“Chloe Johnson?” A tsunami started in my head and rushed through my pores. Perspiration broke out on my upper lip. I blinked as my eyes started to well up and I grabbed the chair arm for support. “What do you mean? You’re hiring Chloe Johnson?”

“She’s someone the network really wants in the role, and this is coming from them.”

“Well I think that’s a terrible idea. She’s not right at all.”

“The suits are thinking of her as a Nicole Kidman type,” Steve said patiently.

“She’s more like a Pottery Barn Nicole Kidman. Very generic.”

Steve looked surprised at my vehemence. “You know Chloe worked with Scorsese?”

“Oh that’s right—I remember her playing the role of ‘woman in crowd’ in his last film.” Normally Steve listened to me when I argued a point, but for whatever reason he was not budging on this one. “Is there some sort of history here?” he asked. “Because I don’t get the huge problem with Chloe.”

Looking down at my notepad, I saw I’d scribbled the word bitch in serial-killer handwriting several times. “The character is just very close to me and I think it’s understandable that I would take a big interest.”

“Listen, I don’t know what to say. The first time around it was such a beautifully written role, and I think you should be glad someone of Chloe’s caliber would want to play Assistant Number Two.”

“Her caliber? She’s twenty-eight. She’s too young to have caliber. I’d say she’s just a step behind Lindsay Lohan.” None of this was making sense. “Forgive me, Steve, but could you please ‘play it blond’ for me and explain again why we’re bringing back Assistant Number Two?” I was speaking very carefully, enunciating every word. “We found her guilty of murder and put her behind bars. What are we supposed to do, have some of the cast from Prison Break switch networks and help her escape her cell?”

“Dani, I get it,” Steve said, “but the Assistant Number Two character keeps coming up on the testing cards with focus groups. We’re thinking of doing a new two-part episode. We’ll reveal that she was wrongly convicted, that someone planted evidence to implicate her in the murder, and now she’s going to get her justice and be freed from prison.”

“I’m still not sure it makes sense,” I said slowly.

“It makes sense in TV Land. Enough said. Remember when JR got shot on Dallas? It ended up being Pam’s bad dream, and the audience still watched—they love going along for the ride.”

I was speechless. I could tell Steve hated my sour expression.