Mixed Messages. Linda Lael Miller

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СКАЧАТЬ grinned and shook her head, but as she looked out at the rain-misted Oregon terrain, her expression turned wistful. Here was her chance to live out her dreams and really be somebody besides a beauty queen.

      She hoped she had what it took to succeed in the real world.

      Carly’s new apartment was in Janet’s building, and it was a simple one-bedroom unit painted white throughout. Since the walls were still wet, it smelled of chemical fumes.

      The carpets, freshly cleaned, were a toasty beige color, and there was a fireplace, fronted with fake white marble, in the living room. Carly looked forward to reading beside a crackling wood fire in her favorite chenille bathrobe.

      “What do you think?” Janet asked, spreading her arms as though she’d conjured the whole place, like a modern-day Merlin.

      Carly smiled, wishing the paint were dry and her furniture had arrived. It would have been nice to settle in and start getting used to her new home. “It’s great. Thanks for taking the time to find it for me, Janet.”

      “It wasn’t any big deal, considering that I live in this building. Come on, we’ll change our clothes, get some supper out and take in a movie.”

      “You’re sure you don’t have a date?” Carly asked, following her friend out of the apartment. They had already taken the suitcases to Janet’s place.

      “He’ll keep,” Janet answered with a mysterious smile.

      Carly thought of Reggie, her erstwhile fiancé, and wondered what he was doing at that very moment. Making rounds at the hospital, probably. Or swimming at the country club. She seriously doubted that he missed her; his career was the real priority in his life. “Are you in love?”

      They were all the way to Janet’s door before she answered. “I don’t really know. Tom is good-looking and nice, and he has a good job. Maybe those things are enough—maybe love is just a figment of some poet’s imagination.”

      Carly shook her head as she followed her friend into an apartment that was virtually a duplicate of the one they’d just left, except for the carpet. Here, it was forest green. “I wouldn’t do anything rash if I were you,” she warned. “There might just be something to this love business.”

      “Yeah,” Janet agreed, tossing her purse onto the sofa and shrugging out of her raincoat. “Bruised hearts and insomnia.”

      After that, Carly stopped trying to win her friend over to her point of view. She didn’t know the first thing about love herself, except that she’d never been in it, not even with Reggie.

      “An advice column?” Carly’s voice echoed in her cramped corner office the following Monday morning. “But I thought I was going to be a reporter….”

      Carly’s new boss, Allison Courtney, stood tall and tweedy in the doorway. She was a no-nonsense type, with alert gray eyes, sleek blond hair pulled tightly into a bun and impeccable make-up. “When we hired you, Carly, we thought you were a team player,” she scolded cordially.

      “Of course I am, but—”

      “A lot of people would kill for a job like this, you know. I mean, think of it. You’re getting paid to tell other people what to do, for heaven’s sake!”

      Carly had pictured herself interviewing senators and homeless people, covering trials and stand-offs between the police and the underworld. She knew the advice column was a plum, but it had never occurred to her that she’d be asked to serve in that capacity, and she was frankly disappointed. Calling upon years of training, she assumed a cheerful expression. “Where do I start?”

      Allison returned Carly’s smile, pleased. “Someone will bring you this week’s batch of mail. You’ll find all the experts you need listed in the Rolodex. Oh, and between letters you might help out with clerical work and such. Welcome aboard.” With that, she stepped out, closing the office door behind her.

      Carly set the box down on her desk with a clunk and sank into her chair. “Clerical work?” she echoed, tossing a glance at the computer system perched at her elbow. “Good grief. Did I come all the way to Oregon just to be a glorified secretary?”

      As if in answer, the telephone on her desk buzzed.

      “Carly Barnett,” she said into the receiver, after pushing four different buttons in order to get the right line.

      “Just seeing if it works,” replied a bright female voice. “I’m Emmeline Rogers, and I’m sort of your secretary.”

      Carly felt a little better, until she remembered that she was probably going to spend as much time doing office work as writing. Maybe more. “Hi,” she said shyly.

      “Want some coffee or something?”

      Carly definitely felt better. “Thanks. That would be great.”

      Moments later, Emmeline appeared with coffee. She was small, with plain brown hair, green eyes and a ready smile. “I brought pink sugar, in case you wanted it.”

      Carly thanked the woman again and stirred half a packet of sweetener into the hot, strong coffee. “There are supposed to be some letters floating around here somewhere. Do you know where they are?”

      Emmeline nodded and then glanced at her watch. Maybe she was one of those people who took an early lunch, Carly thought. “I’ll bring them in.”

      “Great,” Carly answered. “Thanks.”

      Emmeline slipped out and returned five minutes later with a mailbag the size of Santa’s sack. In fact, Carly was reminded of the courtroom scene in Miracle On 34th Street when the secretary spilled letters all over her desk.

      By the time Emmeline had emptied the bag, Carly couldn’t even see over the pile. She would have to unearth her computer and telephone before she could start working.

      “I couldn’t think of a way to break it to you gently,” Emmeline said.

      Carly took a steadying sip of her coffee and muttered, “Allison said I’d be helping out with clerical work during slack times.”

      Emmeline smiled. “Allison thinks she has a sense of humor. The rest of us know better.”

      Carly chuckled and shoved the fingers of her left hand through her hair. Until two weeks ago, when she’d made the final decision to break off with Reggie and come to Oregon, she’d worn it long. The new cut, reaching just a couple of inches below her earlobes, had been a statement of sorts; she was starting over fresh.

      Emmeline left her with a little shrug and a sympathetic smile. “Buzz me if you need anything.”

      Carly was beginning to sort the letters into stacks. “If there’s another avalanche,” she responded, “send in a search party.”

      Her telephone and computer had both reappeared by the time a brisk knock sounded at her office door. Mark poked his head around it before she had time to call out a “Come in” or even wonder why Emmeline hadn’t buzzed to announce a visitor.

      “Hi,” he said, assessing the mountain of letters with barely concealed amusement. He was probably off to interview СКАЧАТЬ