Margot took one look at my face and intercepted me with a grip on my elbow. She guided me to our waiting car while Avery and Vic stopped to talk with a gaggle of shrieking middle-aged women.
“That was horrible! Ridiculous! And insulting!” I fumed as she shoved me not very gently into the back seat of the limo. I could barely sit on the upholstery, I was so amped up. “Who said I slept my way to the top? I want to know! Sexist pigs!” I wasn’t finished. “And that photo! You have an entire team devoted to our nondisclosure contracts and yet you can’t keep one photo under wraps? You seem to haul out that privacy clause only when it suits you.”
Margot looked entirely relaxed as she crossed her legs and draped one arm along the back of the seat.
I launched into another round. “And just so we’re all clear, I did not sign up for this,” I said, pointing past her ringlets to the set. “I am a chef. Not a—a doll you bring out for networking purposes. I have a brain! Opinions! A voice!”
By this point, my breathing was shallow. Little spots danced along the edge of my vision.
Margot appeared unfazed by my shouting. She cocked her head, as if studying a still life. “First of all, the interview went well. Good job. You kept your composure when the Charlie of a few months ago would have crumbled under the pressure.” She opened the minifridge and removed two chilled waters. She nestled one into the seat beside me even though I had certainly not indicated I wanted a refreshment.
“I have no idea who said the bit about your career trajectory.” She shrugged. “Someone online? An old high school classmate who’s bitter you were homecoming queen?”
I drew in a sharp breath. “I was never homecoming queen.”
Margot kept talking as if she couldn’t hear me. “Could have been a question Bunny or Stan formed on their own, under the general guise of ‘detractors.’” She lifted one hand and let it drop onto her lap in complete resignation. “Who cares? Idiots will be idiots. You can’t worry about them.”
Realizing my mouth had gone dry, I cranked open the top of the water bottle with excessive force and some of it sloshed onto my lap. After a long gulp, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. My heart still hammered in my chest. “So I’m just supposed to forget it? Ignore the fact that I had my integrity questioned on national television?”
Margo turned slightly toward me. Her petite frame seemed childlike in the expansive car. Her feet barely skimmed the floor mats. “You don’t have to forget it. In fact, if you’re smart, you’ll use that slight as a rallying cry for all women who have felt like you do right now. You could turn it into a fantastic tweet and watch the conversation take on a life of its own.”
“But it’s not true.” I implored her with my gaze to understand. “I’m not that person. And even associating my name with that idea makes me want to rip someone’s head off.”
Margot chuckled. “That kind of reaction can make for good press, actually. Righteous rage could really work for you. We can start scheduling follow-up interviews today.” She mused aloud about some possible headlines. “‘Reality show star takes on sexism in the workplace.’ Too self-important. What about ‘Reality show sweetheart takes a stand on sexism.’ That’s better.”
I gritted my teeth. “I don’t want a rallying cry. I just want to work.”
Margot paused a beat before speaking. Her tone softened slightly. “Charlie, I know this kind of thing isn’t what you thought you’d be doing in Seattle.”
I sniffed my disdain.
“However,” she said, “you have a platform now. People are listening now. You say you have a brain and opinions and a voice. Well, use them. Take this moment when the world is stopping to listen and tell them what’s on your mind. Believe me, they’ll be on to the next curiosity soon enough.”
The driver opened the door, and Avery and Vic got in.
“Those women were crazy,” Avery said, shaking his head in what I supposed was the joy of a million male fantasies. “Autographs, selfies, videos. They couldn’t get enough. You should have stayed, Charlie. They were totally asking for you.”
I clung to my water bottle, my head spinning.
Vic must have noticed my silence because he reached over and patted my arm. “Charlie, don’t worry about that photo. We had to use it because it’s invaluable for debut publicity, but it had a shelf life and I think that shelf life is over. Don’t you, Margot?”
Margot nodded. She squinted outside at a burst of sunlight. Sliding her sunglasses over her nose, she agreed. “We won’t use it again. The public will do more with it now than we ever could.”
My throat remained parched. I guzzled the rest of my water bottle and gestured for Avery to hand me another. He obliged, but a shadow of worry crossed his easily readable face.
“Don’t worry about her,” Margot assured him when she noticed his gaze. “Charlie has a few things to ponder.” She looked me with a thoughtful expression. “She’ll figure it out.”
I drank long and deep from the water bottle, surprised to find it was still unable to quench my thirst.
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