Chapter 17
DREW
I’m still riding high when I leave Lorraine’s office.
She’s as excited about Sophie’s take on the campaign as I am and says she’ll handle Hargreaves, confident they’ll agree to a higher budget.
Meanwhile, I need to talk to the casting people.
It would be amazing if we could shoot with the original cast, but with the timelines and having to track everyone down, it may be tricky.
If we have to, we’ll settle for lookalikes.
I’m on the way to update Sophie when Gen calls out from her office, ‘Hey, Drew. Can I borrow you for a tick?’
I double back and enter, and she signals for me to close the door.
‘What’s up?’ I ask, sitting on the arm of a chair.
‘I hear you and your team had a breakthrough.’ She smiles but I’m not sure if it’s an I-told-you-so smile or something else.
‘Oh yeah? Word travels fast.’
‘I had a chat with Jane after the production meeting.’
‘Ah.’
‘So, I take it things are good between you and Sophie then?’
‘Yep,’ I reply.
If you don’t count how awkward it was after Jane left the room. I really can’t figure Sophie out – she’s like a temperamental faucet, hot one second, cold the next.
‘Great! That’s brilliant,’ says Gen way too enthusiastically. Something’s up.
‘Okay, what’s going on?’
‘All right, fine,’ she says, dropping the pretext. ‘I need a favour. Well, we need a favour – me and Chris.’
I’d bet a million dollars this involves Sophie. Otherwise, Gen wouldn’t have asked about her – and she wouldn’t be acting so weird. I tilt my head and stare at her.
‘Chris promised to take Maisie to the cat café on Saturday, but now he’s on call. And I can’t go – I’ll be in Cambridge all day on a leadership retreat.’
Right, so the cat café must be a playdate with Harlow. I stay silent, waiting for the part where Gen asks for the favour.
‘Do you think you could take her instead? The booking’s at 10 a.m.’
‘You can’t reschedule?’ I ask, knowing exactly what she’ll say next.
‘Drew, you know how Maisie gets when she has her heart set on something.’
‘Hmm, yeah. Anything else I should know about the cat café?’
‘It’s the one in Marylebone but Chris will pass on the information. Oh – and Harlow will be there. And Sophie, of course.’
She breaks into a toothy grin – really, more of a contrite grimace.
‘I thought as much,’ I say.
‘Is that a yes? You’ve been such a good sport lately – taking Maisie everywhere. If it’s any consolation, you’ve leapfrogged over Mum and Dad. Uncle Drew is her favourite person right now. She talks about you all the time.’
‘Oof.’ I clasp my chest like I’ve been wounded. ‘That’s a low blow, Gen.’ She shrugs unapologetically. ‘Fine – tell Maisie her favourite person is taking her to the cat café. Even though he’s not really into cats.’
She gives me a genuine smile this time. ‘You’re the best,’ she says.
‘Yeah, yeah,’ I reply, getting up to leave. ‘It’s not exactly a hardship. I love hanging out with Maisie. She’s pretty cool for an eight-year-old.’
‘I think you mean eight and ten twelfths.’
‘Oh yeah, forgot about that – and it’s closer to eleven twelfths now.’
‘Hah! Good point.’
I leave Gen’s office and swing by Sophie’s cube. I want to catch her up on the meeting with Lorraine, but she’s so deep in thought, she doesn’t see me standing there.
‘Hey,’ I say and she jumps. ‘Sorry.’
‘No, it’s all good,’ she says, waving me off with a half-laugh. ‘Just in the flow, you know.’
She looks right at me, her eyes lit up, and for a second I lose my train of thought.
‘Did you need something?’ she asks.
‘Ah, yeah. We got the green light from Lorraine, so we’re all systems go,’ I say, punching the air twice.
All systems go? What am I, starring in 60s sci-fi show? And what was with the air punch?
‘Oh, great – and phew.’ She draws a hand across her forehead. ‘Glad we don’t have to start again. I mean, not that we’d have to start entirely from scratch, but…’
She trails off, a crease forming between her eyebrows.
Okay, this is officially super weird.
‘Yeah, for sure. Anyway… I’ll leave you to it.’ I point in the direction of my cube. ‘Casting, you know…’
‘Yeah, you said – good luck!’
‘Thanks, yeah…’ I say with a forced smile.
I leave before any more drivel pours out of my mouth, mentally slapping myself all the way to my cube. Seriously, what was that? Middle schoolers on a first date are more articulate than that – and it wasn’t just me. Sophie was all over the place too.
And I completely forgot to mention the cat café. Although maybe I should let Gen break that news – it’s her favour.
I shake my head to clear it and look up the number for my contact at the casting agency. She’s gonna have to pull a minor miracle out of her butt and I want to give her as much lead time as possible.
‘Hey, thanks for the invite,’ I say to Jane.
She gives me a funny look. ‘Are we calling it an invitation? You stopped by my desk and I told you I was heading out for sushi.’
‘Well, whatever. It’s good to get out of the office.’
‘Mmm, breathe in that fresh Central London air.’
She inhales deeply and I laugh, sidestepping a group of tourists. We get to the sushi place, order, then wait at the bar. It’s busy like always, but they seem to be getting orders out quickly.
‘So, what’s happening with the casting people?’ she asks. ‘Are they having kittens about the expanded cast?’
‘Are they freaking out, you mean?’ She nods. ‘Nah – well, maybe a little, but my contact likes a challenge. And they’ll get a much bigger fee – especially if they can secure the original cast.’
Jane folds her arms, leaning back against the barstool, and looks at me as if for the first time.
‘What?’
‘You’re very…’ She stops talking, narrowing her eyes like she’s trying to find the right words but failing.
I burst out laughing. ‘Okay – not sure where this is going…’ I look away and start tapping my fingers on the bar.
‘Impressive,’ she says, finally finishing her thought.
‘Really?’ I ask, snapping my head back to her.
Now she laughs. ‘You sound surprised. You know you’re good at your job.’
‘Well, yeah… And I’m not trying to be a dick about it, but I am good. The surprise is that you think so.’
‘Look, everything else aside – your creativity, your ability to schmooze the clients and vendors – I’m talking about how you handled today. Sophie’s idea. You didn’t have to get on board with that. You could have played the team-lead card and said no. But you didn’t.’
I blink at her as realisations start to land.
I’ve missed this – collaborating – the buzz, being part of something bigger than me.
Sophie had every reason to think I’d shoot her down and she still went out on a limb.
And a final realisation that settles into the pit of my stomach: I do have a rep at Emberstone – Gen was right – and it’s not great.
I give Jane a feeble smile and cast my eyes around the restaurant. It’s got a good vibe – maybe we should be eating in. Before I can suggest that my phone vibrates in my pocket. Figuring it’s Maisie texting again, I fish it out and open the message.
Only it’s not Maisie and my breath catches.
Saw a photo of you at the movie premiere. Looking good. How’s London life treating you? C xxx
‘Are you all right?’ Jane asks – only it sounds like she’s talking through a concrete wall.
I gulp, then read the message again. This is the first time I’ve heard from Caitlyn since I moved to London – god knows how she got this number.
‘Drew?’ Jane’s voice cuts through the noise in my head and I look over. ‘Is everything all right? You’ve gone pale.’
My mouth’s dried up like the Mojave and I lick my lips. ‘Ah, yep,’ I say, shoving my phone back in my pocket. ‘All good,’ I reply with a tight smile.
Three years later and a simple text message is a sucker punch to the gut. And people wonder why I moved across the Atlantic.
I look towards the kitchen. What are my chances of summoning our sushi with sheer will?
‘If you need to go, I can bring yours back to the office for you,’ Jane offers.
I glance over and she’s the poster child for concern. Or it could be sympathy. I hope like hell it’s not pity, but it might be.
‘It was my ex,’ I tell her.
‘Ah, I’ve got one of those,’ she says, her mouth tugging wryly to the side. That look alone tells me everything I need to know about Jane’s ex. ‘Bad break-up?’ she asks.
‘You could say that,’ I reply, snorting softly. ‘She slept with my best friend.’
‘Ouch.’
‘For over a year.’
‘God.’
‘And I found out right before our wedding.’
Jane sucks in air through her teeth.
‘And they’re still together,’ I add.
‘Seriously? Ugh.’
‘Yeah. Or at least, I think they are.’
‘Either way, that’s the break-up trifecta. So, what did the morally bankrupt cow want?’ she asks.
‘That’s actually funny – and I’ve called Caitlyn way worse. Even to her face.’
‘Good for you – and you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.’
‘No, I— Here,’ I say, taking my phone out again. I tap on the message and set the phone on the bar in front of Jane, studying her face.
‘Hmm,’ she murmurs, eyes like slits. ‘I can almost guarantee it took her ages to write this.’
‘You think so?’ I ask.
Jane barks out a dry laugh. ‘God, yes. Take it from a woman who’s sent a dozen texts like that over the years, maybe more. She would have agonised over every word – and those innocuous-looking Xs.’
I lean over and read the message again. Seeing it through Jane’s eyes, it has less impact than it did the first time, but it still stings. I sit back and pocket my phone.
‘You going to reply?’ she asks.
‘And say what? “Oh, hey, great to hear from you! My life’s incredible. I hope yours sucks. And on the topic of sucking, how ’bout you go suck a bag of di—”’
‘All right,’ Jane cuts in, ‘point made.’ She pretends to be outraged by my crass Americanism, shaking her head like my mom would, but I can tell she’s on my side.
‘Order for Drew?’
I lift my head and signal to the waiter, then we head back to the office with our sushi. Jane asks if I want to eat with her in the Lounge, but I decline. Instead, I return to my cube, unpack the rolls, and stare at a picture Maisie drew of a giraffe, pinned up by my monitor.
Do I want to reply to Caitlyn? What would be the point?
To prove how great my life is, that I’m thriving without her?
I mean, I am – I’ve got my family and an active social life and I’m good at what I do – but I don’t want to get into one of those my-life-is-better-than-your-life competitions with the woman who annihilated me.
I shouldn’t overthink this. My gut’s telling me to delete the message and block her number. But when I take out my phone to delete Caitlyn’s message, it rings – Max.
‘Hey, man,’ I answer.
‘Hey. You have a good time the other night?’
‘Yeah, for sure. It was great,’ I reply, unsure why he’s asking – I saw him afterwards.
‘You guys do anything after?’
It takes me a second to realise he means me, Sophie, and the girls. ‘Nah – school night, you know. Had to get the girls home.’
‘Bummer. Thought maybe you’d make a night of it.’
There’s no mistaking the innuendo, but I’m not having it.
‘Dude, I told you – she’s just a colleague. There’s nothing going on there.’
‘Yeah, okay.’
Great, he doesn’t believe me. But hopefully that means he won’t make a play for her himself. I doubt Sophie would appreciate that.
‘So, what else is going on?’ I ask. Other than giving me shit about Sophie, I add in my head.
‘Just wondering if you’re free this weekend. I’m meeting up with some buddies to go skiing in Switzerland. I’m flying out tonight and I can grab you a seat on the plane, if you want.’
‘Sounds great, but some of us have to work tomorrow.’
‘Come on – you can get out of that. Tell ’em you’re scouting locations with the talent,’ he says with a laugh.
‘Nah, man, sorry – I can’t. Thanks though.’
‘What about taking an evening flight tomorrow then? You’d still get a couple of days on the mountain. Come on, man, I’ve missed hanging out with you.’
Somewhere in the recesses of my mind it occurs to me that Caitlyn would shit if she knew I was hanging out with Max again. She didn’t get to meet him – something she never let me forget.
Skiing does sound fun, and I’ve never been to Switzerland. Then I remember – the cat café.
‘Ah, shit. I can’t – I promised to take my niece to the cat café on Saturday.’
‘The one I met? Daisy?’
‘Maisie, but yeah.’
‘She’s cute. And nieces… they wrap you around their little finger, huh?’
I laugh. ‘I forgot you’re an uncle too.’
‘Yeah – twice over. Anyway, I’ve gotta run but next time, hey?’
‘Sure thing. I appreciate the offer.’
‘No problem. And, Drew?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Say hi to Sophie for me.’
‘Yeah, yeah.’
I end the call, cutting off his laughter.
‘Dick,’ I say to my empty cube.
And before I change my mind, I open Caitlyn’s message, block her number, and delete the text.