Lina knew this was happening because Carla called her on a Wednesday at eight in the morning.
"Three calls," Carla said. "All before noon yesterday. All asking about page forty-three."
"Who?"
"A casting director at a beauty house. A creative director at an agency you'll know in eighteen months and not now. And—" a pause, the kind Carla used when she was being precise "—a brand director at a label that does not do cold outreach. Ever."
Lina sat at her desk. Ivy was asleep in the basket. Wednesday the cat was in the window.
"Which label?" she said.
Carla told her.
Lina looked at her notebook. She knew that label. She had it starred. She had written next to the star: *eighteen months — major rebrand, will need fresh faces.*
It was sixteen months early.
"What do they want?" Lina said.
"A meeting. Just a meeting — no brief yet, they're in early planning. But they called me, Lina. I didn't call them."
"Set the meeting."
