Not Following Nina's Script
1249 Words
Sienna
Nina sent the brief at nine-thirty on a Wednesday night like that was a normal thing to do to a person.
It was a four pages breakdown of the sponsor event, talking points, a timeline split into fifteen-minute blocks, and a note at the bottom that said physical contact should feel as real as possible. Think comfortable, not performatie.
I read the whole thing sitting on my kitchen counter eating leftover rice and then I put my phone face down because I needed a minute.
Comfortable. Not performative. I almost laughe
I'd spent the last three years being performative in a marriage that turned out to be entirely fake so Nina was going to have to be more specific.
The event was at a hotel in midtown that had done everything possible to not look like a corporate event while being an extremely corporate event. Flowers everywhere. Open bar that nobody was actually using because it was two in the afternoon. Reps from four different brands moving through the room and you could tell that they were people whose bonuses depended on the next two hours going smoothly.
Dominic was already there when I arrived. He was talking to a man in a blazer near the windows and when I walked in, I could swear I saw his eyes go wide. Was he checking me out?
I introduced myself to the event coordinator, collected a glass of sparkling water, and went to the side of the room I was sure no one would notice.
For the first forty minutes everything went exactly the way the brief said it would.
Then one of the brand representatives, a woman in a blazer that matched the man Dominic had been talking to, came over to me during the cocktail portion and said, "You're Sienna Morretti, aren't you? Marcus Hale's ex-wife?"
She said it pleasantly like it was small talk.
I kept my face straight although my heart was doing something I couldn't explain. Turn out Marcus name triggers me. "I am." I replied.
"I work with Marcus actually. Small world." She smiled and it didn't reach anything above her cheekbones. "He speaks very highly of you. Considering everything."
Considering everything? Uhm excuse you, I am the one being affected here not him. But I didn't tell her that by the way.
"That's kind of him," I said instead, which was the most diplomatic thing I could manage without my mother's voice in my head telling me to behave.
She was still smiling. "It must be strange. Going from that world to..." She gestured loosely at the room, at me and at the general concept of where I'd ended up.
Before I could figure out what to do with that sentence, Dominic was beside me. I don't know how he crossed the room that fast because I hadn't seen him move.
"Sorry to interrupt." He put his hand lightly at my back. "They need us for the photos."
The woman's smile went from pointed to dazzled in under a second. That's how much his presence affected people now.
"Of course," she said. "It was lovely meeting you, Sienna."
"You too," I said whereas I wanted to yank her ponytail off her head but I didn't because my mother raised me right.
Dominic steered us toward the backdrop and didn't say a word about what had just happened and I didn't either because I was too busy being grateful and then slightly furious at myself about being grateful.
As we posed for the photographs, he knew exactly where to stand and how to angle himself and I just followed his lead and tried to look like a woman who belonged in this world. Between the second and third setup the photographer needed five minutes to adjust equipment and Dominic and I ended up standing next to each other at the edge of the room with nowhere particular to be.
"She works with Marcus," I said, keeping my voice low.
"I know. I recognized her name from his agency's roster when they introduced her."
I looked at him. "You knew before we walked in?"
"Nina flagged it this morning. I didn't want to make you anxious about it before the event."
I didn't know how to feel about that. Part of me wanted to tell him I didn't need protecting. The other part was thinking about the fact that he'd spent the morning making sure I didn't walk in blind, and the two parts were having an argument I didn't have time for.
"Next time, please just tell me," I sighed.
"Okay."
"I mean it. I get that you want to help and all but I'd rather know."
"Understood."
The photographer called us back and we finished the session and Dominic was everything the brief asked him to be while I matched him the best I could.
Afterward, when the event coordinator was doing her final rounds and the brand reps were packing up, I found myself standing near the window looking out at the street below and replaying what the woman had said.
Considering everything?
I knew that Marcus had people everywhere but knowing it and walking into a room while having it land in your face with a smile are two different experiences entirely.
"She was trying to rattle you," Dominic said from beside me.
"I know."
"Did it work?" He leaned in casually.
I thought about lying because that was still my first instinct with him. Then my conversation with Javi played across my mina at the exact same time then I changed my mind.
"For about thirty seconds," I said. "Then I was just annoyed."
"That's good, you're more than..."
"Good?"
I turned to look at him. He was now by the window, watching the street below with his hands in his pockets.
"You're more practical than I expected," I said.
"Really," his brows went up. "So tell me, what were you expecting?"
"I don't know. More..." I searched for the word. "Managed."
"I'm pretty managed. Nina makes sure of it." Something moved at the corner of his mouth. "You're just seeing the parts she hasn't gotten to yet."
I laughed before I could stop it. He looked at me when it happened and didn't say anything while I looked away before he saw something else on my face.
From there, the rest of the evening pretty much ran until it was time to go. Nothing happened on the car ride back home until we got to two blocks from my building when his phone lit up on the seat between us.
I swear I wasn't trying to read it, the screen was just there and then I saw it.
A. Ashford.
He looked down at it and before he could hide it, I saw something crossed his face that I'd never seen befor. He picked up the phone and declined the call then turned it face down on his knee and pressed his thumb flat against the back of it.
I was going to say something when I looked up and saw that the car pulled up to my building.
I got out and went inside, not looking back.
I kept thinking about who exactly A. Ashford was and what his relationship with Dominic was.
It kept bugging my mind all the way to the stairs and even when I got into bed.
I was at the clinic twenty minutes early the next morning when I heard the call.
- Writer
