the musical. Many of the girls trying out couldn’t read music. I thought, Finally, finally, I have a big advantage.
Apparently, I did. I received a callback. Piper was very impressed when I cried out joyfully after hanging up the following day.
“What was that?” she asked, rushing out of her room. “Someone die?”
“No. It’s good. I received a callback.”
“Really? It’s only your fourth try,” she said, a little bitterly, I thought. “I’ve had fifteen in a row without a callback.” She was really whining.
“I’m sorry,” I said, even though I had my doubts she had gone to as many as fifteen auditions.
She looked like she might cry. Then she smiled. “But you’re right… it’s got a lot to do with luck,” she declared, and returned to her room.
Now I wanted to think otherwise: that whether I received a callback had more to do with my talent. The problem, I realized, was that the callback was the same day as the other two competing auditions. The scheduling was even more complicated when I tried to figure in my work hours at the Last Diner. I saw no way not to miss the entire workday. I’d have to either take on some late-evening hours or see if someone wanted to take some time off.
The two simultaneous auditions were starting earlier than my callback. I thought of getting to one ridiculously early so I could be one of the first to perform. I wasn’t sure which of the two was worth the extra effort, and if for some reason I was delayed, I’d have to leave. Getting there early would have been an entire waste of time, time I had to make up at the restaurant. I thought about it all the following day, and when I came home, I decided I couldn’t wait for Thursday. I called Jon for his advice. Maybe he had spoken to his friend familiar with the theater.
“Should I try to work in two?”
“No, Emma. Put everything you have, every spare minute, into the callback,” he said without hesitation. “Forget about the other open auditions. Who was it who said ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’?”
“It’s an old English proverb. Our neighbor in Guildford uses it often.”
“Proverbs are tried-and-true wisdom,” he said, and I laughed, thinking he really was so sweet.
I’m slipping, I thought suddenly. Was I now looking forward to dinner with him and quietly regretting that he hadn’t brought it up again?
“Thank you, Jon.”
“Thank you for calling and thinking enough of me to ask my advice,” he said.
“Will I see you for lunch tomorrow?”
“Absolutely. Until then,” he said.
“Will I see you for lunch tomorrow?” What am I doing? I thought after I hung up. I came here to build my career, and instead, I’m thinking I might have a relationship and fall in love. Then what? I give up all my dreams and do what my father was always predicting I would: marry and have kids and throw away my dreams like wedding rice as I rode off into the sunset? Get hold of yourself, Emma Corey. You can have a friend, but a lover? Not now. Get a grip.
Because of this, I was actually nervous about seeing him the next day. As he promised, he came in with two associates, both about his age. I knew what he was doing by introducing me to them. He wanted their approval, and from the way they were looking at me, he was getting it.
Marge was all smiles when I started for the counter to bring their orders to Buck.
“Special customer?” she teased.
“He’s just a friend,” I said, passing her in the aisle.
“Does he know that?” she asked. “You could be a heartbreaker, Em.”
It gave me pause. I looked back at him and saw how he was watching me. Was I doing something horrible by leading him on, only to turn him away firmly in the end? What did you have to do not to lead a man on? Be nasty or indifferent right from the start? I thought I had been indifferent enough, but apparently not. When does friendship start to slip into romance? I had always been quite good about seeing the difference, but right now, my mind was clouded by so many things.
“Wishing you good luck tomorrow,” Jon said when I brought them their food.
“Thank you.”
“Are you going home afterward or coming here to work?” he asked. The other two were watching me closely for my reaction to his question.