Reply To: Lili & Danni Stories

[JR19759]

A Piece Of Good News

Ring-Ring
Ugh.
Ring-Ring
Danni stared over at the phone, ringing on the table across the room from where she had just got herself comfortable on the sofa. She wished Lili would get it so she wouldn’t have to get up, but of course Lili was doing some Skype meeting with those magazine people, doing some sort of “creative consultancy” or something.
Ring-Ring
With a grumbling groan, Danni hefted herself from the sofa and made her way slowly to the phone. Picking up the receiver, she put it to her ear and spoke.
“Hello, Danni Dartford speaking.”
“Hey Danni, it’s Vince.”
Vince was a friend who acted as Danni’s agent. It was his job to send her manuscripts round the various publishers to try and get them published.
“Hey Vince, what’s up?”
“Nothing much,” Even over the phone Danni could hear a slight mischievous tone to Vince’s voice. “Not much going on. I mean I just got off the phone with some guy from Delta Rhodes Limited. He says they’re interested in the book!”
“What?”
Danni very nearly dropped the phone. Her head felt numb, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. That manuscript had been bouncing around various publishing companies for the best part of two years with not so much as a hint of going anywhere. But now…
“They’re looking for a meeting next week to work out the contract. We’ll need to sort out some form of proper legal representation of course. I’m good with law stuff, but they’ll be looking for a professional approach and anyway, having a second person to go over it will make absolutely sure they’re not trying to screw us over.”
“What?!”
“Danni, snap out of it,” Vice chuckled down the phone. “I bet you’re gawping like a goldfish at the moment as well.”
Danni shook her head and tried to get her thoughts collected. This had to be a dream or something, Vince was having her on.
“Are you being serious?” She found herself asking, almost in-spite of herself. “This thing has been going for ages. Has it really been picked up?”
Vince gave another small chuckle.
“Yeah, I’m being serious. Tell you what, we can meet up tomorrow or something and I’ll run you through everything.”
“Sure, I’m working the evening shift tomorrow so maybe we could meet up at lunch?”
“That works for me, I’ll meet you at the coffee shop in town. See you then.”
Danni put the receiver down lightly and leant back against the wall, trying to take in everything she’d just heard. One of her books was going to be published. She grinned to herself. Ok, they still had to get all the contract details sorted out, but she wasn’t going to let that spoil the moment. Lili stuck her head around the living room door.
“Vince?” Lili asked quizzically. Danni nodded, the silly grin not leaving her face. Lili smiled. “I guess it must have been good news, given your grin?”
“Yeah, the book got picked up by a publisher. Me and Vince are meeting up tomorrow to talk a few things over before we sort out the publishing contract with them next week.”
Lili practically launched herself at Danni, forcing her back against the wall in a crushing embrace.
“That’s fantastic babe!” Lili exclaimed joyfully. “We’re gonna have to do something to celebrate. Where did I put that bottle of wine? Should we go out for dinner or something later?”
“Wine sounds good for the moment,” Danni replied. “We’ll save the dinner for when the deal’s actually done, ok.”
“Deal,” Lili beamed as she released her hold and turned towards the kitchen. “Where did I put that bottle of wine though?”
Danni grinned again.
“You left it out on the side. I put it in the fridge for you, you doffs.”