The next morning, Rose avoided all eye contact and direct communication with Oliver. Luckily, Minnie was in the office all day, which made it easier. He tended to toe the line a little whenever she was around.
Today, he was mostly listening to music and snacking while trawling through the August issues with intermittent commentary about Botox.
Rose was surreptitiously reading an old Vanity Fair interview with Milo when she saw the email from Clara pop up.
Hi babe,
So sorry I missed your first email – I rarely check this inbox tbh. This sounds awesome. Just looping in my chief operating officer, Fraser, who can discuss the fee.
CC xx
‘She replied!’ Rose exclaimed.
‘Who?’ asked Oliver, pulling his headphones off.
‘Clara?’ asked Minnie.
‘Yes, but it looks like she’s asking for a fee.’
‘Bugger. Of course they are. Well, we don’t have the budget for a fee. Jimson has put all of the money towards a performer we have yet to book. At this point, I’m half expecting them to ask Oliver to sing.’
‘You sing, Oliver?’ Annabelle asked him.
‘Oh, just a little,’ he said, faux blushing. ‘I was a chorister at school. Jasper and I have that in common. He was a chorister too. At Harrow, of course.’
Annabelle looked at him carefully.
‘Liz must be loving all this,’ Oliver said.
‘Oh yes,’ tutted Minnie. ‘She has taken the day off today to go to Soho Farmhouse to decompress.’
‘Firehouse is paying for that?!’ he retorted.
‘I think Jimson is paying. Buttering her up so she does whatever they want her to,’ said Minnie, sighing.
‘I want to be buttered up,’ Oliver replied.
Maybe you should give Jasper a call? Rose heard herself whisper in her head, wishing she had the guts to say it out loud. ‘Clara has looped me in with her chief operating officer, so I’ll try and negotiate with him,’ she said.
Oliver let out a haughty cackle. ‘Chief operating officer! God. Like she’s running Google.’
‘Brilliant, thank you,’ said Minnie. ‘I’ve got to go and meet Jasper quickly.’
‘Why? Has something happened?’ asked Rose.
‘Oh, you know. Just another Hollywood publicist threatening Intel with libel if we PR some quotes from her client’s interview.’
‘It’s a big ’un,’ said Oliver, smug that he knew something the rest of the team didn’t.
‘Who’s the interview with?’ asked Annabelle.
Minnie said the name and the room gasped in unison. ‘I know. It’s brilliant they landed him on the cover in the first place. But he got drunk in the interview and said something slightly questionable about his much younger female co-star. So … we’re in discussions with lawyers.’
‘At least he didn’t say he wanted to grab her by the pussy,’ Oliver sniggered.
Rose’s body clenched at the word.
‘No,’ sighed Minnie. ‘Nothing quite as vile as the current leader of the free world, thankfully.’
‘I just don’t understand how he got elected after that,’ said Annabelle.
‘Oh, please,’ Oliver scoffed. ‘As if middle America gives a crap about a little sexual harassment. London certainly doesn’t.’
‘Keep this to yourselves, everyone. Okay?’ added Minnie, halfway out the door.
They all nodded.
Clara’s chief operating officer Fraser replied to Rose’s next email.
Hey babes, thanks for this. So attendance is £3,000, depending on what you need from Clara. £10,000 if you want her to walk in the show. Let me know.
Thanks,
Fraser.
Rose wrote back:
Hi Fraser,
