Page 140 of Only After We Met
Subject: RE: Drama
Relax, Ginger Snap.
It’s a smart move, putting it all in a lawyer’s hands. And yeah, I remember James—the guy who thought it was a good idea to marry Lady Strawberry to Lord Chocolate, right? Wait and see what he thinks before you panic.
And tell me what happens, okay?
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: RE: RE: Drama
Okay then, here’s the situation: Cameron Reed has enough money to pay the full-time salary of every lawyer in London; I’m a loser who up and decided to start a publisher and saddle myself with this bullshit. But the good thing is, James thinks there’s a way to get Cameron to pull back before he sues for damages and something or other about privacy because of his role in the book. We’ve been thinking it over all week, and maybe if we go ahead, announce publication, and invest some cash in the publicity (my dad helped me out with the money; hopefully I can pay him back soon), we can draw the media’s attention.
Our goal is to get the word out that Anne Cabot is about to publish her memoir of her years living in hell, and that there will be such an uproar that Cameron will decide to just tell his side of the story and leave it at that. He knows the more noise he makes, the more publicity he’ll give us. Every move he makes could work in our favor; that’s how James phrased it.
I’m worried, I won’t lie to you. Anne, on the other hand, seems relaxed. I think she could already see all this coming. As far as any defamation or libel accusations in the future or whatever, Anne says she has medical proof that she was abused right before she left their shared home. James asked to see the documentation and is looking it over to prepare for whatever may come.
This means we have to push forward the publication date. The book will be out in three weeks. It’s crazy. Kate says I’m going to give her a heart attack. What do you think, Rhys?
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: RE: RE: RE: Drama
Honestly? I think this is free publicity for you all. I never doubted it would be a success; now I’d bet my life on it. Think about it. People like scandal and dirty details. Whether he wants to or not, Cameron has to deny the charges. Silence will only make him look guilty. He’s hanging by a thread because at the same time, if he talks too much, he’ll make a bigger deal out of it. And this always attracts readers. Did Anne never call the cops on him?
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: Steps forward
Anne is in the process of suing him. Or rather, her lawyers are. But that’s a totally separate issue from the publisher. James is taking care of it. He’s honestly been great. I didn’t tell you this, because I was kind of nervous about everything that was going on, but when I went to his office in London and told him I’d started the publisher that I’d talked about being my dream years before, he was so proud that I burst into tears. I guess I was already feeling a little raw.
It’s nice, right? I basically live in my office, and I can hardly catch my breath, but still. A year ago I was just getting ready to leave my father’s company and go spend the summer with you, and now look. It scares me sometimes to look back and see how everything’s changed. But listen: I keep sucking up the whole conversation with my BS, and it’s been forever since you’ve told me anything about your album. Even worse, I forgot to ask you how everything was with your visit with Logan last summer. I’m officially the worst friend in the world.
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: RE: Steps forward
Relax. With all that’s been going on, you’ve got an excuse. I was looking for news about your thing yesterday, and I found it on abunch of newspaper websites. Amazing, Ginger. You publish in three days, right? Knowing you, you must be hysterical, so let me catch you up so you can relax your mind for a while.
Yeah, Logan was here. It was good. More or less. Chill. I think he forgot what it means to have fun when he started wearing pleated pants, but what can you do? No one’s perfect. For real though, I realized that if we had little in common before, now it’s turned into basically nothing. Friendships must be like that; you don’t always follow the same road, one day you look at a person you’ve known for more than a decade, and you realize nothing binds you to them. Yeah. So he’s getting married. To Sarah, the girl I was with years back. Amazing how life changes, right? It’s best not to think about it.
Everything’s good with the album. I met with the people from the label in Barcelona last week. They have big plans, but I’ve still got a lot of work to do. I’ve been backed up lately. I guess it’ll pass.
I see it doesn’t affect you as much when I tell you I’m proud of you. Joking aside, it’s nice to look back and know I was there with you through these changes. You deserve success. Keep me informed about how the book launch goes.
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: Soooooo happy