Sophia tapped off a quick text to the studio man sitting at the front desk and tried to steel herself for Vic’s arrival. She snugged the robe a little tighter over her chest and waist. She did her best to summon an expression of dignified exasperation, but she must have failed miserably because Vic’s smile flashed full and radiant as soon as she opened the door.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Sophia said, instead of grabbing her and dragging her straight to the bed.

“That’s not your line,” Vic said as she strolled into the room as though she owned it, which, for all Sophia knew, she might.

“Right, you came up here for me to ask you how rich you are, but honestly it would be truer to the scene for me to ask, ‘Are you drunk?’”

Vic held up the bottle of gin in her hand. “Not yet, but we can start working on the celebration as soon as you give me a proper lead-in to the explanation.”

“Celebration? I’m not feeling jubilant today.” It stung to see Vic so bright-eyed and bouncy, given that she’d been moping and contemplating the vast unfairness of the world. Still, the longer this went on, the more it would hurt to say goodbye again, so she sighed and surrendered. “Never mind. I’ll bite. How rich are you?”

Vic pressed her lips together for an anticipatory beat, then said, “Rich enough to become a movie producer, apparently.”

Sophia cocked her head to the side and started to protest, but she wasn’t even sure exactly what she was arguing with, so she closed her mouth again.

“Remember this morning, I said I couldn’t give you the director’s chair you deserved because I wasn’t a movie producer?”

The snippet of conversation came back to her. “What did you do?”

“I bought the movie rights to Emma’s next book.” Vic beamed proudly. Sophia felt like she’d poured molten lead into her stomach.

“You what?”

“I became a movie producer, or I started becoming one. More people will be involved with the money and contracts. I’ll obviously need a full creative team of writers, costume designers, a tech crew, a cast, and of course, a director, which is what we’re celebrating with this gin, because if I’m going to produce my first movie, I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t also be your first directing job.” She held out the bottle of gin. “Do you have any glasses in here?”

“Are you fucking insane?” Sophia exploded.

Vic grimaced. “We can drink from the bottle.”