Darla’s right. I need to give him a chance.
I pull out my phone and carefully scroll through my contacts. Taking a deep breath, I type out a message to him. I’m sorry, Robert. I do care about you.
I hope he gets what I’m trying to say. That I want him to fight for us. That he needs to fight for us.
Suddenly, my phone pings.
Good to hear, he responds. And then nothing after that. Oh god, oh god, have I screwed up again? What does this mean?
I clutch my cell to my chest, hoping he cares about me enough to tell the board where they can shove their stupid dating rules. Because then maybe I can have my cake and eat it too.
The movie ends, but I don’t pay much attention to it. My mind is on Robert and the orgasm he gave me earlier, and the possibility of us being together sometime in the future.
Once the credits roll, I shut my laptop and get ready for bed. I fall asleep still thinking about the gorgeous alpha male. And in my dreams, we’re together. I’m a published author, and nothing stands in our way. We have a relationship that everyone knows about, and it doesn’t matter. I wish I could stay dreaming forever … but often, reality is much more harsh and inescapable.
11
Robert
Getting that text from Elisa two weeks ago was enough for me. It confirmed what Pattie thought: Elisa wasn’t being totally truthful when she left me that day. Because my editor was adamant that the girl loved me, and merely tongue-tied and tangled every which way. Okay fine. I’ll take it for what it’s worth. It still doesn’t change the fact that I declared my love, only to be trampled on.
But I haven’t given up because maybe Elisa’s just confused. She’s young, after all, and doesn’t realize that what we have is precious. So it’s my job to make her see it, and I’ve been working like a fiend as a result. Pattie and I spent the last two weeks preparing materials to bring to the board to convince them that this fucking dating rule is ridiculous. Obviously not in those words, but I think we’ve prepared well for this. We have a real chance of convincing the board to change the guidelines.
And today, the board’s gathered in our conference room of Cameron Publishing. Who knows what they’re discussing while we wait, but I really don’t care. Only Elisa concerns me now.
Pattie meets me in my office ten minutes before our appointed time. “You ready for this, Robert?”
I pick up my stack of papers, which includes the best chapter of my girl’s novel, as well as statistics about dating in the workplace. “I’m ready. Do you think it’ll work?”
“I hope so. I don’t want to lose this book.”
At this point, the book is nothing to me frankly. I just don’t want to lose her.
We walk to the other side of the office floor and knock on the conference room door. Steven, the chairman, lets us in.
“Right on time,” he says, gesturing for the table. Pattie and I take the only two empty seats in the room. The board is made up of four women and three men. They make business related-decisions and stop me from doing anything stupid. Like sleep with one of our authors.
Steven returns to the head of the table and sits down. “Next up on the agenda, Elisa Morgan.”
A murmur travels through the group, but Steven silences them with a harsh look. “We’re here to decide if Elisa Morgan’s novel should be published by this company. Elisa and our CEO have had a sexual relationship, which makes her a liability to us.”
“The relationship has ended,” I say calmly. “And the sexual relationship had nothing to do with her contract. The contract was our standard one, and duly executed by the author.”
“I don’t know, Robert. She could use this to hurt us,” Monica says. A forty year-old mother of three, Monica is practical and realistic. Her grey-flecked chestnut hair is piled on top of her head in a tasteful bun. “It might not be the best idea to keep her book in the catalogue given liability issues.”
Liability, schmiability. I stand with my stack of papers and hand the sample chapter out to the group. “This is the novel you’re considering turning away over my indiscretion.”
A couple board members roll their eyes.
“Robert, we don’t need to read the project. We’re here for business. We don’t do editing. That’s your job.”
But I’m insistent.
“This is our business. Books. You need to read it to understand why it’s important we publish this manuscript. Take your time. I’ll wait.”
It takes the group all too long to read the chapter. Pattie and I went through the entire book to pick the one that would evoke the most emotion without any context. Luckily, Elisa sent her final revisions over last week and the chapter we have on hand is perfect. The main character, Sarah, just discovered that her father is a serial killer and offed her entire family. All of the board members have tears in their eyes when they finish reading.