Bonjour!

It’s excerpt day 🙂 Hope you are having a great week. Let’s see what Milly is up to…

Sigrid

Milly stepped back and looked at her reflection in the mirror. The black, glittery top had the intended effect, she noticed happily.

She hadn’t felt like wearing a gown, but looked festive enough, she decided. Classy slacks and bright blue high heels completed her outfit.

Milly smiled at herself. Her last performance as Cherubino had gone well tonight. She had had so much fun on stage. She was still glowing because of it.

Once the curtains had closed, after a long applause, the whole crew had cheered and jumped around in victory. Just thinking about it still gave Milly goosebumps.

She and Suzanne had walked back to the dressing rooms together, talking about their plans for the rest of the night. There was an informal party planned behind the scenes.

A few guests were invited, but there would be mostly cast and crew members. Milly wasn’t planning on staying long. She still had lots of packing to do.

After tonight, they would all go their separate ways. Milly might run into some of the cast members in the future at other opera houses. But that was far from certain.

It did bother Milly she had no idea what her next production would be. Her colleagues would be discussing their upcoming assignments all night.

Milly, however, had nothing to talk about. She only had auditions planned. Some recitals and even concerts too, of course. But nothing worth mentioning.

“Be patient,” she told herself. The corners of her lips edged up. “And I do have something to look forward to.” She would finally see Hannah tomorrow.

Just the thought of feeling Hannah’s lips on her own sent a jolt of pleasure through her body.

A loud knock on the door startled Milly.

“Come in,” she said as she walked to her make-up table to find the perfume bottle.

“Are you ready?” Suzanne asked, walking into the room like she owned the place.

Milly looked up.

“Just a minute,” she said and smiled.

Milly watched Suzanne stride to a chair in the mirror. She still felt a bit uncomfortable around Suzanne when they were alone. Not that she had any reason lately.

Suzanne had stopped flirting with her. Milly couldn’t quite pinpoint when, but she guessed Suzanne must have gotten the message. Or maybe she had just lost interest.

Either way, Milly had no reason to feel this uncomfortable, she thought. “I should be grateful that such an accomplished singer is trying to be my friend.”

So Milly made an effort. “You know,” she said and turned around, leaning on the table. “I learned so much from you. Thank you.”

Suzanne’s smile reached her eyes. Even now, after working together for several weeks, Suzanne’s beauty and grace still surprised Milly.

“I doubt it. You are a natural,” Suzanne said. “You just have to let go now and then. Although you seem to have gotten a lot better at that…”

Suzanne gave Milly a long look.

Milly quickly picked up her clutch from the table and shrugged.

“I think I just grew into Cherubino a bit more.”

“Hmmm,” Suzanne replied, “Or found out what being in love feels like, maybe?”

Hearing the words ‘being in love’ made everything slow down for Milly. Her senses seemed to pick up every little detail around her. Her whole body buzzed with the shock of hearing the truth.

“Oh my God, it’s true. I’m in love,” she thought. Milly flushed.

A loud knock on her door surprised her for the second time.

“Come in,” she croaked, as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Suzanne got up, smoothing out the creases in her dress, and turned to face whoever was about to enter the room.

The door opened slowly, as if the person on the other side didn’t want to interrupt or was unsure about entering.

Milly stretched her neck to see who the new visitor was.

“Knock knock”

“Who’s there?”

“It’s me, the end of this week’s excerpt.”