Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Timothy had barely settled into the office when his phone lit up with a call from Sheila. He answered right away.

"Timothy, I need a favor." Sheila's voice was quiet, almost hesitant.

She knew all about Director Smith's casting search. Even living abroad, within the animation industry circle, news traveled fast-there was no way she wouldn't have heard. What truly surprised her was that, after failing to find the right producer overseas, Director Smith was now looking back home.

Timothy could tell from her tone that Sheila had worked up a lot of courage just to make this call.

"Go ahead," he said gently.

"I heard from people in the industry that Director Smith's new animated feature has a critical role still unfilled. He might be coming back here soon to look for an animation producer. I'd sent in my portfolio before, but not for the role he's stuck on. Now that Ines is willing to represent me, I really want to take another shot- see if I can land this role with Director Smith."

"It's good you're ambitious. He's arriving the day after tomorrow-I'll be picking him up. I'll bring it up with him then."

Timothy had been studying overseas since he was young. Back when Mr. Smith was still an unknown director, Timothy had helped fund his very first animated film -largely because Sheila was studying animation herself. Timothy had always been happy to lend a hand to people with genuine passion for the craft.

He hadn't expected Smith to turn out to be such a talent. That debut film had put him on the map, and now Smith was a globally renowned animation director. Because of this, Timothy and Smith shared a longstanding friendship.

was also another connection-one Timothy had only recently learned about. Smith was of mixed heritage: his mother was once a student Larkin had sponsored through hardship. This trip home was partly

this, Timothy figured helping Sheila get a role with Smith wasn't

"Thank you, Timothy."

me.

the call ended, Sheila exhaled deeply. Over the years, every

had ever made her,

you can snag

out the part went to

already tell that Ines favored Jessica. Whenever Jessica was in the room, Ines's attention was almost entirely on her.

she ducked into the café next door to wait for Jessica to leave before

of encouragement. "Jessica, promise me

if she never worked a day, she could live comfortably for the rest of her life. Ines just didn't want to see Jessica squander

her passion for

the time Jessica finished her work on Director Smith's film, Sheila's window would be up. Maybe,