‘Really?’ She leaned across the table and lightly touched his scar. ‘Don’t you think that this could be difficult for young viewers?’
The intimacy of her action startled him. How could she not feel his hatred, sense it by osmosis? He sat motionless before her, the lights in the cafe glinting off his dark-blue glasses. She blushed, as if aware that she had stepped over an invisible line, but her gaze never wavered as she waited for his reply.
‘I would appear in the persona of Super Plink.’ He pointed to one of the characters on the front of the book. ‘My scar wouldn’t be visible.’
‘That could work,’ she agreed. ‘The drawings are amazing and you have an attractive voice, very compelling. Where are you from?’
‘Dublin. But I lived abroad for years, mainly in New York.’
‘I figured that from your accent. I love New York. Such a vibrant city. What did you do there?’
‘Tossed burgers.’
‘Oh?’
‘Things didn’t work out as planned.’
‘How come?’
‘The usual story.’
‘As in… drugs?’ She hazarded a guess, her gaze shrewd as she studied him.
‘Some drugs but my problem was drink,’ he replied. ‘I’m a recovering alcoholic.’
‘That must be tough?’
‘Not as long as I stay sober.’ Laughter chafed his throat. He patted his new book. ‘You’re right about the jump. It’s ambitious but I’m convinced the plinks can take off if they get the right exposure, which is what I hope will happen on LR1.’
‘Leave it with me.’ She checked her watch again and stood. ‘I’d better rush or I’ll be late for Marcus. Thanks for the coffee.’
‘I owed you one for the free advice.’
‘Which was?’
‘To get off my knees and do something significant with my life.’
‘Sounds brutal.’ She laughed abruptly. ‘But I’m glad you took it. Kathy Birch will be in touch soon.’
‘What makes you so sure?’
She laughed and tossed a red streak of hair back from her forehead. ‘I’m Amanda Bowe, that’s why.’
He watched her go. That confident stride, almost a strut. A person of consequence who knew how to get things done. Her hard, brown gaze had once rested on his world and shattered it. Now, when she looked at him, all she saw was a person she had helped to rise from his knees.
Chapter Forty-Three
Amanda’s gut instinct about the characters had been right and the plinks struck an immediate chord with LR1’s young viewers. Ben Carroll had transferred the magic of his pavement artistry to the small screen and held his audience spellbound.
He worked in collaboration with Kathy Birch to create the Plinkertown Hall set. The format he devised was simple. Dressed as Super Plink, he set his stories in the rooms of Plinkertown Hall and illustrated each scene with his fast, mesmerising sketches. He had designed his own costume. Lightweight fabric, supple and breathable, it gave the impression he was covered in a tawny pelt that glistened under the studio lights. Kathy was delighted with the feedback from parents, and the fact that teachers were using the programme as an aid in their art classes.
Amanda watched, amused, as Marcus’s fascination with the plinks grew. His attachment to Ben, who drove a colourful plink van and always came to the studio in costume, was touching. He never addressed him as Ben and seemed unaware, or uncaring, that the Super Plink character was a real person.
As the months passed, and Ben’s third book was launched at an open-air event in Temple Bar, crammed with Super Plink fans, Amanda’s interest in the plink concept widened. She envisaged plink dolls, chairs, jigsaws, musical instruments, water bottles, schoolbags, pencil cases, mugs, lampshades, plink images printed on clothes and shoes, on curtains and duvets. The merchandising potential was staggering. Lar’s eyes lit up as she outlined her proposal to him. Like her, he was envisaging the aisles of toyshops lined with plinks, their accessories packaged in plastic. They could reproduce Plinkertown Hall, its furnishings and the plink dolls by Christmas.
Ben Carroll was the only problem. Amanda heard panic in his voice when she rang to discuss her ideas. He refused to attend a meeting with Lar in LR1’s boardroom and declared that he had no intention of turning the plinks into a corporate brand. From pavement to screen had been a gamble and it had worked. Why jeopardise a good idea and overkill it?
‘I’m an illustrator and a storyteller, not a business executive,’ he said, his tone flat and vehement. ‘A partnership with you and your husband doesn’t interest me.’
Amanda was undaunted by his reaction. Time was on her side. She had powers of persuasion and, in the end, Ben Carroll would see the bigger picture, as she did. She was cresting on certainty, as heady as she had been on the night she stood on the balcony of Shearwater with Lar and knew what she would do to claim it as her own. Like the instant on the deserted quays when she spun into Hunter’s arms… and, now, Eric and this dangerous passion that terrified and thrilled her.
Finally, an agreement was reached. Instead of a partnership, she and Lar would buy the merchandising rights from Ben and establish a company called Plink Inc.
‘We agree a fee that’s acceptable to you,’ Amanda promised when she rang with their proposal ‘We take the risks while you continue doing what you do best and become extremely wealthy in the process.’
‘You think that’s possible?’
He was still hesitant, suspicious, playing his cards close to his chest. She imagined his mouth puckering, the pronged scar pulling his cheek to one side. No wonder he never wanted to step out of character.
‘I know it is. You have to think big, Ben. The plinks could go global, become an animated series—’
‘Animation? You can’t be serious?’ Any progress she had made was suddenly halted. ‘The success of my programme is the interaction between Super Plink and the children,’ he reminded her. ‘No! I can’t agree to any of this.’
She was suddenly weary of small minds grappling with small issues. Ben Carroll had the technical expertise to produce amazing books for children but he would always be a pavement artist at heart.
He signed in the end, as she had known he would; signed on the dotted line. He proved to be a tough negotiator. Lar complained that they had paid over the odds for the merchandising and electronic rights. Their investment in manufacturing and production was also significant but they both knew it would be well worth the outlay. Production would begin immediately.