Make Me Over_ Getting Real - Leslie Kelly [28]
“It’s getting much better.”
“She wore work boots beneath the Vera Wang gown we had her try on.”
Jacey was with Tori on that one. She shot Niles a glare, ignoring the rest of the crew, who simply watched them argue yet again. Old news at this point. “You ever worn spike-heeled do-me shoes?” she asked.
His eyes bugged out and he sputtered a bit.
“They’re agony.” Jacey leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs, tapping her own black engineer boots, which she wore under her long, black wool skirt. “I’m sure as hell not going to criticize anybody else who doesn’t wanna wear them, either.”
Niles stared at her for a minute. She held his gaze until he finally looked away. She knew what he was thinking…He was wondering why he had to put up with an opinionated lead camera operator who his producer insisted be an active part of any decision making.
Niles didn’t know Jacey was Burt’s daughter. Which was exactly the way Jacey and Burt liked to keep things.
“That Ginny, she’s looking good in her new wardrobe.” This came from Spike, one of the guys on Jacey’s camera crew, who had way too much testosterone and way too little intelligence.
“You mean you actually see her wardrobe? I thought you always pictured her naked,” Jacey said with a roll of her eyes.
“I personally see the most potential in Robin,” said Bernice, the makeup woman. “You know, she does her own face beautifully, and did from the day she walked in the door. I couldn’t teach her a thing, if I were one of the instructors.”
Personally, Jacey thought Robin wore so much makeup her whole face was being held together by it. If the layers of foundation ever came off, there might be a Kermit the Frog face under there. But she didn’t want to offend Bernice, the only other woman on the crew, by saying so.
“It appears the field is wide open,” Niles said with a nod, as if everyone else’s comments validated his lame opinions. “Of the nine women left, I’d say Tori Lyons isn’t even in the top five in terms of her potential as lady of them all.”
It was all Jacey could do not to yank her hair out by the fistful. “Are you all forgetting why we’re really here?”
They all went silent, staring at her from around the meeting-room table where they’d ensconced themselves with coffee and bagels before the contestants came down.
“It’s not about who you like the best. It’s about who Dr. Bennett likes the best.”
And that, Jacey knew without a doubt, was Tori Lyons.
“Well, I don’t agree, but since three more have been eliminated, it will be easier to see his interaction with each of the women,” Niles said, still sounding so superior.
But at least he was on the same wavelength, finally. “I’ve begun feeling him out about the necessity of interacting with the women in social settings,” Jacey said. “And so has my f—Mr. Mueller, who called and spoke with him last night. That will be the perfect excuse to send him on dates.” Without him ever knowing he was dating.
It was only fair to give the other women some one-on-one time with the hunky doc. Because so far, only Tori had had that chance, though, Jacey believed she was the only one on the set who knew Drew Bennett was sneaking out to meet with his star pupil every morning.
An early riser, Jacey had been making use of the treadmills in the fitness room of the house—a poor substitute for her morning run, but all she could manage. Yesterday and the day before, she’d seen Tori slipping out just after dawn, only to be followed by Drew. Both times, he’d had a book in his hand.
The Hollywood pessimist inside her speculated on what they were really doing together in the greenhouse. But the woman who saw the tender way he’d been helping Tori read some old book the other day suspected they were up to something altogether different. Which was why she hadn’t ratted them out.
Not that it would matter, really, if she did. Because they met in the greenhouse—their blessing, but a camera’s curse. Even if she had informed the snotty little director, what could he have done about it? If she or any of the