I love this snippet from LUCKY DUCKS...
(Claire's about to take on her first day working for Kasen Isaak)
Claire held the elevator door for two women who were running full throttle to make it.
"Thanks," they said in short-winded unison, then basically ignored her by falling into conversation with each other.
"You can do this," Clair mumbled under her breath. At least she should be able to fake her way through day one. After all, she'd stuffed her head with so much information it was almost too heavy for her neck to hold up.
She'd been repeating that pep-talk since she woke up. Instead of boosting her confidence, it made her edgy. The two cups of half-cappuccino, half-coffee she downed the second she got off the subway weren't helping either. In truth, she was as jittery as a field mouse being stalked by a tabby cat. Only instead of orange fur he was wearing a hideous suit and tie.
To distract her anxiety, Claire focused on the stray blonde hairs attached to the sleeve of her black wool blazer. She pulled them off one by one. Then she rubbed her other arm over the coat sleeve -- the arm her father pinched before she left this morning. She shook her head. Only her father would do something bizarre, like pinch her to see if she'd grown a thick skin overnight. Not surprising though since he referred to her as his "little recruit." He expected things out of her that most fathers would never dream of -- like this job. She was to latch onto to it. Embrace it. Own it.
Claire sighed soundlessly. At twenty-four she was still trying to please him. She sighed again. At the rate she was going, her father would be pushing daisies before he was truly satisfied with her chosen path in life.
The two women riding the elevator with her either forgot she was there or didn't care because they didn't hide their discussion. The stick-thin brunette with short, spiky hair bet a dollar the new girl wouldn't last a week. The other woman, a bottle-blonde in serious need of root-touchup, pulled a crisp bill from her pocket. "Five says she won't come back after today." They knuckle-bumped at the exact moment the elevator opened. They raced out leaving Claire a few seconds to ponder the comments. She had strong feeling she knew who they were betting on. Her lip curled. "Ten says you're both wrong."
Air in. Air out. Simple. At least breathing was supposed to be simple. But the sight of Kasen Isaak coming toward her with an unyielding look of annoyance made her breath catch somewhere between her lungs and windpipe.
The closer he came the more she felt like she was going to choke.
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* If you'd like to continue Claire Stone and Kasen Isaak's rocky but fun journey to happily-ever-after, you can find their story here: (Just click on one of the links below)
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