As I neared, Elliot glanced up and caught my eye – to his credit, he didn’t flinch – but I saw his jaw clench minutely.
“We can make that work,” he was saying to the executive with a lavender tie. “I’ve talked to Cillian and the rest of the cast; they are totally on board.”
“Fine,” Lavender Tie said. “But, honestly, we’re gonna need more reassurance on that timeline.”
“Of course.” Elliot looked visibly relieved. “Anything you need, you got my number.”
“That we do,” Lavender Tie said. The men exchanged handshakes, with RJ stomping over to Sadie without so much as saying goodbye to the execs. And then it was just me andElliot. There was so much I wanted to say to him, but where to begin when I didn’t even understand what I was feeling myself?
I decided to start things simply. “Hi.”
“Hey.” He offered me no more, but his eyes fixed on mine, waiting.
I wanted to say so much. I wanted to tell him that I’d decided to leave Temper, that Ralf had quit RJF but was also having some weird, twisted affair with Vivian. But more than anything I wanted to tell him how sorry I was for making him think our kiss was a mistake, and I wanted him to know that I missed him. I missed watching him eat stupid amounts of sugar while debating movies. I missed exploring New York with him and channeling that discovery into our work. I missed the way I felt when I was with him, like anything was possible.
“El, Lucie.” Sadie’s no-nonsense voice dragged us from our stupor. “Shall we sit?”
“Of course.” Dragging my eyes away from Elliot, I took a seat at her side, while Elliot and RJ sat opposite us.
“So I spoke to Janice’s office,” Sadie began with no preamble. “And what Melroy told me is true; they will only greenlight one movie this quarter because of internal finance allocations.”
“So, what, even if they like our movie, we might not get a shot?” RJ said.
“Possibly,” Sadie answered. “So, we have options. One, we try and take it to other studios, I have calls in with my contacts.”
“But we won’t have Melroy’s funding,” Elliot pointed out. How I’d missed that deep, rumbling voice of his. “So we’ll have to refinance or—”
“—or get a studio on board as a producing partner, not just distro, I know,” Sadie said. “I’m working on some plans for that, but it will take time.” She didn’t mention why, but I knewthat helping her with these plans would normally fall under Ralf’s remit. “Everything hinges on this meeting next week,” Sadie went on. “RJF has sunk so much into this script that for our cashflow, we gotta get this greenlit.”
“Hang on,” I said. “Are you saying if this script doesn’t get made, RJF’s in trouble?” My head swam with anxiety; as if there hadn’t been enough pressure on my and Elliot’s efforts, now the financial health of RJF rode on it?
RJ and Sadie exchanged glances.
“Yes and no,” Sadie said hurriedly. “At any rate, it’s not good. So we need to make sure our pitch is on point.”
“Perhaps Lucie can help with the financing research,” Elliot said. “Allow you and RJ to focus on the pitch itself. Should we not win, we can hit the ground running with alternative plans.”
“I’d be happy to,” I said quickly, shooting Elliot a grateful look. “Once the script is ready.”
“I think I’m good with it,” RJ said, delivering another surprise. “It’s of the standard for a pitch.”
“So … just like that, we’re done?” I couldn’t look at Elliot. No more writers’ room. No more arguments over British spellings versus American. We didn’t even get one more day of it. I’d known this moment would come from the second I’d arrived at RJF; I’d not once anticipated it would sting this much.
“Well, obviously it needs proofing for spelling and grammar,” RJ said. “Fastidiously.”
“I can do that,” I choked the words out.
“Can you do it before Monday?” Sadie asked. “Because the next item to discuss is the fact that the pitch moved up a day earlier and we need to send the script to Janice Monday morning so she can read it.”
“It’s Friday today,” Elliot said. RJ and Sadie looked at him like he’d grown two heads.
“It’s fine,” I said. I wasn’t the best at grammar so I wouldn’t be able to turn it around quickly, but I could handle it. “It’ll be in your inboxes long before Monday morning.” What was a little weekend work? I could certainly do with the distraction.
“Wait.” Elliot raised a hand. “The pitch happens the same day as theAll Kinds of Killingpremiere?”
“Uh-huh.” Sadie nodded grimly.
Elliot’s face darkened. “That’s—!”
