My phone was correct about the travel time, for what feels like the first time ever. I made it to the Café about nine minutes before I was supposed to meet Brian, but I’ve been watching the door and I haven’t seen him go in yet. I suppose it’s possible he got here before me, so maybe I should head inside. I turn the ringer off on my phone, put it in my purse and get out of the car.
I glance over my shoulder as I walk toward the restaurant. A smile forms on my face as I look at my cute little car—I’m really glad I got the same model again. It fits my personality perfectly, I think.
The door to the café opens as I walk up to it and a girl not much older than me steps out. She smiles at me and pauses as she holds the door open. I smile back at her. The expression on her face changes to one of surprise and she stops.
“Are you...?”
I stop and wait for her to finish.
“Aren’t you Amy Thomas?”
“Yes.”
Her face lights up and she instantly pulls her phone out.
“Can I… take a picture with you?”
“Sure,” I say, smiling.
She releases the door and we step aside as someone else enters the café. I smile as she stands next to me and holds up her phone to take the selfie. She takes three, just to make sure at least one of them is in focus, before she lowers the phone.
“Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome.”
She smiles at me again before turning and walking down the street. I always hated getting mobbed by the paparazzi when I was with Spencer, but it’s kind of fun to do something like taking a selfie with a fan. I watch as the unknown girl disappears around the next block before I turn and open the café door. There’s a young woman behind a podium. She looks up at me and smiles.
“Just one?”
“No… I’m actually meeting someone here.”
I look around the dining room and see Brian sitting in the back corner of the room, his phone up to his ear. He sees me and waves me over.
“I see him,” I say, as I walk toward him.
Brian smiles as I pull out the chair across from him and sit down.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” he says, still on the phone. “Listen… I’m meeting with a client… I’ll call you later this week.”
He hangs up the phone and sets it down next his napkin.
“Amy… how are you?”
“Fine, you?”
“Pretty good. Are you hungry?”
I shrug and slowly nod.
“I could eat.”
I’m more interested in why he felt the need to meet with me tonight, but I guess if I’m here I might as well get something to eat. Brian picks up his menu, so I do the same. Our server comes over to the table with water as I’m still trying to figure out what to have.
“Are you ready to order?” he asks.
“Yes,” Brian says, before I even have a chance to decide.
“What can I get you?”
“I’ll have the French onion soup.”
“Anything else?”
“No, that’s all.”
I glance up from the menu as both of them turn their attention to me.
“Um… I’m not sure.”
“Have the soup, it’s good,” Brian says.
“OK… I guess I’ll have the soup.”
“Perfect,” the server says, “I’ll get that started for you.”
He smiles, turns and walks away from the table.
“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” I ask.
Brian glances down at his phone and then looks up at me.
“Well, it’s two things actually.”
He takes a sip of his water and then clears his throat.
“The first thing is… well… I got a call from Nadia, the producer of Day One.”
I have a feeling I know where this is going. Is she really that worried about me and how I acted when I was last interviewed? It’s starting to irritate me a little that she’s being so free with her concern… going as far as to call my agent and ask him to talk to me about it. I definitely feel like I’m going to have to talk to her about it and try to clear the whole thing up.
“Yeah?”
“Yes… she’s concerned about… you.”
“She talked to me about it.”
“She did mention that. I guess it was after she talked to you that she called me.”
I frown and take a drink of water. I guess it’s my fault for assuming that Brian wanted to talk to me because he had some kind of good news or another offer for a movie. This though… this I could’ve done without after such a long day.
“And?” I ask.
“I told her that everything is good with you and that he pushed you too far. I told her it was a one-time thing and that things would go much smoother the next time you were interviewed.”
That’s basically what I told Nadia, but it didn’t seem to stop her from calling Brian… which is kind of irritating. Ugh. Whatever. I guess I’ll just have to make sure I really watch what I say from now on.
“Thanks. I told her the same thing.”
“Sorry. I know you probably don’t want to hear it from me, but she made me promise that I’d tell you.”
“It’s fine… I get it. I thought we agreed that I wouldn’t have to go back on the dreadful show… and she seemed intent on making sure that happened.”
“Let me worry about that… I’ll take care of it when the time comes.”
Brian smiles and glances down at his phone as the screen lights up.
“Do you need to take that?”
“No,” he says, shaking his head, “Sorry.”
“I don’t mind.”
“It’s just my wife… I’m sure she just needs me to get something on the way home.”
I shrug and look around the restaurant. There’s a few other tables, but no one seems to be paying any attention to our conversation… which is refreshing given where we are—I’ve started to feel like my whole life is being lived under a microscope.
“So, what was the other thing you wanted to talk to me about?” I ask.
“Right… on to the more… exciting reason for us meeting.”
I raise an eyebrow and lean forward as I wait in anticipation.
“I know it’s not exactly what you might have in mind… but I think it could help with the whole Nadia thing. I got a call from Ence, the magazine, and they want to do a cover feature on you.”
I just sit there, not saying anything, as I look across the table at Brian. I’ve never read the magazine, but it was something a bunch of the girls would look at during lunch when I was in high school.
“Seriously?”
“You’re not disappointed?”
“No… not at all.”
I’m actually kind of relieved that it’s not another movie role… especially one that would prevent me from going to see Spencer. I don’t know anything about photo shoots for magazines, but I can’t imagine that it’s something that would take more than a couple of hours. Whenever it happens to be, I’m sure it’ll come as a welcome break from filming.
“Does it seem like something you’d like to do?”
“Yeah… I mean… I don’t know anything about photo shoots… or what goes into being on the cover of a magazine, but I think it could be fun.”
“Good… and like I said… something like that should help to calm Nadia down.”
“Yeah,” I say, nodding, “that makes sense.”
Brian has no idea how relieved I would be if that were to happen. I got the feeling, when I talked to Nadia, that this wasn’t something she was going to let go of… and I was certainly right. If I do the cover of Ence, I can talk about Day One and maybe drop her name, in the article, which would have to put me back in her good graces.
“Basically, they are looking to do a photo shoot and then a feature article with an interview… if you’re up for that. If not, well, then they can just do the cover and maybe a small bio piece.”
I nod as I think about what he just said.
“That sounds good and I wouldn’t mind doing an interview… it sounds like it could be fun.”
“Good… I’m glad you’re excited. They were definitely pushing for the interview, but I told them I’d have to talk to you first before I made any kind of commitment.”
“When did they want to do this?”
“It sounded like they could do the interview whenever… but they would need to schedule the photo shoot since it’s going to take a little longer and requires them to have more people on hand.”
“Sure, that makes sense. I guess… I’m still pretty busy the next couple of weeks, but I don’t see why we can’t at least squeeze in the interview.”
“Good. Text me your schedule and I’ll call them tomorrow. You good with that?”
“Yeah, that’s fine.”
“Good.”
We both lean back as our server comes back to the table and sets down our bowls of soup. It looks really good and for the first time this evening I’m starting to realize how hungry I really am.
“So,” Brian says, “how is everything else going?”
“It’s going….”
I cut myself short to eat some soup. It’s good, not great… but I’d probably eat it right now even if it were bad.
“How’s Spencer?”
“He’s fine.”
“Filming is going good?”
“Yeah… he’s in Russia right now, in some remote place that I’ve never heard of.”
“Oh,” Brian says, raising an eyebrow, “that’s… fun.”
I laugh and shake my head as I dip my spoon into the soup.
“Yeah, I’m not sure he’s thrilled about that part… but it seems like he’s enjoying the work they’re doing on the film, which is what matters.”
“For sure. I’m glad he finally got an opportunity of that… caliber. He’s very talented and I hope that the series does well, in the box office and reviews.”
“Thanks, I’ll let him know you said that… I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.”
Brian has been an amazing agent so far and I feel like I got incredibly lucky having connected with him. He always seems to have my best interests in mind, but he doesn’t try to push me to do anything that I don’t want to do… which is more than I could’ve ever asked for. I hope that our working relationship continues to grow and that Brian will be my agent for many years to come.