I freeze. “He did what?”
Veronica makes a shush face. “We got a call from IGSB. We’re behind schedule. They were thinking of pulling out. The team worked all through the night, Kaley. IGSB wanted the meeting today. They’re scheduled to be here in two hours.”
Oh crap. I scramble toward my office, feeling panicky, betrayed and irritated as hell. The one day I take my eyes off everything Justin can’t work things out with IGSB, he does a new cut of the documentary solo without my permission, and he’s about to show it without my approval.
I dump my purse on my desk, hit the lights and then power up my computer. I look at myself in the wall mirror. Great, I have wind-dried hair and I look like a girl wearing yesterday’s outfit. Crud.
I rush down the hall to the conference room, swing open the door, and the entire team turns at once and stares at me.
“Justin? Can I speak with you for a moment? Privately.”
I don’t wait for him to answer. I hurry down the hall to my office and settle on the edge of my desk feeling ready to pounce on him.
“Why didn’t you delay the meeting with IGSB? They just want to keep track of our progress. Why take the meeting now?”
Justin steps in and closes the door. “Rafe said they were going to pull the plug.”
Rafe, my USC buddy and hotshot independent documentary distributer. Like hell he would have pulled the plug.
“Why didn’t you call me? I know how to manage Rafe. Instead you did another cut, rushed, all without me. And then you take a meeting that, if it goes the wrong way, could bankrupt me. You do understand I need this project to succeed?”
Justin stiffens, but his manner remains calm. “I couldn’t reach you. I made a decision. The one I thought was in the interest of the company. There was no point losing valuable production time because you weren’t here.” He checks his watch. “I’ve got enough time to run the cut for you before the meeting. You can decide after if you want to risk another delay with IGSB.”
Justin’s calm infuriates me.
“I specifically said I wanted to be there through the next round of cutting. I specifically said we don’t screen this unless I give it my OK.”
“Kaley, you’re the director. You shoot the film. But I’m the editor. I turn it into a story. We’re a creative partnership. We’re not working against each other. The process would work a lot better if this was the process you’d commit to.”
My cheeks burn. “Are you telling me how to do my job?”
“No. I’m telling you how I do mine. If you don’t like the latest cut we can try to delay the meeting and start over this afternoon. We all have our talents, Kaley. You have vision. An eye. Determination. My talent is making the most of your vision.”
I shake my head. I probably would have fired him yesterday for that, and yet something in what he said reminds me of where I messed up with Bobby, pricks at my conscience, and holds me at bay.
“Let’s go look at the latest cut,” I announce and move quickly ahead of him out of the office.
When we step back into the conference room, everyone looks at me as if they’ve speculated about the scene outside the room. I smile and sink into my chair. There is a printed list of the changes on the table in front of me. Finding Fiona.
Fiona? Fiona? There is a photograph with the notes. I remember her. Great footage: young, still beautiful but bearing the marks of walking the streets, and poignant in her hope for something better that somehow still whispers from her eyes. She is fascinating and vulnerable. Much better title. So Justin changed the title. Did he change the focus, too?
I lift my gaze. “Great title. Good work, everyone.”
Cool. In control. Professional. Now let’s see what they did to my film. I lean back in my chair as the lights go out and the first footage is of Fiona. I don’t even remember shooting this. When did we cut it? It’s excellent.
I shift my gaze to Justin. He looks at me. I nod. He deserves something for this. He made the beginning better, so much better than it had been.
As I watch Justin’s creation, I can’t stop myself from recalling his words earlier in my office. You have vision. An eye. Determination. My talent is making the most of your vision.
Without me, Justin’s work is brilliant. Has my enthusiasm over the work stifled the team? Am I helping them to be their best or preventing it? That’s something I’m going to need to spend some time analyzing.
The documentary ends. The room is quiet. Allie turns on the lights and out of the corner of my eye I can see her watching, trying to assess my reaction to this.
I smile. “Well done, everyone. Excellent work. We’re very ready for IGSB today, thanks to all of you. We can meet back here at two.”
I nod at each team member as they leave the conference table. Allie closes the door behind her and leaves me alone with Justin.
“It really is an extraordinary piece of work. You’ve done an excellent job. It’s like you could see what I was going for inside my head, but you made it happen.”
Justin smiles and sinks back into his chair. “It’s your footage. I can’t do anything without your vision. There needs to be trust between us for both of us to excel at our work.”
My cheeks color hotly and I don’t want them to. It is such a young woman thing to have allowed to happen, the chastised blush, but Justin’s comments bring Bobby’s back to hit me full force.
I stare at my pen as I tap it on the desk and search for something to say. Trust issues. Why is that all I hear from people lately?
“Can I give you some advice?” Justin asks politely.
I don’t really want it and I realize that’s a petty thought. He just pulled a small miracle with this documentary and I know that under our tug-of-war he is, in his own way, trying to mentor me.
I nod. “Sure. Go ahead.”
Justin smiles. “You’re a very talented filmmaker and you’ve molded this dispirited group into a top-notch team. We’re almost there, your vision for what you want us to be. All it takes now is you. It will all fall into place if you learn to hold on less tightly. It will fall into place much faster by just trusting us enough to let go.”
I stare at him, but it’s Bobby who flashes in my mind. I stand up. “Thanks. I’ll try to work on that.”
I walk toward the door. I pause to look back at him. “That’s the final cut, Justin. Do you think you can take the meeting with Rafe today without me and cover things around here for a while? I’m going to be gone for the rest of the day and probably tomorrow as well.”
Justin smiles. I’ve finally said something that pleases him. “Sure, Kaley. I’ll do the pitch meeting with Rafe.”
I nod. “Thanks.”
I hurry out of the conference room and back to the safety of my office. I lean against the closed door, breathing heavily. I suddenly feel frantic and shaky, desperate, and like the only thing that will make any of this better is to run to Bobby.
I want him to know I love him. I want him to know I trust him. It isn’t him who makes me act the way I act at times. It isn’t him, and he’s known it all along and has loved me anyway.
I feel on the verge of both laughter and tears, and I can’t make sense of that any more than I can explain the rest of this crazy day. Without need for thought, I decide my next move.
I’m out of here. I’m going back to Simi Valley and telling that wonderful guy he was right about everything.
I reach for my purse on the desk. Ding. I look at the computer screen. Shit, I must have forgotten to log out of my Fembot blog last time I was here. The chat box is patiently waiting.
I drop into my chair. I open it, already knowing it’s my cyber fan waiting there.
Love-struck Trainer: You weren’t drinking and blogging last night. Hot date?
I lift my hands above the keys.
Rapid typing: I’m not going to be blogging anymore.
Waiting. Waiting.
Love-struck Trainer: Why? I’ll miss our nightly chats.