Girl In The Mirror
Chapter One
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
-Margaret Wolfe Hungerford April 1996
If all the world was a stage, it was time once again to play her part.
Charlotte sat in the green room of the television studio while outside, strains of the talk show's
theme song intermingled with audience applause. She had promised Vicki Ray this interview,
and there was no choice now but to endure the hour or suffer months of bad press. She'd had
enough bad press lately. Now her plan was set. Freddy had seen to every detail in his usual
compulsive manner. How had he put it? "Interview, marriage, surgery. Bim, Bam, Boom."
The only booming she felt right now was in her temples, a rhythmic, tympanic beat. How hot the
room was! Bringing a fevered hand to her forehead, she noticed with alarm that it was
trembling. And her lips, so parched. Oh, please, she prayed, holding her fingers tight, steadying
them. Don't let the symptoms come back now. Maybe one more pill, she decided, quickly
fumbling through her purse. Just in case.
Three brisk knocks sounded on the door.
"Charlotte?" Freddy Walen w ... read full excerpt from: Girl in the Mirror ebook
