My eyes widened and for the first time in weeks, I didn't think about Axe. "Wait, a movie deal for me?"
"No, for my other client. Yes, for you!" Sarah said.
"What's the movie?" I asked.
"Does it matter?"
I laughed. "Not really."
"I hope you know how big of a deal this is," Sarah said.
"I do!" I replied.
"Good. Okay, now, fix your makeup, change, and go home. I’ll email you with more details and we'll talk again in a day or so about everything when you've had a chance to process and when I give the lawyers a chance to look over their contract proposal."
"Okay," I said with a genuine smile.
Sarah left the room, taking a gulp of an entirely too-green-looking juice from her bottle at the same time.
For the first time, I finally felt a glimmer of my old self return.
* * *
It was another week before I got the chance to talk to Axe again. This time when he called, I was actually around to answer the phone. I'd been true to my word and tried to relax and not worry about our relationship.
Besides, with the good news from Sarah, I was still riding high.
"Hello?" I said, answering the phone. I was sitting at a coffee shop enjoying the gently falling snow from the safety of a cozy armchair.
"Zoey, it's me." His voice sounded a little more strained than I was used to, but I tried really hard not to worry or take it personally.
"Hi!" I said. "How are things?"
"Okay, I guess," he replied.
"Do you mind if I tell you some good news?" I asked, not wanting to rub in my successes if work wasn't going well for him.
"Sure," was his rather flat response.
I took a deep breath and reminded myself that he was a man and when men get stressed they're not always on their best behavior.
"The show got renewed for a second season!" I exclaimed.
"Hey, that's great."
"Yeah, and there's more!"
"Oh?"
I nodded my head, not that he could see. "I got offered a movie deal!"
"Now that's really good news," Axe said, although it didn't seem like his heart was in it.
"We're just waiting for the lawyers do to their thing," I said, "before I know more about it."
"Well, you know how that goes," he replied.
I could tell that I wasn't holding his interest and that he was distracted by something.
