The shopper appeared with the garment bag. She packed the electric plum suit with the care of someone handling something precious.
"Keep it pristine," she said, handing it over. "You'll want to make an entrance." Caleb smiled. Wholesome. America's sweetheart. "Break a leg," he said.
Five minutes later, Chad walked out in his khakis and polo, clutching the garment bag like it contained his entire future.
His face was bright. Confident. Like a man who'd just won the lottery.
The door closed behind him with a soft hiss.
The shopper turned and crossed back to Caleb.
She looked him over, one brow arched. "You really think he deserves an audition?"
"No," he said. "I think he deserves exactly what he asked for.”
NINE
Chad’s Audition
Chad
The casting office was a converted warehouse trying very hard to look "artistic," but mostly looked like a juice bar waiting to happen.
Chad arrived seventeen minutes late, blaming traffic. In truth, he’d spent fifteen minutes in his Tesla rehearsing his “brooding but bankable” expression in the rearview mirror. He clutched a hastily printed résumé and kept his phone open to LinkedIn.
The receptionist looked up. "Can I help you?"
"I'm here for the audition," Chad said, slightly out of breath. "Caleb Hart personally invited me."
The receptionist's face flickered with confusion. "Caleb...?"
"Hart. The actor. He told me to come."
"Oh." She picked up the phone, murmured something Chad couldn't hear, hung up. Her expression was carefully neutral. "Have a seat. Someone will be with you."
Chad sat.
And sat.
And checked his phone.
And sat some more.
Finally, a woman with a clipboard and an expression that suggested she'd been doing this for twelve hours appeared.
"Chad Watkins?"
Close enough.
"That's me."
"Follow me."
She led him down a hallway that smelled like old coffee and desperation, into a small room with one camera on a tripod, one folding chair, and three people behind a folding table who looked like they'd survived ten years of casting calls since noon.
"So," the woman said, glancing at her notes like they might contain answers to questions she hadn't asked yet. "You're here for...?"
"The role," Chad said confidently. "Caleb Hart told me about it."
