Page 58 of Smoke and Fire
Priyanka did that kind of sleuthing for me, and said she thought the marketing team at my publisher tracked them also.
Platinum status,Pri had once said of Jess.No publisher is going to dedicate that kind of marketing to an author unless they really sell.
Which only made the pressure to stay hidden—and relevant—feel that much stronger. My attention flipped back to Dahlia. Psycho finally settled on her lap like she owned Dahlia now.
A very lucky cat.
“Emails are going much better now that I’ve read so many of the books.” Dahlia leaned back against the table, hair on her shoulders. “I’m halfway through thirteen and closing in fast. Obviously, I won’t get all of them read by the launch, but I’m close enough. I’ve mostly figured out what happens anyway. Sorry.” She grimaced. “This video is probably too long. Send me any questions. Byyyyyye.”
It clicked off too soon.
When I glanced at the time on it, it had run for over two minutes. Her first videos were about thirty seconds. Either she’d been growing into this, or I had. Or both. Either way, it wasn’t long enough. I rubbed my hand over my eyes. Another week and I’d be home.
In less than two days, the book launched.
With a muttered hope for reception to hold, I navigated to my email, just to check. The gods of the internet let me in, and I stared at it in surprise.
The 1,456 emails I’d left her had whittled down to 245. Of those, only ten were fresh in the last few hours. The rest were scattered, old emails that I hadn't known what to do with, so I left there.
New labels populated down the side of the screen, and my mind caught on one titled BASTIAN. I left that page to deal with later, navigating to a new browser to log into my publisher.
With time zones,Wanderlust is a Battlewould launch in Australia first. Preorder e-book sales would hit on the hourly sales report page starting before midnight tomorrow. Before that, however, the pre-launch marketing would likely show an uptick in sales on the other books in preparation for book twenty-one.
The page finally loaded. Sure enough, a spike in the sales graph clawed higher than usual. Jess often sold upwards of thousands of books a day, but the launch would push her into the tens of thousands. I shook my head and navigated away.
The launch hadn’t even begun and madness already started.
For several minutes, my thoughts roamed to Dahlia’s bright energy, her in the social media groups, and finally to the fire that awaited me again in the morning.
While I dug through the soil and broke my body with hard labor, she'd be launching my novel into the world. Dahlia created safety for my family now. So what was I doing here? Maybe I should finally pull the plug on wildland firefighting.
That would throw me into the writing business full time. I’d eventually have to let my friends know the truth, and embrace the obvious and most successful path.
Even as I thought it, the building darkness in my body prevented me from believing it.
No. Writing was an escape and I often loved it. But it wasn’t my sole path. Would never be my sole path. I didn’t like the idea of ever settling into one sole path, like my friend Grady.
Grady married, found his career, and thrived in his new happily-ever-after. Me?
I wanted more change than that.
Besides, writing wasn’t real. None of it. Jess’s stories? They were all . . . constructs. Maybe even buried hopes of being the man that one of those women wanted me to be. Or the life IwishedInessa could have lived or the life I would have given Dad after Mom died.
Whatever my motivation for weaving such complex romances, it wasn’t something I wanted to survive on for the rest of my life.
At least, I didn’t think so.
But maybe.
Sounds from fire camp filtered back through my mind. The steady day had given a gentle reprieve from the previous fire push, but the monster was drawing it's breath. In a few days when the wind kicked back up, it'd throw fire like a dragon. Thinking about fire is when I felt the answer all the way down to my bones.
This is why I fight fires,came the thought.Because it’s real.
17
DAHLIA
Launch day dawned with a glittering pink sunrise and gentle wind out of the west. I closed my eyes, breathed in the smell of the forest, and sighed.
