Courting Trouble

Sienna rubbed her temple and nearly groaned along with the couple coupling in the next room.

Was she being too picky? Too snobbish?

The green fish dress glinted at her from across the room. She didn’t think so. She was making more from waitressing, and she got tips. Tips that she needed. Living in DC wasn’t cheap, even on the outskirts.

The panic started to flare again. Should she start looking outside the capital area? She’d sent résumés up and down the East Coast. Should she start applying out west? She didn’t know anybody out that way, but she’d lived in places across the world. She could adjust.

Shaking her head, she closed the email and switched over to social media. She might as well. It wasn’t as if it was quiet enough for her to consider sleeping.

‘Yeah, baby. Just like that …’ A shiver shot down the back of her neck.

OK, that had been kind of hot. And dominant …

She bit her lip and tried to focus. Scrolling down the board, she read about what her friends were doing. There were photographs from parties and vacations. One classmate was touring Europe before settling down. Her best friend, Erin, had posted pictures of three different place settings and was asking for votes on which to put on her wedding list.

Sienna sighed. She was happy for Erin, but she couldn’t help feeling that they were losing common ground. Erin and Marty had been a couple since high school, and her best friend planned to be a stay-at-home wife. She really didn’t understand the pressures of being single and supporting oneself, which was Sienna’s life these days.

Kyle had never understood the pressure either. Her ex-boyfriend had received a GPA that had been barely passing, yet he’d secured a prime job as a reporter for one of the major sports television networks in New York. All he’d had to do was be captain of their college lacrosse team and drink beer with the right alumni.

It had all been so easy for him, the lowlife slacker.

Sienna tore the headphones out of her ears and lurched off the bed. He’d called her stuck-up and prissy when he’d broken up with her.

The dress caught her eye.

A cold fish.

Excited cries reached a crescendo next door, and her head dropped back. It wasn’t fair. She’d followed all the rules. She’d got excellent grades, she’d volunteered and she’d interned at two prestigious marketing firms.

Where was her job offer?

Where was her significant other?

Shouts of completion next door finally hit their peak. The cries drifted down from their highs to lower murmurs of satisfaction.

The heat Sienna was feeling was quickly followed by a cool chill.

Why was she having to fight for everything while others had things handed to them on a silver platter? It just wasn’t fair.

She began to pace back and forth in the small space between the bed and the dresser. It just … wasn’t … fair.

The headache settled again at the base of her skull. She raised her hand and rubbed at the tension. The Aquamarine fundraiser had turned out to be stressful on more than one level. Seeing all those successful people … Knowing that a hundred-dollar tip to them was pocket change, while for her it meant groceries for a month …

Her bank account was running frighteningly low, and rent was almost due. Something had to pop up soon. Otherwise, she didn’t know what she was going to do. She supposed she could ask Erin for a loan, although with a wedding coming up –

Oh, who was she kidding? The Fosters would be paying for that. Erin’s parents had bought her everything she’d ever wanted.

Sienna clicked her nails as she stared out the window of her apartment at the street. She dreaded the thought of going to her parents for help. Her family was well-off. They travelled in all the right circles, but they wanted her to make her own way. They’d been so insistent on her finding a job and supporting herself.

They’d wanted her to work her way up, but they seemed embarrassed by her job at the Apple Tree. Was it too ground-level? They hadn’t invited her along on their trip to the summer house. Had they not come to the event tonight because they’d known she’d be waitressing?

She ran her finger along the edge of the curtain. She had to admit, she was glad they hadn’t attended. It had been awkward enough with Mr Stahl, although that woman he’d been talking to had tried to smooth things over.

‘Oh!’ Sienna gasped. She touched her forehead in self-rebuke. The business card.

She opened her purse on the dresser and began to search. She found the card she’d tucked away in a pocket. The name Nina Lockwood was spelled in crisp gold gilt. The stiff, heavyweight card was jet black with matching gold edging. There was a number, but no address.

She turned the card over. Luxxor Limited.

Sienna shook her head. She’d never heard of it, and she’d been scouring the DC business scene for months. She ran her thumb over the raised lettering. It was a classy calling card, but it gave little information. There wasn’t a website or even a QR code she could scan.

Frowning, she slid one leg beneath her and sat down on the bed again. She pulled the laptop closer and did a quick search for the company.

Nothing.

She hooked her hair behind her ear. That was strange. She scrolled down and even went through three pages of results. There were no links to a company with the name Luxxor, at least not in the DC area.

She leaned back against the pillows. Were they a defence contractor? It was DC, after all. Many of those companies liked to keep a low profile.

She tried variations on the spelling and even did a search under Nina Lockwood’s name.

She became even more puzzled when that came up null.

Sienna picked up the card from the nightstand. Ms Lockwood had been a very impressive woman. There was something about the way she carried herself. She demanded respect, and everyone at the Smithsonian party had nearly fallen over themselves to give it to her. The woman was beautiful, classy and obviously powerful.

Who was she?

Sienna brushed her thumb over the phone number and an idea occurred to her. She did a reverse-number look-up on the Internet. Her nose scrunched when site after site wanted payment. Finally, she found one that simply said it was an unlisted number.

Did people still do that?

‘Call this number in the morning,’ the woman had instructed. She’d offered an interview, but for what?

I’m impressed by what I’ve seen here tonight.

Sienna blinked, and her throat tightened when she remembered that statement. She’d been told that by teachers and professors her whole life. Friends’ parents had always approved of her. Yet now that she was out in the real world, all it seemed to want to do was slap her in the face.

She let out a ragged breath and toyed with the ends of her hair.

It wasn’t in her to complain outside the privacy of her bedroom, but she’d worked so hard for so long. She’d done everything her mentors had asked of her. To fail so miserably just out of the starting gate had wrecked her confidence. Hearing those kind words meant more to her than the woman could know.

‘Ready for another go around, baby?’

Sienna groaned and threw a glare at the wall when the sexy words seeped through. No, please. Enough, already. She couldn’t take much more of the stereo hijinks.

‘Always, you sexy beast.’

There were giggles, and then the discussion dropped mercifully to the point where Sienna couldn’t hear. She was just relaxing into her pillow again when a thud against the wall nearly sent her off the bed.