Page 6 of Long Story Short

4

The following week was spent frantically preparing for New York. With butterflies swirling in my stomach, I booked first-class plane tickets. I hadn’t even travelled first class on a train before. When it came to a hotel, I copied Liv and booked us into The Waldorf Astoria, which had been used as a filming location inSerendipity.Why not tick off one of my life goals? I was trying to hold on to as much positivity about the trip as possible and staying there would surely make any difficult moments with Jake worth it. I booked two deluxe rooms next to one another with a view of the city and then arranged for a car to collect us from the airport. I then took myself to the shops and spent some of my pretty meagre salary on two new dresses. New York would be warm and after a few rubbish summers in London, I was missing a plentiful summer wardrobe. I made sure I didn’t spend much though by getting them in Primark, along with a new pair of boots, a straw hat in case I left the conference centre, and a pair of heart-framed sunglasses.

Then my last day at work before we headed for New York arrived, and Hayley called me into her office first thing so we could strategise for my five days in the city.

‘Your main goal on this trip,’ Hayley said as she paced around her office while I sat with a notebook on my lap to jot down her instructions, ‘is to remind everyone that Jake Richards is the king of romance books. To make them forget that article ever came out. That readers love his books and are desperate for more. Our success metric is, of course, getting him a new book deal with his publishers,’ she said, barking at me like she was an army sergeant.

I nodded along as that seemed to be all she required.

‘Jake will be on two panels at the conference, plus he’s doing a book reading and signing, and an interview with a romance book podcast,’ Hayley continued. ‘I’m most concerned about the signing and reader session as it’s allotted just to him.’

‘You’re not sure if readers will turn up?’

Hayley sighed. ‘Exactly. Will they boycott it or will they show up so they can accuse him about what he said? Or will his diehard fans still support him? It could go a number of ways. So, you’ll need to really be ready for anything.’

I wrote down in the notebook,be ready for anythingand tried not to panic about failing spectacularly, with Jake Richards sinking without a trace along with my career dreams.

‘As you know, Liv is also there and her publisher will be looking after her, but make sure to check in with her just in case.’ Hayley looked at me. ‘Any questions?’

I bit back the urge to tell her I had nothing but questions. ‘I have one…’

I wondered whether she would tell me the truth. I knew that logically, it shouldn’t matter; this was my job and I needed to do it. But the word ‘why’ just kept on floating into my mind.

‘If Jake truly hates romance and pities the people who love them, then why has he agreed to this trip? It can’t just be about money. I mean, he must be a millionaire…’

Hayley barked out a laugh. ‘Not quite: I don’t makethatmuch commission out of him. But yes, he’s had a lucrative career… and it’s one that I want to keep on managing. All I know is, he’s asked me to get him another book deal and that’s what I’m going to do. Anything else, you’ll have to ask him.’

I stared at her, knowing that would be impossible. There was no way we could have that kind of tête-à-tête on this trip.

As Hayley went on again about saving his reputation, I zoned out a little bit and drew a heart in the margin of my notebook. I wondered if what Jake cared more about than money was his reputation. He had gone from being the number-one romance author in the UK, maybe even the world, and that kind of fall from grace must have been hard to take. He had always seemed super confident to me, a man with a large ego, so maybe he wanted to get his power and status back.

‘The only thing Jake has refused to do at the conference,’ Hayley said, drawing me back from my thoughts, ‘is to have his own stand on the final day. He said he didn’t want to be in the room with everyone in the industry and all the conference attendees because he might be murdered.’

I snorted. ‘He has a point, to be fair.’

Hayley gave me a warning look again. ‘Perhaps, but I told him the welcome drinks on the evening you arrive are non-negotiable. Everyone at the conference will be there so I suggest you both go, take a tour of the room, make sure he’s seen and is polite to anyone who matters then get him the hell out of there before there is a hint of murder.’ She said this so matter-of-factly, I had no idea if she was joking or not. I didn’t want to find out though so I underlined the note I had jotted down about leaving the welcome drinks ASAP.

The meeting with Hayley lasted most of the morning but thankfully, she then told me to go home so I could pack and get a good night’s sleep ahead of my flight to New York in the morning.

When I got back to the flat, I opened up my suitcase on my bed and started to put my clothes into it. Nerves swirled around with excitement about the trip ahead. I grabbed toiletries from the bathroom and stared at what I had packed so far, hoping I wasn’t forgetting anything important like my passport or something equally embarrassing. I needed to get off on the right foot with Jake Richards, so instead of letting him see how ruffled I was, I needed to act calm, cool and collected. I thought that maybe a mantra could help so I repeated those words over and over in my mind as I packed and hoped they would become true.

* * *

Spoiler alert: the mantra failed.

Calm, cool and collected. My arse.

First, the car I had ordered was half an hour late to pick me up. I made frantic phone calls and checked my emails with them and finally, the car company admitted my driver had set off late and was now stuck in traffic. Jake consequently arrived at the airport before me and sailed through check-in, sending me a curt message saying he’d meet me in the first-class lounge. So, we didn’t get off to the best start there. When I finally got to Heathrow, there was a long check-in queue and then, of course, they wanted to look through my suitcase because I clearly looked so nervous and frantic, they thought I might be planning to do something dodgy.

When I finally got all checked in, I hurried to the lounge with my carry-on bag, red-faced, heart racing with a bead of sweat dripping down my back. As I walked through the lounge entrance, I missed the yellow ‘caution wet floor’ sign and hurried across the shiny floor in my three-inch boots, and slipped instantly. I let out a strangled yell akin to a cat if you stood on their tail then promptly fell down. My bag collapsed open beside me, its contents flying everywhere.

I lay on my back in a heap on the floor, wondering if I had died and gone to hell, when someone cleared their throat. I looked up in confusion into a pair of hazel-coloured eyes. ‘Am I alive?’ I asked, clutching my chest with my hand.

‘You’re talking so I would say yes,’ the man replied, dryly. ‘How about I help you up to make sure?’

‘Oh, okay, yes, good idea,’ I said, nodding. My whole body hurt along with the stabbing pain of intense humiliation. I was certain my face was the same shade as a lobster. A hand stretched out for mine and I grabbed it, clammy and sweaty, and let the man pull me up from the floor with easy strength.

Once I was back on my feet, I swayed for a moment but the hand holding mine steadied me. I shook my head to clear my confusion and then the man in front of me became clear. I dropped his hand instantly. ‘Oh, it’s you,’ I said stupidly, as I realised it had been Jake Richards who had not only witnessed my epic fall, but who had had to help me get back up.

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