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“Hmm…” Pat’s expression is doubtful. He looks at Tom.
“Let me be straight with you, Ryan.” Tom sits up and wipes his hands on a napkin. “The company has been bleeding money for a while. Pat brought me on to keep things afloat for a while to see where this goes. At this point, we both believe a quick exit strategy would cause the least damage.”
I start to object, but Tom raises a hand to quiet me.
“We appreciate everything you’ve done and, to be honest, what you’ve accomplished is impressive. I don’t doubt you’ll get those contracts, and that all of this will go a long way toward making the sale a profitable one.”
“I know this is hard. I don’t want to see the company go either, but we’re running out of options.” Pat looks as gutted as I feel.
“Can you give me a month? If I can get signed contracts for season two and beyond, plus a way to show a profit going toward, would you consider keeping the production company?” I’ve seen too many sales to know what will happen. The contracts and intellectual properties get absorbed into whoever buys the studio and the people get laid off. I’ve arranged some of those sales and mergers myself. They are profitable for the owners but devastating for anyone else.
The two men exchange a look. Tom nods, almost imperceptibly.
“We can give it a month, Ryan. But that’s it.” Pat looks relieved, the tension around his eyes easing a bit.
“Under one condition.” Tom clears his throat. “We have to stop bleeding money today. Stop production on season one until we have signed contracts. Run the office with a bare-bones crew. Let’s put some pressure on those steaming executives and get them to put their money where their mouth is.”
“I can work with that.” It’s not the smartest move, but I’m nothing, if not resourceful. And I’ll make sure Elana keeps her job. For now.
“How did it go?” Elana asks. She’s waiting for me in my office.
I’m pretty sure the expression on my face tells her everything she needs to know. “I bought us a month, but we’ll be running bare bones. That means cutting hours and jobs, at least temporarily, and you and I working our butts off to convince them to sign on for season two. A bump in what they are willing to pay wouldn’t hurt either.”
I’m going to need all the ammunition I can find to talk Pat and Tom out of selling the company. Unless I’m reading Tom wrong, he has a buyer lined up already.
“I’ve been on the phone all morning, getting the runaround. Feels to me like no one wants to make a final decision or sign on the dotted line.” Elana plops down in the chair in front of my desk.
I take the one next to her and turn to face her. “I’m getting the same feeling. They want season one to stream before a final commitment.”
“And we don’t have that kind of time?” she says, her tone questioning.
I shake my head, trying to ignore the way the sun shining in through the big corner window highlights her hair and makes her eyes sparkle. I drop my head into my hands and let the anguish of what I need to do wash over me. Just for a minute. Then I’ll get it together, go out there, and tell good people that they are out of a job.
“Hey, we’ve got this. We’ll make it work.” Elana’s hands are on mine, grasping them and pulling them away from my face. She’s less than an inch away from me, and the compassion on her face does me in.
I lean in and capture her lips, too tired and worn out to fight the urge to kiss her any longer. It’s a bad idea, but if everything is going down the drain, I should at least have this.
It’s like she needs the kiss as much as I do, leaning in and wrapping her arms around my neck. It’s a kiss of desperation, but there’s sweetness in there too. An undercurrent of tenderness runs through the urgency of finally consummating what we’ve been on the verge of doing since we stood at her kitchen sink, wringing out old towels.
“That was…” I clear my throat, struggling to put into words what I’m feeling.
“A mistake?” Her eyes are wide and full of fear.
I shake my head. “No. The opposite. It was right and something I’ve been wanting to do for too long.”
She sighs, and the relief is palpable. The sweetest smile lights up her face, and I’m hard pressed not to kiss her again. “We should probably keep this private, though. Just between us.” Her eyes move to the door that separates us from the main office space.
“You’re right. Especially with what I’m about to do.” I take a deep breath and scrub my face with my hands. Letting people go is never easy, and the last thing we need is rumors that I’m keeping Elana on full-time because we’re involved.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Elana asks.
“No. This is my job. Why don’t you take off early? That way, you don’t have to answer any awkward questions.”
She gets to her feet. “Tell them it’s temporary and that we will hire them back as soon as we can.”
“Of course.”
By the time I walk out of the office, I’m mentally and physically drained. I’ve whittled down our crew to bare-bones like Pat and Tom requested.
