“Oh, God. Sorry for screaming in your ear! Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Jayne laughed. “If I can expect this level of enthusiasm in everything you do, I’m sure we’ll get along brilliantly.”
“I guarantee it.” She must have heard the smile in my voice. The Cheshire Cat had nothing on me.
“I’ll email all the details and the contract to you in the morning. If you have any questions, please tell me and I’ll do my best to answer them.”
“Okay. Thanks again, Jayne. This is amazing. You’re amazing!”
She laughed again. “I’ll look forward to hearing from you soon, and thank you, Ellie. Your work is wonderful.”
“Thank you.”
As I hung up the phone, I tried to calculate exactly how many times I’d thanked her, but then the realisation set in. I was about to become an illustrator! I slipped my phone into my pocket, and galloped – Miranda style – around the room.
Drew. I had to tell Drew.
I was so ready to pounce on him that when Jason opened Drew’s door, my body did a weird backwards jolt thing, making me look like I was having a seizure.
“Hey Ellie,” he said, as I struggled to remove the surprise from my face. “We’re heading out in a few minutes, but come in.”
Drew looked up from the notes on his lap and smiled in the special way he reserved for me. It had only been three days since we last saw each other, but my breath hitched in anticipation of having some alone time with him later.
“I have news. The author of the bunny book called. I got the illustrator job!”
I bounced up
and down on the spot, and Jason launched himself at me.
“Congratulations! I know how long you’ve wanted this.”
He did, too. Possibly even more than Drew. He was the one I showed my work to when we were younger, getting his opinions on which of my drawings would look good in a book.
I was such a dorky kid.
And when we grew up, many drunken nights ended with us sharing our plans for the future. It was pretty amazing two of our biggest dreams had come true at the exact same time.
“Thank you.” I hugged him tightly.
“I’m proud of you, Ellie. You did it.”
“We both did it!”
I pulled back a little to smile at my best friend. We’d come a long way since the days when it seemed as though the dreams we had would always be out of reach.
“Can I get a hug with the superstar now?”
Jason let me go and Drew bundled me into his arms. I tried not to give a pathetic sigh of joy as I breathed him in. “You two are the superstars.”
“Not today. Today is all about you. This is amazing, Ells.”
“It’s only a small publication.”
“So? It’s still a book that’ll have your name in, and who knows what that could lead to?”
“Not to break up the hug-fest,” Jason said, “but we need to go.”
Drew glanced down at his watch, one arm still around me. “Yeah, you’re right.”