Page 82 of How To Plot a Payback

Then I can shove the whole thing behind me and move on.

I drop the pen and sit back, then look at the desktop screen. The cursor in the latest script is blinking halfway through a sentence, which is halfway through a paragraph that is halfway through a scene. It beckons me, and for a moment, my eyes skim over the words.

Then I spy the time in the top right corner.

12:45 p.m.

I drop my head.

I just missed my brunch date.

She’s done it again.

Chapter 15

Lavender

Tuesday, Table Read, Writers Room

“And I said to her, ‘I’ve appreciated our season of friendship, but the fact is our lives are moving in different directions.’”

I frown at Sonya and pick up my doughnut. We’re the first ones in the writers room, seated at the long table. And frankly, I’m only here this early because I was dragged on a jog this morning by Sonya, who apparently decided to call her former running buddy in for a corporate meeting and fire her.

“She said, ‘How? What’s changed?’ and I told her the obvious. She quit running and had a baby. It’s not the baby that’s so much the problem—you could throw any kid in a stroller—but the running.”

“Sonya. You can’t quit your friendship with someone because they stop running.”

“She’s all about ellipticals now,” Sonya hisses. “Ellipticals. What am I supposed to do with that?” Sonya drops a packet of sugar into her coffee and begins stirring. “So I said, ‘I’m sorry, but my capacity to invest in our friendship has peaked.’”

I rub the palm of my hand on my forehead, then slide a weary hand down my face.

Bite off another bit of doughnut.

Sonya waves her coffee stirrer in the air. “And she gave me the typical, ‘I don’t understand. This all feels so sudden. What did I do?’ Yada yada. So I said, ‘I am aware that this may be difficult to hear, but I’ve been reevaluating the various categories in my life, and unfortunately, given the landscape at this time, I can allot only 12 percent of my time to friendships. And that, unfortunately, means someone has to go.’”

“You’re joking, Sonya,” I say. I point at her, and through a mouthful of sprinkles and chocolate doughnut I add, “Bad. Very bad.”

I shake a finger at her the way I once tried to scold Bernie. He looked so sad I never tried it again.

With Sonya, however, it’s easy.

People start trailing in now, and the commotion in the room begins to grow.

One of the new writers, Paula, is walking around the table, dropping scripts. She came to the job with Finn. Word is he insisted she come along when he was hired. A pretty bold move. Goodwin doesn’t typically take to stuff like that, actually.

Way back in season 3, Sonya had the idea that she, Kye, and I should form a union of sorts when it came time to sign the next contract. Everybody knew there would be a season renewal; we just needed to get our salaries queued up. That’s where the agents would come in, negotiating like their lives depended on it. But when Sonya heard the salary Kye had made the first two seasons, mere shillings to her pounds, she was irate. Stood on multiple soapboxes for the next two weeks about how we were a team, and our work in the show was equal, and we deserved equal pay for equal time on-air. Kye readily agreed, as did I, and it took only one run up the gossip chain for Goodwin to shut it down. Declared he doesn’t work with ultimatums. Threatened to drop us all for violating the contract by discussing salaries. Threatened to drop the show altogether if we tried some such stunt as throwing a coup.

Long story short, we did it anyway. Just . . . a little more . . . discreetly. Nancy landed Sonya and me a massive amount. Sonya created a separate checking account that was a direct deposit for all three of our paychecks and had a lawyer divide it up equally biweekly.

And here, apparently, Finn dared to bring on this Paula woman with him from day one. Either Goodwin has lost his fire, or Goodwin really sees something in Finn.

I’m not surprised.

In the past few weeks, Finn has raised the bar for the show considerably. Seems every time he speaks, he catches everyone’s attention.

Particularly mine.

I look around the room.