“I need to take a trip to California this week,” he said. “I shouldn’t be gone for longer than ten days. There are important meetings happening for a company I invested in, and I need to be there for them.”
Oh, I had itbad.Because ten days sounded like ten years all of a sudden.
“What’s the company?” I asked, putting on my very chill, cool, and unbothered girl mask. I took another bite of ice cream.
“A tech privacy startup,” he said.
“Oh, yeah, you mentioned this during the chest harness.”
I’d answered bright green to rope and other restraints. Wes might’ve been remembering this too, as his eyes became suddenly hooded, his grip on my thighs tightening.
“While I’m gone, I…” He hesitated. “I’d really prefer if you didn’t indulge Archer and Jayne’s pursuance. I don’t like the idea of you facing their world alone while I’m across the country. I know you don’t owe me this, but?—”
“I won’t,” I said easily. “I need to lock in with writing anyway. And I don’t want you to worry.”
Wes relaxed. “Thank you, Nova.”
The first week passed without a hitch. I let Jayne and Archer’s agent friend sit in my inbox, not ready to make a decision on that front yet. Besides, she couldn’t do anything for me until I’d finished this first draft anyway, which wouldn’t be until October at a minimum.
Financially, things were not looking great for me. I’d hit a wall with my social media marketing, and I wasn’t earning enough to justify taking another gamble on paid advertising. I was getting so sick of posting the same ten hooks over and over again in different formats, rarely ever making it out of the triple digits of views. Meanwhile, my current readers were asking when the next book was coming out, and I wasn’t ready to tell them what I was writing was neither sweet nor cozy.
Perhaps the most frustrating part of all was thatI knew what I was doing. I knew what worked and what didn’t work. I’d studied the patterns, the best-seller charts, reader expectations, and winning authors’ strategies. It was painful to admit, but I had a feeling if I applied my knowledge to the book I wascurrently writing, marketing would go a lot differently for me. The best tactics in the world couldn’t push the wrong books.
Which was not to say my genre itself was wrong. There were success stories in every genre. But it was wrong forme.My heart wasn’t in it anymore. Something had changed.
“The water is boiling, babe,” Hudson said, lifting his brows.
I had been leaning over the kitchen counter, staring into space as my mind ran through my current list of problems and how I might solve them.
I snapped out of it. “Thank you,” I said, quickly turning to drop the spaghetti noodles into the violently bubbling pot.
“Spaghetti again?” Hudson asked slowly. “I bought beef yesterday. Please use it. I can’t stand to watch you eat noodles and tomato sauce for dinner.”
I sighed. “Okay, that sounds really nice. Only if you’ll eat it with me.”
“Gladly. But I’m making the sauce. We need red pepper flakes, fresh garlic, mushrooms…”
I turned back to him with a grin. “Wow. We’re eating like kings!”
He rolled his eyes, unable to curb his smile. “Take a seat. I’m handling things from here.”
Hudson’s lack of faith in me was insulting, but being able to sit rather than perform yet another task after a day full of tasks made up for it.
“When do we get to assess Mr. Hottie in the flesh?” Hudson asked.
My phone buzzed.
Maisy
Girl. The Hunt is in like, 6 weeks. We need to figure out our outfits. It’s more intimate since it’s a weekend at the cabin upstate, but I’m sure you’ll get an invite. Umm, idk about Wes tho…
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. I turned my ringer off and placed my phone face-down.
“His stupid trip to stupid California got extended. By four entire days.” I crossed my arms. “So next week, or maybe next year, if things keep going how they’re going,” I said with a deep sigh.
“Oh, the dramaaa.” Hudson snorted. “Well, you’ve certainly been eating like a wife in the Depression Era waiting for her husband to return home from World War II.”
“World War II and the Great Depression were happening at the same time? That’s really tough. Maybe my life isn’t so bad.”
