Wednesday came fast. Calla had the contracts on the table before eight.
"No coffee. No small talk," Calla said. "They get the table and the terms."
Her assistant nodded and got out of the way.
The door opened. Roman Bellamy walked in with two men in dark suits.
Then he saw her, and he stopped like he had hit a wall.
Roman: You.
Calla: Sit down, Mr. Bellamy. We have an agenda.
Roman had rehearsed this meeting for a week. He had never once pictured her.
Winslow Studio. He had read the name on the file ten times and never once thought of Calla.
Calla: The license runs three years. You get the line, not the name.
Calla: Winslow stays on the label. That part is not open.
Roman: Five years. You let me sit here for twenty minutes and you never said it was you.
Calla: You asked for a meeting with Winslow Studio. This is it.
Roman: You want me to sit here and act like I don't know you? Fuck that.
Roman: You're still the woman who sold my sketches. A nice label doesn't change that.
Calla: Say that again and this meeting is over.
Calla: My name is on that door. Yours is on the check. Sign it or leave.
He stood up and stepped close, and her body remembered his hand on her wrist.
Roman: You didn't build this alone.
Calla: I built it with nothing you gave me.
His hand was already moving toward the framed photo on her desk.
Calla: Don't touch that.
A small boy with soft brown curls and round cheeks. A gap in his front teeth.
Gray-blue eyes. His own eyes, looking back at him from the glass.
Roman: Who is this?
Calla: Put it down and we finish this meeting. Otherwise we're done.
Roman: How old is he?
Calla: That's not on the agenda.
Roman: How old, Calla?
Four years old. He did the math in his head and it landed like a punch.
Roman: Is he mine?
Calla: We're here for a contract. Not for that.
Roman: We're not done.
Calla: We are for today. My assistant will email the paperwork.
The door clicked shut. Calla stood with her hands flat on the glass until they stopped shaking.
The photo was still there. He had seen it. Nothing was going back in the box now.
She picked it up and held it against her chest.