21. Melanie
Jamie sat in Melanie’s office, sipping his coffee.
‘Why did Katie have to open her big mouth?’ He groaned.
Melanie sat back in her chair. ‘Nancy triggers her. To be fair, she has niggled at Katie for years about her job and about not being a reader. I remember when they first met and Nancy asked the question she asks everyone, “What is your favourite book?”, and Katie said, “A very short one.”’
Jamie grinned. ‘I remember that. Mum was so shocked.’
‘They’ve never really got on. Katie has been biting her tongue for a long time.’
‘I know, but Lucy’s upset and that’s killing me.’
‘It’s killing Katie too, Jamie. She knows she shouldn’t have lost her temper, but she’s human.’
‘You know Mum. She’s never going to forgive her.’
Jamie was right there. Nancy would never let Katie forget this.
‘She doesn’t have to. Nancy and Lucy’s relationship can exist on its own. Katie respects that and will always encourage Lucy to spend time with her granny.’
‘Katie was up in the middle of the night, cooking and making stuff. God only knows what Mum is going to receive.’
Melanie smiled. ‘You see, she’s already trying to make amends.’ She tapped her pen on the desk. ‘Now, what news do you have on Sloane’s foreign rights?’
Jamie clicked into work mode. ‘Very good news, actually. I’ve negotiated contracts with Slovenia, Turkey, Greece, Norway and Iceland. I’m in the final stages with Bonnier in Sweden. I’ve asked for a higher royalty rate on the audiobook, so I’m just waiting for confirmation of that.’
‘Brilliant!’ Melanie was thrilled. ‘I have a Zoom meeting with Simon and Schuster US at four to discuss a deal for book two. They’re terrified of losing her to Harper-Collins who they know are sniffing around and have already offered a huge advance to move Sloane to them.’
‘Would Sloane move?’ Jamie asked.
‘No. She loves Kendal, her US editor. You know how particular Sloane is about people, so there’s no way she’d move unless Kendal went with her, and Kendal is not leaving S and S, but it’s always good to have big offers coming in for bargaining purposes.
Nothing like a little fear to get publishers to up their advances. ’
Jamie raised his cup. ‘And no better agent to inform Simon and Schuster of their competitor’s interest.’
Melanie grinned. ‘I may have dropped it into conversation.’
There was a cursory knock and the door opened. Nancy hobbled in. She had ditched the crutch and was just using the boot.
Jamie jumped up to help her into a chair.
‘I’m fine, don’t fuss.’
‘I’m not fussing. I’m just helping you.’
Nancy winced as she sat down. ‘I’m not going to mention yesterday except to say I will not be going to your house again, Jamie. From now on I will see Lucy in my house or here in the office.’
‘Look, Mum, I know –’
‘Jamie!’ Nancy snapped. ‘The conversation is over.’
Melanie decided to cut through the awful tension by filling Nancy in on HarperCollins wanting to poach Sloane and telling her the good news about Sloane’s foreign rights deals.
‘… so as you can see, Jamie has done an amazing job of getting Sloane really good deals with big advances and great royalty percentages.’
Nancy’s jaw loosened slightly from its clenched position. ‘That is good news and will bring in a nice bump for the agency in fees. What’s happening with Petrus?’
‘I’m meeting him for lunch on Wednesday.’
‘I’ll join you,’ Nancy said.
No! Melanie did not want Nancy to come. She wanted to meet Petrus alone.
She was looking forward to it. He was handsome and charming and it was Melanie he wanted as his agent.
Nancy would change the whole dynamic of the meeting.
She was in rotten form and might scare him off.
Melanie knew exactly what to say to persuade him to sign on the dotted line.
The door burst open. ‘Did I miss a memo? What’s going on?’ Ross looked put out.
He handed his mother a coffee and a croissant. ‘There you go, Mum. You need to eat something.’
She took them and placed them on Melanie’s desk.
‘So? What’s going on and why am I not privy to it? I would have thought after yesterday you’d be treading on eggshells, Jamie.’
Jamie flinched. ‘Nothing’s going on, Ross.
As for yesterday, you were rude about my wife and I overreacted, for which I have apologized to you, so I will not be walking on any eggshells.
It’s done. I was having a catch-up with Melanie and Mum came in.
It’s not a conspiracy, Ross. Stop being so paranoid all the time. ’
‘I hardly think you’re in any position to be rude to me, or is that your family’s go-to behaviour? Clearly, manners are not big in your house.’
Jamie’s face darkened. ‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’
Ross gave his brother a patronizing smirk. ‘Your wife has the manners of a fishwife. The way she treated our mother was despicable. She needs to lay off the wine and learn to have some class.’
Oh, my God, did he actually just say that? Melanie stared at Ross. He was clearly trying to goad Jamie into doing something reckless in front of Nancy.
‘Hear, hear,’ Nancy said.
She is a bitch, Melanie thought. How could she be so two-faced about Katie – happy to get free haircuts from her, then saying stuff like this behind her back?
Jamie jumped up and stood face to face with Ross. ‘I thought I’d made it clear that you are not to speak about my wife like that ever again, or –’
‘Jamie!’ Frank was standing at the door. In all the drama, Melanie hadn’t noticed her husband arriving. ‘Come on, guys, I understand that tensions are high from yesterday but arguing and insulting people isn’t going to help. We’re a family and we need to remember that. This needs to end now.’
‘Go to hell, Frank,’ Ross growled. ‘Seriously, either write a best-selling book about your hippie-dippy shit or shut the hell up. You’re just a leech on Mum and this agency.’
Melanie stood up, ready to tell Ross where to stick his insults, but before she could get a word out Jamie was shouting at him.
‘Who the hell do you think you are, coming in here lording it over all of us? We’ve spent years with Mum, working our arses off to grow the agency and make it successful.’
Ross gave another of his maddening patronizing smirks. Melanie had never wanted to slap someone’s face so badly in her life.
‘I hardly think Frank has been driving the agency forward.’ Ross doubled down.
Frank placed a hand on Jamie’s shoulder.
‘Don’t rise to it, Jamie. Ross is trying to fit in and figure things out, and in his typical Ross way he’s stamping on a few feet while he does it.
It comes from him always having had to fend for himself from when he was sent away as a kid.
He doesn’t understand the value of subtlety.
I imagine it was dog-eat-dog in a big, all-male boarding school. ’
Melanie coughed to disguise the laugh that had bubbled up inside her. Frank had just summed up Ross in the politest way, while subtly getting in a few digs.
‘Oh, for Christ’s sake,’ Ross muttered.
Nancy slammed her hand on the edge of Melanie’s desk. Her coffee swayed but thankfully didn’t spill. Melanie had spent a lot of money on the beautiful antique desk that had once been used by Samuel Beckett.
‘Enough squabbling. This behaviour is completely unacceptable in the workplace. We need to work together. I don’t want Katie’s name mentioned in this office again. Melanie and Jamie are doing Trojan work. Ross and Frank, you both need to step up.’
Nancy pushed herself upright. ‘What time have you booked lunch with Petrus?’ she asked Melanie.
Melanie decided to try being subtle but firm.
‘Actually, Nancy, if you don’t mind, I’d rather meet Petrus on my own.
It’s our first meeting and I’d like to feel him out first, see if he’s courting any other agents and what his plans are for a new book.
Once I feel he’s definitely keen to sign with us, I’ll organize a meeting with you. How does that sound?’
‘Sounds rude,’ Ross said.
Melanie shot him a withering look.
Nancy shrugged. ‘It sounds fine, probably wise. I don’t have time to waste if he’s just courting us. Make sure you sound him out fully and don’t let him order the wine. I’ve heard he likes to order very expensive bottles when he’s not paying.’
Melanie nodded. ‘Thanks. I’ll let you know how it goes.’
Ross and Nancy left the room. Jamie looked at Frank. ‘Mate, thank God you came in. I swear this time I would have punched Ross in his arrogant face.’
Frank patted his younger brother on the back. ‘I sensed that. I was actually worried for Ross.’ He laughed.
Jamie shook his head. ‘He just knows how to wind me up.’
‘To be fair, he insulted Katie, which was completely out of order,’ Frank said.
Melanie remembered an older man being really rude to her at a book fair years ago when she was a young agent.
She’d wanted Frank to pin him up against a wall and punch him, but her husband had just said, ‘People like that want a reaction. They feed off it. The best way to deal with them is to ignore them so they feel disregarded.’
Melanie still would have preferred it if Frank had knocked the man down with a left hook. But she had married a pacifist and an appeaser, more likely to hug than punch.
‘How am I going to work with him, seriously? I know he’s our brother, but he’s an arsehole.’
Frank nodded. ‘He’s not easy, I agree. When Ross feels out of control he behaves like a school bully.
He’s trying to mark his territory and be the big man in the office.
He knows that you and Melanie are basically running the agency and that worries him.
He wants to be in control. He’s never been someone who’d work well collaboratively – it’s not in his nature. He wants to be the boss.’
‘So what are we supposed to do?’ Melanie said. There was simply no way she could ever work for Ross. That was not happening.