I sat bolt upright. “About what?”
“I’m talking about your script report!” Lin screeched. “The one you sent directly to RJ instead of only to me!”
I rubbed my eyes. “What are you talking about? I replied to your email, that’s it.”
“No. You also for some reason copied in RJ.”
Despite my thick duvet, I instantly went cold. “No, I … are you sure?”
“I’m looking at the email chain right now,” Lin retorted. “I’m sure. Howcouldyou be so careless? He’s an artist, he needs to be managed, you can’t just list all the things you’d change about his script without letting me review it first!”
“Oh God.” I put the call on speaker and opened my work email app, my heart thudding so painfully it felt like I mightvomit it up. I went straight to the sent mailbox and clicked on the last email sent. This had to be some kind of mistake, surely, I—
My blood curdled.
Lin was right. There was the email, with RJ and Lin as the addressees. Scrolling down, I saw that the concise cover note I’d written had been replaced with:
drastic *!@$$$111!
“Nooo!” I screeched in panic. “Has RJ seen this?”
“Why do you think I’m up so early?” Lin demanded. “Of course he’s seen it.”
“And he’s not happy?”
“To say the least!”Lin spewed. “Not only am I in the shit for sharing his precious script with someone he’s never even met, but you also had the audacity to send him a garbled email that seems to label his work asdrastic. He’s furious.”
“I don’t … How did …” I cast about for some explanation. It made no sense. I’d replied to Lin’s email only, so there was no way anyone else could have been included. But then I remembered. “The screen!”
“What?”
“The screen, it went dark just as I was about to send the email to you. I was tired and desperate to fix it, so I was hitting a lot of keys at random, perhaps I somehow copy/pasted RJ’s email into the address bar of the email?” I racked my brain. I couldn’t remember what keys I’d pressed but it was entirely possible I could have done this accidentally, as his address was part of the email chain. When the screen came back to life, I’d hit ‘send’ without even looking at what I was sending as I’d proofed it before the screen went dark. “I was so relieved that the laptop hadn’t lost my work, I sent it straight away in case it broke again.”
“Well, that explains the weird collection of letters andsymbols in place of actual human greetings,” Lin said. “The only other explanation I had was that you’d had a mental breakdown of sorts.”
“Oh God.” I was glad to still be lying down as my legs suddenly felt weak. “What … what happens now?”
“Honestly, Lucie, I don’t know,” Lin said. “He’s one of my most valued clients. I lose him, I …” Her voice faltered.
“Lin, please, I can make this right,” I said. “Let me email him, apologize. Surely when I explain, he’ll—”
“No way!” Lin barked. “So now I have to talk him down. I’ll eat shit and try to placate him. But I must tell you, if he wants your head on a platter then I’m going to serve it to him, you hear me?”
“I hear you.” I choked the words out. If Lin fired me, there would be no glowing reference. In fact, if Lin were so minded, she could badmouth me to anyone who was anyone in the film industry. And then I might be forced to take Dan up on his offer and forget I ever had designs on a film career.
“Ah, shit, he’s calling me now,” Lin said.
“It really was a mistake,” I pleaded. “When you talk to RJ, make sure he knows that.”
“I’ll say whatever it takes to keep him,” Lin snapped. And with that, she hung up.
Numb, I lowered my phone. How was this possible? It definitely wasn’t fair. My analysis wasn’t just good, it was great. More than that, writing that report had felt so right, like finally my skills were being used the way they were meant to be. For a brief moment, I’d dared hope that better opportunities were imminent, and this is what happened. A stupid copy/paste error.
I needed coffee. I staggered to the kitchen, where my sense of injustice was soon followed by anger. Was my job really in jeopardy because the report went straight to RJ instead of Lin?Was he really that precious about a lowly assistant emailing him? If he could just get over himself and read my work, he’d see how much I believed in his script and that I had provided useful feedback. As I made the coffee, I slammed cupboard doors, almost glad that Bex had stayed at Dan’s last night and wasn’t being woken up by my rage. That would not help our situation one bit.
I’d planned on spending the weekend rotting in the sofa in a state of panic to wait for Monday’s judgment, but Lin called me back in the afternoon. I virtually sprained my ankle leaping across the room to snatch up my phone.
“Hello?” I warbled, as Lin’s face appeared on the screen. “What did he say? What happened?”
