The words he spoken to me were still there, raw as the day he said them. Tears filled my eyes. I took a deep breath. It was time to do this. “No, Mitch. Don’t say that,” I spoke, letting emotion fill my words. “You still love me. I see it in your eyes. And as long as we have love…” I stopped, my mind going blank. This couldn’t be happening. Not now. What was the next line?

  I started again, repeating the words I just said, trying desperately to recall what I had studied for hours. I hit a wall as I came to the same spot. It was no use. I couldn’t remember what I was supposed to say next.

  “Okay, time’s up,” the unknown man spoke, smugness in his voice. “Unfortunately, you failed to dazzle me.”

  No. This couldn’t happen to me. This was my destiny. “I’m sorry. I’m just a little nervous. I could try again,” I said, flipping through my script. “I can do this.”

  The man shook his head and turned towards the door. “Next.”

  My heart sank at that word. I had just erased my future.

  Five

  I sat with my back against the wall, letting the tears come. My life had shattered right in front of my eyes, leaving it as empty as the hall around me. How could I have done that? I’d let myself down with one flubbed line. Maybe Stephen was right in leaving me when he did. I would never amount to anything.

  I bit down as a moan of despair tried to pass through my lips. I may have found a deserted hall in the hotel to cry in, but wailing like a banshee was probably a good way to be tossed out on my ear. Regardless of whom I was. And I couldn’t be banned from a place as beautiful as this on top of everything else. No way.

  Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm the raging storm rising inside my soul. As I did, the lights around me popped, going out in small flurries of sparks.

  Great. Now I was upset, frustrated, and all alone in the dark. How much did one girl have to suffer? I sniffled, pulling my knees tighter to my chest. Maybe I could stay here in the dark for the rest of my life. It would be better than facing everyone back home.

  A beam of light disrupted my plan of hibernation, sweeping across the walls, landing on my gold sandals. A dark shape came around the corner of the hall, stopping. “Hello,” a feminine voice called out.

  I pulled my knees tighter against me, trying to make myself as small as possible. I wanted to be invisible. I couldn’t let someone actually witness the unraveling of Maxie Duncan, not when my reputation already hung precariously in the balance. Closing my eyes, I held my breath, and thought invisible thoughts. Maybe that would be enough to get her to go away. It’s happened before.

  “It’s no use. I can see you,” the voice said.

  I opened my eyes and flinched. The beam of the flashlight assaulted my pupils, causing the world to turn into a hazy yellow blur. “Do you have to shine that right at me?”

  “Oh. Sorry,” came the quick reply and the light was taken out of my eyes. I blinked several times, trying to get the phantom stain to leave. I felt pressure as the evil one with the light sat down next to me, her shoulder flush with mine.

  “So, I take it you didn’t make the callback list.”

  I looked over, still squinting in pain. Who was this person and why did they feel the need to rub it in. As my vision cleared, a smiling face took shape next to me. I frowned as I looked at her, taking in her long brown curls and her wide blue eyes. “You’re the desk clerk, aren’t you?”

  She shook her head, leaning back against the wall. “No. I’m the manager of the Hotel DenMark. I was only watching the front desk for the clerk.” She smiled slightly. “I’m kinda nice like that.”

  I sat up straighter. Great. Now I was going to be kicked out for crying in the halls. What a supremely superb day this was turning out to be. “I’m sorry,” I said softly, rising slightly from the floor. “I’ll leave now.”

  She pulled me back down. “I wasn’t coming up here to kick you out. I was just coming to check on the lights,” she said, swinging the beam of light across the ceiling. “But since you are here…I figured you could use someone to talk to.”

  I looked at her in surprise. I have never known a manager of any hotel to be as nice. And trust me, I’ve stayed in quite a few hotels in my time. I started to open my mouth, then stopped. I didn’t know what to say. How could you just pour your life story out to a stranger?

  She watched me for a moment and then stood up, shining the light at her feet.

  I rose, too, straightening out the hem of my dress while waiting for her next move. Maybe she had decided to kick me out after all.

  Instead, she held out a hand to me. “Hi, I’m Evangeline Evans. Most people call
me Van.”

  I took her hand, giving it a small shake. “I’m Maxine Duncan. Most people call me Maxie.”

  “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Maxie,” she said sincerely. “What do you say we get out of this dark hallway and go get a cup of coffee?”

  I nodded. It definitely sounded better than sitting here.

  Six

  “And that’s my whole pathetic life story,” I blubbered into my coffee. I had just filled her in on every sad detail. Talk about making a first impression.

  Van watched me with sympathetic eyes. How she could find empathy for a hot mess like me I will never know. “So that’s the only reason you came to California?” she asked me finally.

  “Being an actress was the only thing I could think of to do. I really thought I had a shot,” I told her, the words sounding hollow as soon as they left my lips. “I guess Stephen was right to dump me. I’ll never be anything more than a pretty face with a trust fund.”

  “Hey, don’t say that,” she said, placing a hand on my arm. “I’m sure there’s a whole life out there right now waiting for you, one you haven’t even thought of yet.”

  I dragged my gaze from the coffee to her face. She couldn’t really believe that, could she? I was sitting right there in front of her, and I knew she wasn’t blind. She had to see what a lost cause I was.

  Yet, I could feel it as I searched her face. The feeling growing stronger every second I looked at her. She did believe it. She thought without a doubt my true life was just beginning. I took a deep breath. I didn’t know which one of us was crazier. Her for thinking that, or me for knowing she was. Maybe my instincts were only agreeing with her. Maybe it was all meant to happen like this.

  “Okay,” I told her, picking up my paper coffee cup. “If you’re so sure of this, then what do I do now, oh enlightened one?”

  She laughed; the sound like wind chimes in the spring. “That should be obvious. You should stay here. Make a new life for yourself.” She paused, looking thoughtful for a moment. “In fact, I’ve been looking for a new roommate. I think you’d be perfect,” she told me matter-of-factly.

  I looked at her in shock. Had she just asked me to move in with her? “You want me to live with you? How do you know I’m not some psycho?”

  Van laughed again. “You may be different, Maxie Duncan, but you’re certainly no psycho. I happen to be very good at reading people and…I always trust what I see.”

  I smiled. I happened to trust my instincts, too, and right now, those funny feelings were telling me I had just found my new best friend. “Okay. Count me in.”

  She stood up, beaming like a schoolgirl who had just been asked to the prom. “Great. You’re going to love our apartment,” she said, pulling me through the door.

  My future looked brighter already.

  I stood outside the old brick building and gasped in awe. “Love it” was an understatement. The apartment building looked right out of the pages of a Dickens’ novel. It held grandeur in every pore as only classic British architecture could. I expected a street urchin to run by any moment, asking if I could spare a ha’penny or two.

  “Welcome to Enchantment Cove. The first stop to the rest of your life,” Van said as she closed her car door, staring up at the building with as much awe as I.

  “It is very enchanting,” I said, thinking even that word couldn’t come close to what it really was.

  She shrugged and headed past me, motioning me to follow. “There is something very special about this place. I love it here,” she told me as she used the keypad to let us in. “I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”

  We crossed through the lobby. It looked exactly like a 20’s hotel inside. Plush red velvet lined everything and the matching red carpet sunk luxuriously under my feet. I wanted to linger here, plop myself down on one of the couches and never leave, but Van kept moving.

  I followed her down a long hallway filled with apartment doors. There were more apartments in this building than I thought would be. The doors were practically on top of each other. They must have been tiny on the inside. I suddenly had second thoughts about this. I know I was making a new start and all, but I don’t think I could survive in a bedroom the size of a closet.

  “We’re on the top floor. The elevator’s back here,” she said, pointing down the hall.

  A door opened loudly on my left. The creak of the hinges was loud enough to make a deaf man go crazy. “Hey, Van,” a masculine voice said.

  I turned to look. Leaning against the doorframe was one heck of a cutie. Shaggy dark brown hair, dark smoldering eyes. Possibly Native American. If he was, he defiantly made me glad Columbus had discovered this continent. Unfortunately, he only seemed to have eyes for the brunette beside to me.

  “Hey, Danny,” Van cooed.

  He grinned at her, then turned, sizing me up. “Is this her?”

  She glanced over at me. “Yes, this is my new roommate,” she said quickly.

  I arched an eyebrow at her. New roommate? I know I agreed to see the place, but…really, I hadn’t signed on for anything yet. Why did she seem so sure?

  He stepped forward, offering his hand with a smile. “Hi, I’m Daniel Blackhawk,” he said as he shook my hand.

  Blackhawk? Defiantly Native American. I returned the smile. “Hi, I’m Maxie. Maxie Duncan.”

  “Well, Maxie, Maxie Duncan. It was a pleasure to meet you,” he said before stepping back to his apartment door. He turned and looked at Van, a twinkle in his eyes. “You’re right,” he said, slipping back into his apartment.

  I turned around and looked at my new friend, confused by the conversation they just had. “What was that?” I asked as we headed down the hall.

  She threw me a hurried glance over her shoulder. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said as we reached the elevator.

  It was one of those old cage types, one where you could see everything going on around you as you rode in it. She pulled the first screen door and reached for the second. I stopped her, turning her focus to me.

  “Why did he act like he knew you were bringing me here?”

  Van shrugged. “I told him I was looking for a new roommate. He probably figured your one of the candidates.”

  “Oh,” I said as she opened the second gate and entered the elevator. I followed her in, pondering what she had said. It made sense, so why was something bothering me about it? I felt like I was outside of an inside joke. Either that or I was having a bad blonde moment. Knowing me, it was probably the latter. I shrugged it off as best as I could. It was time to see what my future looked like.

  Van shut the gates, pushing the button for the seventh floor. I leaned back, watching the floor drop away from us as we ascended in the rickety, old cage. I watched as floors crept by, hallways revealing more tiny apartments. Once again, I was beginning to question my destiny. It couldn’t really want me to live in a closet, could it?

  As the fifth floor came into view, a small gasp escaped my lips. A black figure, no more corporal than a puff of smoke, stared out from the back of the hall at me. Its ruby red eyes glowed with intensity. I blinked, trying to figure out what kind of trick my eyes were playing on me.

  In that instant, the creature was gone. Staring as the cage climbed away, I tried to bring back the image. Had something really been there, or was I only seeing things? I glanced over at Van, who was staring at me with the same intensity the shape had.

  “Did you see something?” she asked, a slight arch to her eyebrow told me curiosity burned inside of her. Great. Now I was sure she was having second thoughts about sharing her apartment. I mean, who wanted a loon for a roommate?

  I shook my head, trying to smooth over any doubts she might have been having. “It was only a trick of the light. It startled me, that’s all.” I smiled reassuringly. “You know how old buildings are.”

  She nodded but didn’t take her eyes off me. “I know how this old building is. You’d be surprised what you might see in these halls.�
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  I frowned at her. “Is this place haunted?”

  “It depends on your definition of haunted,” she said with a shrug. “But…this place definitely has spirit. Don’t you, old girl.” She smiled, patting the metal cage gently.

  Now I was the one worrying my new roommate was a loon. Who talks to elevators?

  She smiled again as she turned her eyes towards me. She no doubt felt the hesitation creeping through my body. “Don’t worry. Enchantment Cove is a safe place. For all of us,” she said as the elevator stopped. Pulling open the gates, she stepped out into the hall. “Welcome to the seventh floor.”

  I stepped out, looking around. More hallways, with more tiny apartments. Wonderful.

  Van led me to the end of one of the hallways, slipping a key into the doorknob of the last apartment. “Here we are. Home, sweet home,” she said, pushing the door open and stepping through.

  I followed behind her and did a double take. I couldn’t believe it. I had been expecting a hole-in-the-wall. Instead, I found a palace in its place. Okay, maybe not a palace, but I’ve seen five-star hotel suites smaller than this.

  I quickly inspected the apartment, saving the best for last. I pushed opened the empty bedroom door and looked around. It was huge, complete with its own master bathroom and walk-in closet. It was so much better than the suite I was currently staying in. I turned around and found Van staring at me, knowingly.

  “Well, what do you think?”

  “It’s amazing,” I said, a ridiculous grin plastered on my face. “How can the apartment be this big? There’s no way it should fit up here.”

  She giggled, amused by my shock. “All the apartments are this size. It’s just part of the charms of Enchantment Cove,” she said, stepping into the room. “So, have I sold you yet?”

  “Yes,” I practically squealed. “I’ll take it.”