Page 31 of Valentine Nook
I pause for a second. I haven’t done much more than sleep late and read. I’ve jogged. Clemmie and I have been to the pub (pub, not bar as Eddie corrected me). And after a trip to the local grocery store, I’ve eaten whatever I’ve wanted.
I’ve been here almost two weeks, and I’m starting to feel like myself again.
Ashley has been an excellent gatekeeper, so in the absence of dozens of emails and calls she’s fielding every day, it’s also been incredibly relaxing. And freeing.
But bizarrely all that pops into my brain is Lando, the moody one.
In the end, I go with, “Oh, you know, I’m still getting used to the time difference and that everything is the wrong way around.”
True story. I almost got hit by a car yesterday because I was on the wrong side of the road and not looking in the right direction. I mean I was looking right, but I should have been lookingleft. Even in the English countryside, where everyone seems to be super chill, thatreallypisses people off.
“Not ready to come back?”
I shake my head and settle back into the pillows. I’m not even ready to get out of bed.
“Nope, not ready.”
Marcy takes a breath, sucks her cheeks in, and her lips purse. “I thought as much, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t check. However, you are a very popular woman right now . . . I told you this would happen . . . I told you after the award season, everyone would want you. And they do, but it’s fine. I got you.”
If this is going to be a call about how dramatic Marcy thinks I’m being, then I’ll hang up right now.
If I’m not careful, I’m going to get to thirty / forty / fifty, and my entire life will have gone by in a flash with nothing to show for it but a bunch of movies no one can remember.
“Now, the reason I’m calling you is because I had an enticing offer come through?—”
My finger hovers over the end call button. “Marcy?—”
She holds her hand up. “Just listen.”
“Okay.”
She pauses again and sits back in her chair. It’s the same as the chair she has in her LA office, with high wing backs that almost make it seem like she’s sitting on a throne. Because incase you didn’t realize when you enter her space, Marcy is important, and she makes shit happen.
“L’Oreal wants you to join their global brand ambassadors lineup. Five-year contract, eight million for the first year, and the potential to renegotiate higher for years two through five. But it won’t lower. Minimum forty mil. Half up front.”
I watch Marcy’s mouth moving, but I can’t hear anything else. My jaw drops. Holy crap.
Forty million dollars.
The only time I’ve stepped outside of acting was to front a fragrance campaign for Gucci, but it was nothing of this caliber.
I might have twenty-five films under my belt and won a couple of awards in the process, but I still feel like that struggling young actress auditioning for her first role. It’s there every time I step onto set, and they decide I’m too young to know what I’m talking about, or when I walk into a meeting with an executive, studio head, or film director and know I’ll have to prove myself all over again.
But this? This is more money than I’ve ever been offered in one go before. Even after all the percentage cuts for my lawyers, manager, Marcy, and tax, forty million dollars is enough to make it work for me.
I wouldn’t need to start another movie next year.
I could set up my own production company. I could direct.
I’ve always wanted to do theater, even though the thought terrifies me more than anything else in the world, and this contract would allow me to be more choosy with the roles I take on and free up the time to do so.
Marcy takes the silence as hesitation.
“You can have a couple of weeks to decide where you want to negotiate, but this is a good offer, Holiday. You need to meet with them in Paris in a couple of months’ time for some initialshots, which they’d pay extra for. I’m gonna fly over so we can discuss it in person.”
I balk. Marcy and the countryside would not mix. For one, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her out of five-inch heels. For another, the air is way too fresh.
“You’re coming here?”
