“Okay,” he said, and she nearly hung up before he overcame his surprise and elation enough to add, “I love you.”
“I know,” she said teasingly. Then she disconnected.
Ben sat still for several minutes. His whole world had shifted, and he was stunned by the whiplash it caused.A baby. Sloane wanted a baby. She’d really said that. He’d be a father, after all.
He laughed out loud, even though there was no one around to hear him. Then he yelled, “Yes!” and pumped his fist as he leaped to his feet.
He needed to find his laptop. If they were going to create a nursery, they’d need some ideas, and he wanted to see what other parents had done. He couldn’t make any decisions without Sloane’s input—she was the decorator, and a professional at that—but he could certainly send her some ideas.
Charlotte had received an email from her editor. Megan was cautiously optimistic about her new manuscript. She said she personally liked this story better than the first one, but was worried about the difference in tone. She’d had the publisher read her sample chapters to get his opinion—as Charlotte had guessed she was doing—and he was equally concerned that her readership wouldn’t follow her into more “emotionally hefty” territory. But they both liked the book well enough to give it a chance.
That meant she was going to get to finish the manuscript and send it out into the world. She was excited, but the uncertainty they felt tempered her reaction. She wasn’t any more convinced than they were that her audience would embrace such a big change.
But what she was writing now reflected how much she’d grown as a person. She had to go with what inspired her, what moved her—couldn’t conjure up anything else at the moment—so she was going to take her chances.
“What is it?” Lilly asked. “Have you heard from Megan?”
Lilly was sitting at the other end of the table putting a thousand-piece puzzle together and must’ve noticed the change in her expression because Charlotte hadn’t made a sound.
“I have.”
Worry entered Lilly’s eyes. “What’d she say?”
Sloane was in the kitchen putting together a vegetable tray but was close enough to overhear them and immediately came to the dining room. “Did she like it?”
“She did,” Charlotte said somewhat tentatively. “More than my first book. But they’re concerned about how it might be received.”
“What does that mean?” Lilly asked.
“They’re afraid it won’t sell,” Charlotte clarified. “And if it doesn’t sell...”
“Well, there are no guarantees any book will sell, are there?” Sloane said.
Yes and no, Charlotte thought. If she’d gone back to Cliff, she would’ve had as much of a guarantee as anyone could get. Her book would’ve sold simply because of her connection to him, like the first one did. She had to go with this one on her own, which was terrifying, but it didn’t make her regret her decision. She hadn’t married Cliff for his fame, and she wasn’t willing to go back to him because of it, either.
“True,” Charlotte agreed.
“It’s going to be a great book, which means it’ll do fine,” Sloane predicted, obviously trying to buoy her confidence.
“I hope so.” Charlotte checked her phone. Julian had only left a few hours ago, but she was already dying to hear from him.
Sadly, there’d been no word, but she kept checking.
“So are you going to try to get a few pages written today?” Sloane asked.
Charlotte nodded. “I can’t fall any further behind.”
“At least you know what you’re creating is good,” Sloane said. “Let that encourage you.”
“I will.” Although Charlotte was worried about the risk, she knew the situation with her career could be worse. Had Megan and the publisher hated what she was writing, she would’ve been in a world of hurt.
Picking up her phone again, she texted Julian:
Don’t you want to know what my publisher said about my book?
She’d thought that might be just the carrot to get him to respond. But she waited several minutes—and got nothing.
You’re making Charlotte really sad.
