“I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I thought I’d find you here.” She looked at Bob. She was still angry at him for objecting to her relationship with Eric, which was none of his business and had been their undoing. She had Bob to thank for it. “I just talked to Quentin Park in L.A. He’s a huge Hollywood producer,” she explained, and Bob looked annoyed.
“I know who he is. What does he want? Actors for a show?”
“He’s making a big movie, with an all-star cast. He’s in New York looking for financing, and he wants our help. He’s offering us a big cut of the profits, both at the front and back ends, if we find it for him. After that, we can talk about casting and a package fee, although he already has his big stars. He wants to meet with you.” She looked at Merriwether then. “And you should be there, I assume, since it’s mostly about finding financing right now. I can deal with the casting later. It would be a huge deal for us if we can land it.” Bob looked visibly cheered. “When can you see him?”
“Anytime he wants,” Bob said quickly.
“He wants you to come to L.A. too, after the meeting here.”
“No problem. I can do that. And by the way,” he said, looking gloomy again, “Hailey just gave me notice. She’s leaving in four weeks.”
“Shit. How did that happen?” She looked sad. They had almost gotten to be friends, although they weren’t close. But Hailey had definitely bailed her out and covered her ass at the party.
“Phillip White offered her a fortune to be his agent and editor.”
“That must have happened while they were on tour together. She’s a good agent and editor, and she’s very organized. It sounds like an amazing offer.” Allie wasn’t jealous, she was happy for Hailey. She liked her own job as it was. She liked the movie side of the agency, and didn’t like working with writers. The dramatic side was more fun. “What are we going to do without her?”
“Merriwether has some ideas.” She nodded at Allie.
“I’ll call Park back and tell you when he wants to meet. I’ll let you know.”
On her way back to her office, Allie stopped at Hailey’s, walked in, and Hailey looked up from her desk.
“I hear you’re leaving,” Allie said. “Bob just told me. It sounds like a terrific opportunity for you.” She smiled at her.
“It is. But I’m sad to leave too.” The two women had worked together for five years and never become friends, but they had mutual respect, and Allie was happy for her. She knew Hailey couldn’t have an easy life as a widow with three kids, living from paycheck to paycheck at the agency. “We’ll keep in touch,” Hailey said, and got up to hug her. “I’ll stay in the city, and it’s going to be nice just focusing on his work and no one else’s. We work well together.”
“He seems like a nice man,” Allie said, although she had no business dealings with him. So far, there had never been a movie of his work, but he hoped that would happen one day. Maybe Hailey would change that.
Allie went back to her office and called Quentin Park to make an appointment for the four of them to meet. Merriwether called David Bristol at ICM, and made a lunch date with him, and Hailey texted Phillip that all had gone well. They were off and running in the busy life of the agency. There was never a dull moment, but she couldn’t wait to get started with Phillip now. The future was looking very bright.
Chapter 11
T he meeting with Quentin Park went extremely well. Bob agreed to assist with finding the financing, and negotiated an even higher front- and back-end participation for the agency. The next step was for him and Merriwether to go to L.A. for further meetings with various potential investors. After the meeting in New York, Bob looked at Merriwether.
“Can you come to L.A. with me?” he asked her, knowing that her home situation hadn’t been easy recently.
“Of course, that’s my job,” she said smoothly. “I’m the CFO.”
“To be honest, I need you with me. It’ll go a lot better if you’re there, and I want your opinion on the people we meet with.” She nodded, excited by the thought of going with him and putting together a package for a major feature film. She loved working on the dramatic side, although she enjoyed the literary side too. And thinking about Quentin Park’s new project distracted Bob from his worries about the agency: Hailey’s departure, filling Francine’s shoes, Dan’s eventual trial and whatever bad press that would bring, which would be massive and cast a bad light on the agency.
He and Martha hadn’t been getting along recently, even more so than usual. She was very vocal that his failure to sever the partnership with Dan Fletcher years ago had caused all the problems he had now. She blamed Bob and no one else for that, and told him he had been in dreamland to have stayed in denial about Dan. Dan was a misogynist and a sexual deviant, and the fact that he was clearly going to prison did nothing to lift Bob’s spirits. Quentin Park’s movie did, and the fact that they were going to make a huge amount of money from it was good for the agency.
Merriwether had had a very satisfactory lunch with David Bristol from ICM. He was intrigued by their offer and said he would consider coming to work for them. Things were looking up.
Everything was going well for Merriwether except at home. When she told Jeff she had to go to L.A. with Bob about a big movie deal, he went through the roof.
“What the hell is that about? Are you sleeping with him?”
“Of course not. I’m the CFO and there’s a lot of money involved. I need to be there to help make financial decisions and structure the deal. That’s what I do.”
“And screw the boss on the side?” he accused her. She lowered her voice and her tone went cold.
“I’ve never cheated on you, Jeff,” she said.
“I don’t believe you,” he said in an aggressive tone. “I think everybody fucks like rabbits in those creative agencies. I saw Allie Moore bang that girl Jane’s boyfriend at the party when no one was looking. You probably do the same when I’m not around.” Merriwether was shocked to hear it about Allie, and had no idea whether it was true or not. And she hated what he’d said to her and the assumptions he made.
“I don’t know what you saw, or what’s true, but they’re all single adults and they can do whatever they want. I’m married to you and I behave accordingly and always have.” Her feelings were hurt by his accusations.
“Tell that to someone who believes you. I’ve seen you with Bob. You two look more married than we do. You’re always laughing and smiling and flirting with him. All we do is fight.”
“Yeah, I wonder why. Because you’re always bitching at me and accusing me of something. I’m not home enough, I work too hard, I come home too late, now you accuse me of sleeping with the boss. I’m tired of it, Jeff. I’m a good wife, and you never have a kind word to say to me. I support our family, I give you a good life, and all you give me is grief. I used to think we had a great marriage. Now I can’t remember the last time I spent a happy day with you, or even an hour.” It was true.
“You think you own me because you pay the bills,” he said viciously.