Up & Out - Ariella Papa [6]
Jen’s number comes up on the display of my phone. “Hey.”
“I pushed it back,” she says. “Everything else is moved, too.”
“So, I’ll be a half hour behind all day.”
“Right. Janice just walked in.”
“So we can expect John in a respectable five minutes?”
“I’m sure he’s circling the block as we speak,” Jen comments. “Oh yeah, and you’re going to the affiliate party tonight, right?”
“Shit, I forgot about it.”
“I keep telling you to get a PalmPilot, but you insist on Luddite living.”
“I’m not even sure what that means. Where’s it at?”
“Party space at the Seaport. A trek and a half. I’ll e-mail you.”
“Seriously. I guess I have to go and schmooze with bald fatties from the Midwest.” Pause. “Sorry.” Jen was from Minnesota. “And I’m never going to have a chance to get home. I have nothing to wear.”
“This is why we have H&M. I’ve got to go, Meg’s on the other line. I’ll see you in about twenty.”
She has a point, but when would I find time to get to H&M? My phone rings again. Outside line. Should I pick up? Caller ID makes me scared of the phone. It could be someone I didn’t want to talk to or it could be a solicitor. I take a chance.
“Rebecca Cole.”
“Re, it’s Beth.”
“And Kathy.” They are conference-calling me. They want details.
“Guys, I’m going to have a crazy day. I just found out I have a meeting in like fifteen minutes.”
“We just need the broad strokes,” Beth says a bit testily.
“Yeah, don’t be such a corporate whore. Everything with Rebecca is urgent these days, have you noticed, Beth?”
“Yeah,” Beth says. I can understand their interest, I just feel like I am playing beat the clock and won’t have time to hash it out.
“Okay, the basics, and I got to be quick for real. Divorce is final.” I start to hear them cut in with their opinions, but I have no time to analyze. “And the whammy, she is moving out of the city and up to Martha’s Vineyard.”
I can’t resist pausing for effect. It is too unbelievable.
“Has she lost her mind?” Kathy asks.
“She’s on antidepressants, I’m certain now,” Beth says. Beth prefers dabbling in nonprescription drugs, but enjoys knowing that other people have similar needs.
“I know,” I say. “I know.”
I allow myself one more moment with them and then I have to be a productive bee and get off the phone. They want to know what I am going to do about the apartment, but I haven’t decided yet.
“Don’t forget we have to look at bridesmaids dresses this weekend,” Kathy says. “Try not to plan a meeting.”
I hang up as they laugh. I am certain they will stay on the phone and talk about it. Kathy is an accountant and this is her slow time, and Beth works at a music studio, hence the trendy crowd. I long for the days when I spoke to my friends three times a day and tried not to laugh too loud in my cube.
I am too young to be nostalgic, but it seems to me that I was much happier when my day was filled with hushed gossip with my friends rather than bullshit meetings on the half hour.
My first meeting of the day doesn’t go as well as I planned. Hackett claims to love what we did with the titles, yet he doesn’t like the font size. This is something he could have told us three meetings ago. But, because he’s the boss, he’s allowed to interject opinions whenever it suits him. And we have to deal. Now we are going to have to re-render everything. Janice’s smile fades, but I’m glad she is here to hear Hackett’s comments. I don’t want her to think these changes had been my oversight.
Janice and John go to work on fixing the problem. I hope their morning interlude was good so they don’t mind working very hard—but not so good that they get distracted with details. Jen and I start on the scripts. I thought we were meeting with Hackett again, but he decided he had another, more important, meeting. That can only mean he is going to decide he doesn’t like the scripts a few weeks from now when it will almost be too late to rewrite.
If only I could do everything, I could insure this shit didn’t happen. It is hard to have a tiny bit of control, which in the end amounts