As soon as he walked in, the fresh, citrusy smell of Joyce’s work hit him. It smelled nice and it looked cleaner than he’d seen it in a while. Maybe he should let her in more often.
He took out his laptop and plugged it in. He hadn’t looked at emails since before they’d left for the airport last night. He was sure there was a backlog.
He fired the machine up and logged on, going straight to his inbox. So much garbage. He checked the selection box next to all the obvious junk mail he wasn’t going to read, like newsletters, group digest messages, and promotional stuff he didn’t have time for. When he’d checked all of those, he hit Delete.
That still left a fair number of emails behind. He skimmed through the senders, looking for the most important ones.
He found Lucinda’s name near the top of the list. Her email had come in about an hour ago. Subject line wasNeed input.
He clicked on it to read.
Morning, Mitch,
Hope you’re well. I think you will be after you read this. I’ve gotten bids from five publishers for Kyle’s book. The two lowest aren’t worth considering, in my opinion, but it’s my job to send them all.
I just wanted to give you a heads up first, before I send these to Kyle. These offers are stellar. I mean it. But you’ll see that two of them are willing to increase dramatically if your name goes on the book.
I know how he feels about this, but I’d like him to at least look at the numbers. Maybe they’ll change his mind.
You’ll find the offers attached. Look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
L
He clicked on the attachment and started reading. He had to stop and reread. The numbers were incredible. She hadn’t beenexaggerating. But with his name attached, the first publisher was willing to add a hundred thousand dollars to the offer. The second went even higher, offering an additional one fifty.
That was more than significant. It was life-changing.
He read through the rest. The deals were all pretty similar, the rates standard, as were the lengths of the contracts.
He sent a quick note back to Lucinda.
Hi, Lucinda,
These look great. Nice work. Thank you! Please go ahead and send them to Kyle. Ultimately, the decision is his.
Best,
Mitch
He meant that, too. As he’d said before, whatever Kyle wanted to do, Mitch would support him.
He got up and walked to Kyle’s room. Kyle was at his desk. Mitch knocked on the frame of the open door. “Lucinda’s about to send five offers for you to consider. After you read through them, come in and tell me what you think.”
“Okay.”
Mitch went back to his office, opened up his current work in progress and did a quick skim of the last few pages he’d written, just to get himself back into the story.
He’d eked out two paragraphs before Kyle walked through the door.
His eyes were wide, brows lifted, and he looked a bit in shock. Clearly, he hadn’t been expecting the numbers he’d seen. “Dad, did you see those offers?”
Mitch sat back and nodded. “I did. What do you think?”
Kyle collapsed onto the couch. “I…don’t know what I think. I didnotexpect that kind of money.”
“Neither did I. I thought it would be good. Thrillers are hot and your book was insanely well done, but yes, that was surprising.”
