Page 49 of Long Story Short

‘This was all your fault telling Jake that he needed to be honest, wasn’t it? You kept harping on about it even at the time.’

‘I think it was good advice,’ Jake said before I could answer her.

‘It was stupid advice,’ Hayley responded. ‘Because now you’ve only given half the story so the rumours are crazy as to what you’re hiding from everyone. We need to do damage control today. You got a good response when you talked aboutWhen I Met You, so I think we should focus on that. I’m going to see the conference organisers and see if we can get you a room today where you could read from the new book and then we can show your publishers there is interest out there. No more talk of your personal life or secrets or excuses; that article needs to be forgotten. We need to focus on getting you a new deal.’

‘But surely if readers…’ I stopped speaking without Hayley needing to say anything this time; the look she gave me was enough.

She leaned in and spoke in a quieter tone as the lobby was filling up with people attending the conference. ‘I am taking over, Freya. You have failed at the task I set you and we will need to have a serious talk when we get back to the office about your future with my company. And you, Jake, are my client so follow my lead today and we might still be able to save your career, okay?’ She gave a nod then looked at her watch. ‘I’m going to find Nora and Christine; you two wait for me here.’ And then she faded into the crowd.

My chest sagged and my eyes felt hot as I watched her walk away. I had never felt quite so small in my whole life, and when you’re my height, that was really saying something.

‘Freya…’ Jake began, reaching out to touch my arm with his hand.

‘Don’t touch me,’ I hissed at him. Then I felt bad when I saw hurt flash in his eyes. ‘Hayley can’t know anything is going on with us; look at how pissed she is already,’ I added as quietly as I could. ‘She’s going to sack me.’

‘She’s wrong,’ Jake said. ‘I could see readers did like me telling the truth; I’m sorry I bottled it and didn’t come clean properly, then we wouldn’t be in this mess. She can’t sack you; I won’t let her.’

‘I don’t think anyone can tell Hayley what to do,’ I said sadly. ‘It’s all over.’

Hayley reappeared as quickly as she had disappeared then. ‘Christine and Nora have let us have a side room off the main conference hall so although you won’t have a stand in the exhibition, you’re close and you can read from the new book and sign your backlist for readers. Come on.’ She beckoned us and marched off again.

Jake sighed. ‘I’m getting tired of her attitude.’

‘She’s your agent,’ I said, following her quickly because if there was a chance to save my job, I had to take it. I would just have to do exactly what she wanted. I didn’t wait for Jake; I assumed he was following. If I was honest, I was a bit pissed off with him. I still felt in my heart that my advice had been solid and readers would have welcomed his honesty. I understood it was a very personal reason why he had almost given up on love stories, but I wasn’t sure he could get his career back to the heights it had been still keeping his secret, despite Hayley thinking readers didn’t need him to be honest. What he had said had hurt; she didn’t understand that. I wasn’t even sure she liked romance books now despite making her business out of them.

I felt thoroughly discouraged as I walked into the meeting room Hayley had managed to secure. She barked at me to post everywhere on social media to invite readers to hear Jake read the first two chapters fromWhen I Met You, and then get her a coffee. Then she fired instructions at Jake, who trailed in the room after me, hands in his pockets, glancing at me as she spoke. I kept my eyes on my phone, though. I couldn’t let him distract me any more; I had to focus on what Hayley asked me to do.

It was a tense fifteen minutes where neither Jake nor I spoke but just listened to Hayley, who seemed oblivious to our discomfort. She bossed us and the conference administrators around and then went out into the exhibition hall to bring readers into the room. No one could say no to Hayley so soon the room was filling up. Jake went to the front with Hayley’s Kindle, his book loaded up, ready to read from, and I stood to the side with my phone to film it so I could share it online afterwards. I really hoped this would work and get him that book deal. But I wasn’t convinced. And it felt like my own career was hanging by a thread.

‘Hi everyone,’ Jake said, and the chatter in the room died down. He looked at me but I looked down at my phone and started filming. Hayley was leaning against the wall on the other side and I didn’t want her to see us have any sort of connection. If she was angry with me now, I knew it would be nothing if she found out we’d been far less than professional while we were here.

‘I wanted to thank you all for your support by reading a couple of chapters from…’ Jake began, saying what Hayley had told him to. But then he looked at me again and sighed. ‘Actually, before I do a reading, I have something to say,’ he said.

I glanced at Hayley, who was frowning.

‘I know that at the last reader session, you all left with mixed feelings. Because I told you why I acted like I didn’t care about romance books or any of you; I wanted to keep a personal secret from getting out but I realise now that by telling half of the story, you can’t really understand what was going on. And I might not get another romance book published. I don’t want to leave this conference and have any of you thinking that I haven’t loved this career, and telling the stories that I have done. If this book…’ he waved his Kindle, ‘…never sees the light of day, I still want to be an author you can enjoy reading. So…’ He took a deep breath.

Hayley stepped off the wall and was about to say something but Jake turned to her with such a glare, she paused. I bit my lips to hide a smile. It was good to see her falter just once.

Jake paced for a couple of seconds then stopped and faced the room again. ‘I didn’t want Davis Mulberry to know what was happening in my personal life but I also wasn’t sure I believed in love stories any more because my faith in love had been shattered,’ he said. The room was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. I heard his voice catch. I started to bring my phone down but he saw and shook his head so I kept on filming. ‘I began writing romance because I was inspired by my parents. But the happy ever after that inspired me to write books with similar happy endings, and made me want my own one day, turned out to have been far from happy. My parents, who have been married for forty years and who I thought were the ultimate happy ever after… are actually not.’ Jake sighed. ‘My father had been cheating on my mother for years. On our family, really. He had a second family all along. And I not only found out about them but had to watch my father leave my mother and our family home to go and be with his other family.’

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A ripple went through the room after Jake’s revelation. I could see the pain behind his eyes, and in his voice as he told us about his parents. There were murmurs of conversations as people took in what he had said.

I looked at Hayley, who was completely shocked and seemed unsure what to say or do, and leaned against the wall again, shaking her head. I turned to Jake and gave him a nod of encouragement. He cleared his throat, waited a moment for everyone to settle back down, then he spoke again. ‘Yeah, my father had lied to me and my mum my whole life. He had another woman, and children, and he used his job that took him travelling a lot to live this double life. It shook our world as you can imagine. I thought they were the ultimate love story but it was a lie. Does that mean all love is a lie?’ Jake shook his head. ‘No, but it’s taken me a few months to realise that. That conversation with Davis Mulberry happened at my lowest point. I did almost want to give it all up. But after the article that revealed what I said about romance books came out, I realised that I really could lose it all, and that made me see that I didn’t want to. That I did still believe in love and I do want to write about it. I have received a lot of messages from readers over the years and I know that I’m not the only one to have experienced a broken heart. So many of you have but you still love reading about love, and I still love writing about it.’

I looked at Hayley. She seemed disappointed. Clearly, she still didn’t think this was a good idea. But I was so proud of Jake. I had to help this work out.

I stopped filming, put my phone down and stepped forward. ‘I’ve never been in love,’ I said. Jake turned in surprise and I felt all eyes in the room train on me, which made me nervous but I carried on speaking, keeping my gaze on Jake to give me more confidence. ‘I have always loved your books because they gave me hope that one day, I will. And if I don’t… they are a form of escapism from life, which can be hard, let’s face it. They make me happy. I will always want to read a new Jake Richards book.’

Jake smiled at me. It was a slow smile that felt hard won. I smiled back.

A woman at the back of the room stood up then. ‘I lost my husband four years ago and one of my friends gave me one of your books. They gave me comfort. They still do.’

Another woman stood up after her. ‘I am married and I love reading about couples falling in love because it reminds me of how my husband and I fell in love.’

Hayley waved at me from across the room; she gestured to my phone.

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