Page 77 of Out on a Limb

Before you kissed me and changed everything!He had wanted to yell.

“It will hurt now, but it will save us all this anguish and heartache down the road. I mean, do you think we’re going to do long-distance and Skype calls, and then you and Hobie can visit me during summer vacation? Let’s be adults about this, Walker.”

“Running away isn’t the adult thing.”

“I’m not running!”

“Two seconds after the condom came off, you had a job in place and said we had to end things.”

Cameron pursed his lips. Direct hit. But Walker didn’t feel any victory.

“You don’t think you could find another entry level assistant job in September? You’re willing to drop everything for this?”

“If I turn this opportunity down, I might not have another.”

“And if you keep pushing people away, they won’t come back.”

Cameron stood up and washed off his plate in the sink. The clanging of the plate and silverware in the sink rang in Walker’s ears. Cameron shoved his stuff into his backpack. Walker remained at the table. Even when Cameron opened the front door, Walker didn’t move.

“Walker.” Cameron waited at the front door. Walker knew he was waiting for a final hug. He was the adult here. He had to bring the civility, but he couldn’t move from his chair.

“A clean break, right?” Walker said.

Cameron shut the door behind him. He closed it gently, but it slammed in Walker’s mind.

“Any insight, Walker?”

Patricia and Lucy were looking at him. She still had that market share slide open on her screen. It was just numbers. Stupid, worthless numbers.

“Their creative fucking sucks,” Walker said.

Patricia scooted back in her chair. “Excuse me?”

“That’s why Radiance has lost market share. We’ve put their ads on the best TV shows and most-read magazines. But their advertising sucks. And their product sucks. I’ve read customer forums. People hate their product. They say it smells weird and is overpriced. Any losses that they’ve incurred are not our fault.”

“Well, we can’t tell them that, for obvious reasons,” Patricia said.

“Why not? Maybe they’ll appreciate honesty. It would save us the trouble of jumping through all of these hoops while their creative agency gets to sit back and relax.” Walker tossed his notebook on the floor and walked around Patricia’s office. “I need to stand up. I sit all day. I need to stand.”

“Okay.” Patricia was now treating him like a mental patient. He just wanted to stretch his legs.

“Maybe we should cut ties with Radiance. They’re obviously looking for miracle workers. Once the numbers stop going in their favor, they decided to dump us. They aren’t worth the trouble. Give them a fucking clean break.”

“If that happens, we lose our jobs.” Patricia stood up and pressed her hands onto her desk, staring him down. “Yes, clients are a pain in the ass. I’m not going to deny that. But that’s the job.”

Walker nodded and slumped back into his chair. For a second, he thought things would actually change. But this was like any other day for him. Just another blip. “Yep. That’s the job.”

CHAPTER twenty-five

Cameron

Not even five minutes after Cameron officially accepted the job, Arthur emailed over a bunch of scripts for Cameron to read. Arthur’s email was blowing up with agents wanting to get their clients in to pitch their scripts, and Cameron had to read through their samples to determine which ones were worth Arthur’s valuable time. Cameron had to write coverage on all these scripts, which was basically a synopsis of the script and his thoughts on the writing.

One person was excited about his new job. His mom thought it sounded great, especially the part about him having a regular paycheck and benefits. Cameron’s mom always acted supportive of his Hollywood dreams, but he knew that “My son the Hollywood film executive” had a better ring to it than “My son the aspiring screenwriter.”

As if Cameron didn’t have enough to do in these next two weeks. He took out his notebook and made a fresh, accelerated To-Do list.

1. Confirm with Porter and Grayson that I can move in early.