Promise Me (35 page)

My eyes still on the message, I ask her, "When did he call?"

"About an hour ago."

I look up at her and mirror her huge smile and say thank you then head back to my office, closing the door for privacy. Sitting at my desk, I breathe in and out a few times before calming myself back down long enough to pick up the phone and return the call.

A woman answers the call on the second ring and her greeting makes my smile even wider.

"Good afternoon, may I speak to Mr. Dennis Forrester, please."

She puts me on hold for a few seconds until a man's voice comes on the line and says, "This is Dennis Forrester. How may I help you?"

"Mr. Forrester, this is Sabrina Chandler, returning your call."

"Thank you for calling me back so quickly Ms. Chandler," he says warmly.

"It's not every day that the Head Curator of The Philadelphia Museum of Art calls you personally, so I assumed it must be important."

He laughs, putting me more at ease. "I suppose you're right."

"What exactly can I do for you, Mr. Forrester," my curiosity more than piqued.

"Actually, I'm hoping
you
can do something for me. I was wondering if you'd be interested in interviewing for a position here at our lovely museum."

I look around my office for any signs of a hidden camera so I can ask it if I'm being punked when he says my name again to get my attention.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Forrester, you just caught me by surprise." Digging down to find my most professional voice under the circumstances I say, "May I ask what position?"

"Assistant to the Head Curator."

Holy shit. Before my brain can catch up to my mouth it starts to answer.

"Yes, of course I'd be interested in interviewing for the job. Thank you so much."

"Great, just looking over your resume, I must say, I'm very impressed."

Wait a second, how did he get my resume? Hell, I haven't even seen or updated my resume in years. While he's looking over his schedule for the next few days for a good time for a phone interview, steam is already coming out of my ears.

"Is that good for you, Ms. Chandler?"

"I'm so sorry, can you say that again?" I recover quickly.

"How about tomorrow, Wednesday, at three o'clock. Does that work for you?"

I don't even look at my calendar, I say yes because as pissed as I am right now, I'm not a complete moron.

"Sounds great. I'm looking forward to it, Mr. Forrester."

We end the call with the usual pleasantries, and when I hang up the phone I immediately pick it back up to make another one to the one person who I know must behind this.

"Hey girlie, what's up?"

Gripping the phone so tightly that it might shatter in my hand, I speak through my gritted teeth. "Julia, did you send my resume to someone at the Philadelphia Museum of Art?"

"Um, why?"

"They just called me to schedule a phone interview for tomorrow, that's why. The best part about it is that he mentioned my resume was impressive. Which I thought was funny because I haven't updated it since before I started working here."

"Huh, interesting."

"That's it. That's all you're going to say about it? Are you serious?"

She's quiet, too quiet, which translates into being caught red-handed.

"Please say something, Julia."

"Congratulations?"

"I'm so mad at you right now, I can't see straight. So, before I hang up on you I'm warning you that I'm hanging up on you, okay?"

She knows better than to say anything else other than a sorry sounding, "Okay", before I slam the phone down.

I love her to death, but she's nuts! Does she really think that this is going to solve all my problems? And I'm crazy for sitting here even contemplating it. Could I truly be qualified enough to warrant a phone interview for one of my dream jobs without any help from her? Maybe I'm the one who's nuts. This gets me to thinking that I must get my hands on a copy of that resume she typed up and sent out. Who the hell knows what she put on that thing!

I angrily snatch up my purse and leave work on a mission to see this resume for myself... and kill Julia.

I've paced from the kitchen to the living room so many times in the last half hour, that I've burned off over a thousand calories while waiting on Julia to get home. Fuming doesn't come close to covering it. How dare she pull a stunt like this? For her to go behind my back and try to force me to make a decision in favor of Tyler by dangling a huge carrot in my face is so unfair. Best friend, sister, and partner in crime... no more. This crossed the line a tad more than I'm comfortable with her usual level of meddling.

Come to think of it, her meddling is what got me into this mess to begin with. If it wasn't for Julia's little pep talk almost four months ago, I wouldn't be here plotting her demise. As soon as I got that stupid invitation I should have torn it into a million pieces and then burned it until it was nothing but a small pile of ashes. But no, what did I do instead? I let her little Tony Robbins act get to me. I was convinced after her speech that it was my destiny to go see Tyler again and confront Lisa and Chris. Like I was supposed to go and kill two birds with one stone. What a joke! Now, the only killing will be of Julia as soon as she walks through that door.

The sound of her keys jangling stops my pacing. She opens the door slowly, only popping her head in first to check to see if the coast is clear. When she sees me standing with my hands in balled up fists at my sides, her head disappears like she's going to turn around and leave. As if!

I'm so mad that my voice goes eerily soft when I speak. "Get in here. Now."

Julia comes in and goes to sit on the couch after leaving her purse and laptop bag in the foyer. I walk around the back of it to stand facing her, trying my best not to jump over the coffee table and strangle her to death.

"Sabrina..."

I put my hand up, stopping her.

"I... I don't even know where to begin. I'm so mad that I just want to choke the living shit out of you right now. Can't you understand that this is
my
life you're playing with? This isn't some TV show, Julia. This is real life!"

I run my hands through my hair and I start to pace again in the small space between the coffee table and the television.

"Let me explain..."

"Uh-uh, you don't get a chance to explain right now. I mean, seriously, what did you think I would say when I found out? Did you think I would pack my shit up tomorrow, start my new job and go live happily ever after with Tyler? Because if that's what you were thinking, I hate to disappoint you, but it's not going to happen!"

"Why not?" She asks defiantly.

I laugh, because surely she can't be serious. "Are you kidding me right now? Do I really need to spell it out for you?"

She nods her head yes.

"Fine. First off, I'm not qualified for this job. The only reason I'm being considered is because you called in a favor. I don't want to get my dream job by someone pulling strings for me. I want to earn it, fair and square. Not to mention this job is in another goddamn state! It's not like I can just take it and start in two weeks. I would have to move my entire life and start all over again from scratch."

"You're from Pennsylvania," she deadpans.

I raise my eyebrow to warn her to keep her mouth shut before she gets herself into any more trouble with me.

"Secondly, this whole crusade you've got going on for Tyler and me has got to stop! I've told you over and over again that I can't just switch off how I feel. As my best friend," I pause to turn and look at her for emphasis, "
you
should respect that and leave it alone already."

We both stay quiet until she leans forward, putting her elbows on her knees and clasping her hands together.

"Can I talk now?" She asks.

"Knock your socks off, but it won't make one difference."

"Ever since we met in college, Sabrina, you've been in hiding because of what those assholes did to you. I've sat here and watched you beat yourself up for years... right here, on this very couch. So, the moment I saw that light switch on in your eyes when you came back from seeing Tyler, I was beyond happy for you."

I go to sit on the edge of the couch since my legs start to feel wobbly.

"If you think for one second that I'm going to let you give up on that after everything you've been through, you're sadly mistaken. Because
that's
what best friends do. They look out for each other."

Tears start to well in my eyes when she turns in her seat to face me and takes my hands in hers.

"Sabrina, you've been waiting for a job like this for as long as I've known you. This is an opportunity of a lifetime. With all due respect, you would be an idiot for saying no," she says with a crooked smile. "Who cares if Alex sent the resume I gave him in for you? It got your foot in the door."

I tear my hands away from hers while I wipe my eyes angrily and stand up from the couch. "What did you just say?"

Julia looks confused and asks, "Which part?"

"The part about Alex sending in the resume. I thought you did all of that."

She curses under her breath and drops her head in her hands. She brushes back her bangs when she says, "I thought you knew it was him."

"No, I had no idea he was involved! What the fuck is going on around here? How did Alex get mixed up into this mess?!"

She puts her hands up. "Sabrina, calm down."

Calm down? Is she really telling me to calm down? Not only did she doctor my resume, which I still haven't seen, but now she's got my boss involved in her plans and schemes.

"Julia, start talking or, I swear on everything that is holy, I will kill you!"

She exhales and stands, coming towards me with her hands still up as if she was approaching a skittish animal.

"It's not as sneaky as it sounds. He came to my office last week for a meeting and you came up in the conversation. I didn't tell him anything other than I was trying to get one of you to move your asses and get back together already."

"How does that turn into... this," I say motioning with my hands into the open air all around me.

"Kind of as an afterthought he mentioned that he knew, or someone in his family knew, I can't remember which one, the Head Curator at The Philadelphia Museum of Art. So..."

"So what?" I say trying to get her to finish.

"So," she says, "I told him as a joke that if he could get your resume to the right person that my company would work any event of his choosing for free."

I don't even know what to say to her. I open my mouth to say something but nothing comes out. I'm speechless or shell-shocked, take your pick. I cannot believe she did all of this and dragged Alex into it for good measure. Its official, my quiet, uneventful life has gone down the rabbit hole never to be heard from again.

"Yeah," Julia says sheepishly, "I kind of owe him now. Big time."

A nervous laugh escapes me and I think it's because I've lost my mind. Turning on my heel, I make a beeline to my room with Julia right behind me.

"Sabrina, you're going to do that interview," she says when I reach my door.

"No, I'm not." I slam the door on her face putting an end to the conversation.

I fall onto my bed and stare at the ceiling. This poor ceiling has gotten an eyeful in the last few months. I'm sure it's sick of me looking up at it either crying or silently willing it to answer me. Tonight is no different, with all its slight imperfections that I've committed to memory; it just looks blankly back at me, forcing me to make a decision all on my own.

The next morning I do my best to ignore all of Julia's overt attempts to get me to talk, but I'm still upset and I can hold a grudge for a pretty long time. I make it through our usual morning mug of coffee without even a peep to her and leave for work on a mission to talk to Alex. If anything, this was one of the best things that Julia could have done for Tyler's cause, because now she and Alex sit atop his ranking on the good ol' shit list.