Dan gestured towards reception. “Find out!”
“How do I look?” I asked them.
“Sensational,” Delphine cooed.
“Okay, thanks.” I made my way towards reception, my legs wobbling so much I thought I was going to collapse. Why would Elliot comehereafter what we agreed? But the knowledge that he was now mere feet away had me bursting into a run, flying past the beige, quiet cubicles, the serious faces peering up at me from behind the desks.
I burst through the reception doors, rounded the desk to see— “Oh.”
Sol Rodrigues rose from the waiting area sofa, oblivious to the adoring stares from all three receptionists.
“Sol?” I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. I hovered, feet away.
“You are a hard woman to track down, Lucie Clifton.” She tottered over to me on sky-high studded stilettos.
“I literally emailed you about this job when I got it,” I said.
“I know,” she said. “It’s just such a great way to greet someone, don’t you think?”
“What a lovely surprise!” I hugged her. We’d kept in touch sporadically over the past few months and she was fully up to date on the chaos that was my life. “But what are you doing … here?”
“Oh,Vogueflew me over,” she said with a comical preen. “Modern style icons spread for the November issue.”
“No, I mean, what are you doing at Summers & Till?”
“Oh!” Sol beamed and gripped my shoulders. “I’m doing it.”
“Doing what?”
“My company. Whisper Productions.” She squeezed me. “It’s happening.”
“No way!” I wrapped her in another hug. “Congratulations!”
“I have the structure, the funding, an office space and I am building a kickass team.” She ticked off each element. “I even have my first movie in development.”
“Sol, I am so happy for you!” I looked at the clock. It was almost 4 p.m. “You know, if you wanted to celebrate, I can probably sneak out in—”
“Lucita.” The sternness of her voice stopped me in my tracks. “Don’t you want to know what my first project is?”
“Oh.” I wondered why she was looking at me so strangely. “Of course, I’d love to.”
“Our first movie will be an adaptation of the iconic romantic saga,Twin Roses.”
Had I heard her correctly? “Twi—Sol, VLV pitched that to the studio.”
“I know they did,” she said, baring perfect white teeth. “But they shouldn’t have.”
“Obviously, but how is it that you’re now doing this?” It felt like the whole world was askew, tilting under my feet.
“Because those dummies at VLVorRJF don’t have the option,” she said. “I do.”
“You?”
“Yeah.” She laughed. “When you told me what that snake Ralf did, I was so mad for you. Women gotta work so hard in this industry just to keep up, while a disproportionate number of mediocre men seem to be allowed to fail upwards and get pats on the back for their efforts. I read your pitch and it. Is. Brilliant.” She punctuated the last three words with a jab of her finger.
“Let me get this straight, Ralf went to all that effort to steal my pitch, but he didn’t even fork out for the option?”
“Can you believe?” Sol rolled her eyes. “When I said goodbye to you at the airport, I was emailing my lawyer to see ifwe could secure the option. Mainly out of spite to that jerk, but also because I believed in you.” She grabbed my hand. “I believe in you still. It took a few months to close the deal, but I got it.”
