Changing Scenes (Changing Teams #2) by Jennifer Allis Provost Read Free Book Online

over my shoulder. “You bet she is.”
     
    ***
     
    Less than an hour later a showered, shaved, and much better smelling version of myself was ready to head back to the restaurant. I got in my Jeep and put the key in the ignition, but instead of starting the engine I grabbed my phone. After thumbing through the contacts I found Astrid’s number and hit call.
    “Hey,” she yawned into the phone.
    “You sleepy?”
    “I’m frickin’ exhausted. Some crazy chef kept me out all night,” she replied. “What’s up?”
    “Nothing.” Man, until she started talking I hadn’t realized how much I wanted to hear her voice again. I could spend all day just listening to her. “I called you my girl earlier.”
    “I remember.”
    “You okay with that?”
    “Yeah.” I could hear her smiling. “I am.”
    “Good.” I sat there by myself, grinning like a fool. Then I remembered the hundred and twenty reservations for the brunch I was supposed to be cooking. “Listen, I’ve got to get to work. You got anything planned for later?”
    “I have a session, but it will be over around four. Text me when you get home?”
    “I will, babe.”
    “Bye for now.”
    She ended the call and I started the engine and drove back to work. I was going to have to get used to not sleeping on Thursday nights.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Eight
     
     
    Astrid
     
    After my late night/early morning with Donnie, I grabbed what rest I could in anticipation of my shoot that afternoon. It was supposed to be a low key session, just some outdoor shots in the city for some national department store chain. I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower around nine. When I emerged and checked the missed calls on my phone and saw one from Archer Modeling Agency, I knew without checking my voicemails the session had been cancelled.
    “I don’t know why it’s been cancelled,” Mindy’s voice said into the phone. “The client cancelled a different session last week, so maybe they have some internal trouble? I’ll keep you posted.”
    I deleted the voice mail and turned my phone off, then I went into my kitchen. After microwaving a mug of tea, I took stock of my cabinets. My dry goods consisted of dried soup, crackers, and granola bars. My fridge contained sliced turkey, orange juice, seltzer, and one of those fancy water filtration pitchers, and the freezer had a couple frozen meals. Since I didn’t know if I wanted to expend the energy to go out and charge groceries on my last remaining bit of open credit, I went back to bed.
    Of course, all that quality time with my pillow meant that I was up with the sun on Saturday, the start of the most boring weekend of my life. Britt and Sam were off looking at possible studio locations, Melody was spending time with her family, and Michael had some new boy toy occupying all of his time. I considered going out and doing some window shopping, but staring at designer clothes without being able to purchase them is just depressing. With my luck an enterprising salesperson would convince me to open yet another store credit account, and dig me deeper into debt.
    That hole was deep enough, thank you very much.
    Since my finances, or lack thereof, had doomed me to spend my weekend in my apartment, I was determined to make the most of it. I organized my closets, moved my spring and summer clothes to the guest bedroom and set up my cool weather items. I put together several outfits, complete with shoes and jewelry. I finished that overhaul by noon on Saturday. Since my apartment was already spotless I couldn’t binge clean, and I lacked both the desire and ingredients to cook, I reread my favorite romance series.
    Needless to say when Monday morning arrived I was thrilled to have my first full shift at Al’s. Normally, I would have styled my hair and glammed up my makeup, but I was no fool. I understood that at a place like Al’s you didn’t want to be too attractive. I was also hoping that none of the