My eyebrows lifted as I sank down on the end of the bed.Clara looked like she was almost vibrating with excitement.I hadn’t seen her this happy in a long time.
A brief worry swept through my head.Fernando?Had he proposed?Was she… could she be this happy about being pregnant?
“It finally happened, Keat,” she said, reaching out and squeezing my hand.“I sold a project!”
It took me a long moment for the words to filter through to my understanding.I blinked.
“… Like… a pilot?”
“Yes!”she cried out, throwing her hands into the air above her head and drumming her feet on the bed in a quick rhythm.She was wearing pink socks with cartoon frogs on the sides.“I sold a pilot!”
“Oh, my god!Clar!”I leaned forward and swept her up into a hug.“That’s amazing!”
“I’ve been waiting so long for this,” she said.As I pulled away, she was wiping under her eyes – but only happy tears.“I can’t believe it finally happened.”
“Who’s the production company?”I asked.The great thing about both of us working in film and TV, albeit on very different parts of the production, was that we actually knew a lot of the same people and companies.
“It’s a small indie,” she said.She made a little face.“It’s only a small sale.But if it gets picked up by a network, it looks like a really good deal for at least ten episodes.”
“That’s incredible,” I beamed.“You’re really making it, Clar.This is it.”
“I hope so,” she said.She laughed and covered her face.It was like she was full of so much joy that it had to just keep bursting out of her at random moments.I felt a twinge of jealousy that I wasn’t proud of.I hadn’t had that kind of a win in my filmmaking career – not yet.
I just hoped ‘not yet’ didn’t turn into ‘never’.Not just because I was working for Mr.Harvey right now, but because secretarial work seemed to be about the best I could get.If I got into a cycle of living paycheck to paycheck without enough time to film anything… I didn’t see how I would get out of it.
I couldn’t think about that now, though.I couldn’t think about it at all.It was too much – too scary.
“We need to celebrate,” I announced.
“Not right now, though,” she said.“It’s late and I know you have work in the morning.But we can do something this weekend.”
I made a face.“It doesn’t feel right.We should celebrate when you get the news, not days later.”
“I’m already celebrating a bit,” she said.She gestured to the box on the bed.“Look at these chocolates Fernando got for me.He was busy with a meeting tonight, but as soon as I told him, he had them couriered over here.”
I pouted.“You told him first?”
Clara laughed.“Don’t get jealous, big brother.I was having lunch with him when the call came in.”
“I feel like he sees you more than I do,” I groused.Not that that was unnatural or unusual in any way.He was her boyfriend, after all.That was the natural progression of things – first start dating, then spend all of your time together, and finally move in together.One day, probably sooner than I liked, I would be all alone.“In fact, you probably seehimmore than I do, which is odd given that we work together.”
Clara laughed and shook her head.“He makes time to see me.Besides, he told me your boss has you all secreted away in his office like you’re his personal property or something.”
The particular words she had chosen – which had to be Fernando’s words, given that she had no other way of assessing the situation – sent a peculiar stab of lightning down into my core.
His property?
I should have been offended by that.
Why was I thrilled instead?
“We just have a lot of work to get through,” I said.“I, um.He said he’s making me inner circle.He told me some things that not a lot of other people know.About the business.”
Clara’s eyes went round like saucers.“Weren’t you just telling me this weekend that you wanted to quit?Didn’t you hand in that resignation letter we worked on?”
“No,” I said with a wince.“No, I, um… didn’t get to hand that in.”
“What do you mean?Did he spring something on you that stopped you?”
