“What do you need?”
“I haven’t been hungry in ages but I was thinking about orange sherbet right when you came. That sounds like it would taste so good. Or maybe rainbow.”
Rhett pulled out his keys. “I’m on it.” He looked at Cassie. “Would you like to keep Carreen company while I’m gone?”
Cassie looked at Carreen. “Do you mind?”
“I’d like that. It’ll be nice to talk about adult things other than my treatments. Or spelling words. I swear if I have to call out one more spelling list this week, I’ll go mad.”
“I’m a great speller so we can put those lists aside.” Cassie glanced at Rhett. “Go do the sherbet run, Corrigan, and don’t take all day.”
He shrugged. “See? She’s as bossy as you or Mom. Maybe worse.”
“Then you won’t be out of shape by the time I come back,” Carreen retorted.
Rhett asked Cassie, “Do you want anything?”
“Surprise me.”
He waved and left the women alone.
Cassie looked at the tray table filled with multiple pill bottles, magazines, and a glass. “I see your water’s almost empty. Can I get you more to drink?”
“No, I’m fine. I just wanted some alone time with you. I thought if I sent Rhett on an errand, it would make things easier.”
“I see,” she said, though Cassie had no idea why Carreen Gorman would want to talk to her alone.
“Rhett tells me you totaled his car.”
She grimaced. “I guess that’s the first thing he said about me?”
Carreen shook her head. “No, he actually told me he’d hired an assistant that was more organized than I am.”
“I doubt—”
“Take that as a compliment, Cassie. Rhett’s not easily impressed. For him to
tell me that speaks volumes.” Carreen grinned. “Then he told me about the car.” She laughed weakly. “I wish I could’ve been there.”
Cassie groaned. “It was probably the worst and best day of my life. To have creamed the car of the biggest star on the planet and have it burst into flames was not my finest moment. Especially when I was on the way to a job interview and I looked a hot mess. Fortunately, it turned out well. Rhett offered me work instead and then my roommate and I moved into his gatehouse, too. I can’t tell you what a difference that has made in my life. As if I’d died and gone to heaven.”
Cassie’s words hung in the air. She blushed. “I mean . . . I didn’t—”
“Don’t worry,” Carreen assured her. “Everyone walks on eggshells around me. I’m fine even if I don’t look it. The doctor says things are progressing well and they caught the cancer in time. I don’t think I’ll be calling at the pearly gates anytime soon.”
Carreen reached for her water and sipped through the straw. “I was eager to meet you. Rhett talks about you like you walk on water. He said you’ve gotten a cook and housekeeping services to replace Consuelo and Maria and that you’ve come up with a terrific idea for a charity event.”
“The first two were pretty easy. We met with the cancer society rep this afternoon and made some great headway regarding the event.”
“He also told me that you had Breck and the poker pals wrapped around your little finger.”
She laughed. “Feed Breck and the man’s your friend for life. Same thing with those poker buddies. Stuff them with sandwiches and dip and tell a few stories and they’ll treat you like one of the boys.”
“Especially Zak Mercury?”
Cassie’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
“You’re exactly Zak’s type. Pretty, smart, quick on your feet. If he hasn’t asked you out already, he will.”
She grinned. “He did after the first poker night. Walked me to the car and was ready to add me to his little black book.”
Carreen eyed her with interest. “You turned him down?”
“Of course. He’s very mercurial and I didn’t feel comfortable going out with a friend of my boss. That didn’t seem right. I needed this job too badly to mess things up like that on the first day.”
“Good for you. Most women would leap at a chance with Zak. He’s bright, he’s cute, and he’s going places.”
Carreen studied her a moment. Cassie wondered if the conversation up to this point had been the warm-up.
“What were you doing before you became Rhett’s assistant and moved into the gatehouse? Seems like everything happened pretty fast,” Carreen said pointedly.
Cassie didn’t mind Carreen’s blunt tone. In fact, she expected it since Rhett’s family was so close. It would be painful for her but Cassie knew she would need to open up and tell Carreen how her career plans fell apart. She had to be honest for Carreen to understand that she’d gone to work for Rhett for all the right reasons.
“I came to Hollywood with big dreams. I’d always been a reader and a writer, and I tore up the stage in Waco, Texas. Acted in every play I could—school, community theater. I was going to become someone.”
Cassie sat back, her eyes growing moist. “Hollywood isn’t really looking for good actresses. They want stars, women they can parade around that all look alike, sporting the same cutting-edge fashions that have double-sided tape which reveals the absolute right amount of boobs. Look at me, Carreen. I have a nice smile but I didn’t have thousands to get my teeth capped. I’m a decent height and weight but casting directors let me know I’d need to lose twenty-five pounds and get a boob job to have a glimmer of a chance.”
She leaned forward. “I know I’m not model gorgeous but they all wanted to reinvent me to be the same as the next clone. I wanted to act and I wasn’t willing to compromise who I was to do so.”
Her laugh sounded bitter to her ears. “Consequently, I didn’t land any parts. I finally decided with my knowledge of the business and organizational skills, I could be an agent. Unfortunately, it’s the same as many professions. You need experience before anyone’ll hire you. Doesn’t matter how great your ideas are. All they want to know is what your track record is.”
Carreen nodded, taking in Cassie’s words. “What did you wind up doing?”
She ran her fingers through her hair. “I found a third-rate agent who was down on his luck and became his go-to girl. I found auditions for his clients to go on, little ones at first, but then the offers gradually got better for most of them. That’s when Manny, the agent, went back to his former bad habit of snorting coke around the clock. The money was coming in again and he didn’t have to do anything to get it.”
Carreen shuddered. “Did you walk out?”
“I couldn’t. Too many people depended upon me and I needed the money. I ran everything after that. Manny let me do all the work while he raked in the cash and put it up his nose. If I could’ve pushed him out the door and changed the locks, I would have. I’d decided to make a clean break and try to land a job as Irv Stromberg’s assistant. I’d heard the position was open and Merriman Smith was taking off like a shooting star. I really wanted to be a part of something successful.”