Сьюзен Мэллери – Not Quite Over You (страница 13)
“We’re all excited about the book you’re working on,” Sara said, leading him toward one of the conference rooms.
He chuckled. “Is that your not-so-subtle way of asking if I’m going to deliver the book on time?”
Sara smiled. “No, but now that you mention it...” She motioned him into a small conference room. “How is the book going?”
“I’m on track. I should be done in plenty of time.”
“That’s exactly what I want to hear.”
He walked in and shook hands with his agent. Hank was a small, thin man pushing fifty. His unassuming appearance belied his killer instinct. They’d met at the first writer’s conference Jasper had attended. He’d entered a contest where the finalists had their pages read by a New York agent. Hank was way too powerful to judge contests or bother with conferences, but when a junior agent at his firm had been too sick to attend, Hank had volunteered to go in her place. Jasper had won the contest, Hank had read the pages and signed him within a week.
“You made it,” Hank said as they sat down. “Everything good on your flight and with the hotel?”
“Couldn’t be better.”
When Jasper had sold his first book, he’d still been fairly messed up from his time in the army. PTSD, brought on by years of fighting overseas, had a way of doing that to a person. He’d agreed to go on a book tour before realizing what that meant. The itinerary—flying all over the country to speak at bookstores and then sign books—had terrified him. Crowds were tough and airports had been impossible. They’d compromised by spreading out the events and having him drive himself from city to city.
Over the years, he’d gotten better. Flying would never be fun, but he could do it. The same with speaking to a large group. The signings were easy because he liked meeting his readers. But while he’d relaxed into the process, Sara and Hank always monitored him, as if concerned he was going to have an episode at any second. He supposed he was enough of a jerk to kind of enjoy their tension.
One of the assistants brought in coffee. Sara waited until he’d left before speaking.
“You’d mentioned this was the second to the last book in the series,” she began. “Next year you’ll write the last book, then start something new.”
Jasper nodded. “I’ve been playing around with an idea for a military series.”
Hank and Sara glanced at each other. “We’re excited about the idea,” Hank told him. “Are you ready to write it?”
Jasper didn’t think he would ever be ready, but he was starting to think it was time. He’d already created the main character—an amalgamation of three guys he’d known back in Afghanistan. Three good men who had been killed. He wanted to tell their stories without violating their privacy. Creating one character that took the best of each of them solved the problem.
“I’ve got a good handle on what I want to do,” Jasper said. “I’m thinking of an open-ended series. Military crimes, some with a civilian connection.”
Sara’s eyes brightened. “We would love that. You’re the best at what you do. Just to be clear, next year you’ll write the last book in your current series, and then you’ll start the new series after that.”
“Yes.”
Hank leaned forward. “Vidar needs a love interest.”
Jasper resisted rolling his eyes. “So you’ve told me.”
“Hank’s right,” Sara added. “It’s time. You have female readers who adore you, but come on. You need a fully realized woman in one of your books. One who is more than a one-night stand or a victim. It will help you grow as a writer. Vidar falling in love will make readers bond with him more and bring the series to a satisfying conclusion.”
A conversation they’d had before. Jasper knew the argument. Vidar, his ongoing hero, was too one-dimensional. He needed a personal life. A deeper backstory. Less grunts and more conversation.
His argument that the character borrowed heavily from the Norse mythology—the son of Odin and a giantess named Grid, Vidar was silent and known for his physical strength and therefore was unchangeable—was wearing thin.
What he didn’t tell them and would barely admit to himself was his resistance wasn’t about the story. He knew they were right in their assessment of his story arc. The problem was him—he wasn’t sure he knew
“I’ll see what he can do,” he told them.
“Excellent.” Hank nodded. “Now Sara has some interesting ideas about next year’s tour.”
Sara smiled. “I hope you’re going to be excited. We want to do something different.”
Their idea of exciting and his had little in common, he thought, but nodded to show he was willing to listen.
Sara leaned toward him. “We want to send you to Europe. All your publishers there are clamoring to see you. England, France, Spain, Italy and of course Germany.”
“You’re huge in Germany,” Hank reminded him.
“We’re hoping for three weeks.” Her tone was cautious. “If you think you could manage that.”
He’d never been to Europe, he thought. Never thought he’d go. He was fairly sure his passport was out-of-date, but that was easily rectified.
“Make it four weeks so I can have a day or two off in each of the countries,” he told them. “I’d like to look around and see a few things.”
“Excellent.” Sara jotted on her pad of paper. “Now about the US tour. We really want to push the book and have you visit as many of the accounts as possible.” She smiled. “Before you glower at me, we’ve come up with what we think is the perfect solution.”
She pulled a large, glossy brochure from under the pad and handed it to him. Jasper looked at the cover and started to laugh. “Seriously?”
The picture showed a luxury RV on a highway. He turned the page and saw a layout along with a list of amenities.
Sara’s expression was hopeful. “We’d take care of renting the trailer and booking your trailer sites or camping spaces or whatever they’re called. In the big cities like Chicago and St. Louis, you’d leave the trailer parked at the site and stay at a hotel for a couple of days. But most of the time you’d be on your own, driving from place to place. No escort, no airports, no rush. What do you think?”
“How long would you want me to be on tour?”
She worried her lower lip. “Three months?”
It was a long time to be gone, but it wasn’t as if he had a lot waiting for him at home. He thought briefly of Wynn, but theirs was a casual relationship—no promises, no strings. He’d left Happily Inc three days ago and he hadn’t heard from her. He would be gone another couple of weeks and they wouldn’t be in touch until he was home. Like he’d first thought—he was free to do what he wanted.
“Let’s do it,” he told Sara. “I’ll use the road time to get my last book in the series figured out, then go home and write it.”
Hank grinned. “Fantastic. Your sales are going to go through the roof.”
Jasper nodded as if that mattered to him as well, but in truth, the writing was a lot more about keeping the demons at bay and his ability to look himself in the mirror than about any royalty check. The writing had saved him when he’d thought nothing could. Without his stories, he wouldn’t be here today—of that he was sure.
DREW WATCHED SILVER sign the paperwork formalizing their new business relationship. He’d delivered the contract to her a couple of days ago and she’d had an attorney look everything over. This morning she’d texted to say she was ready to sign.
He’d arrived at her retail space shortly before noon. She’d been waiting, one of the display tables cleared, with two chairs on opposite sides. It wasn’t until she finished with the last page that he realized he’d half expected her to change her mind. Taking on a partner was a big deal. But she hadn’t and now they were partners.
He took his copy of the contract, then held out the keys for the new trailers. “Here you go.”
She grinned and took them. “I have so many plans I’m not sure where to start.”
“Show me.”
She walked to the small alcove she used as her office and returned with several sheets of paper and a large sketch pad. She set the latter in front of him, then moved her chair so they were sitting on the same side of the table.
“I thought we’d keep the remodel on the smaller trailer fairly simple,” she began. “It’s more mobile, given the size. We can take it out into the desert or up to Honeymoon Falls. It’s going to be all about using the space.”
She showed him the drawings she’d made of custom shelves and cabinets. A refrigerator was a must, but if they were going to be away from an electrical source, then they would be working off a portable generator.
“That means there’s a noise component,” she told him. “We’ll have to figure out how long we can have the generator turned off. During a wedding ceremony for sure, but then it would have to be on for the party, otherwise, nothing would stay cold.”
“What about solar panels?” he asked.
She blinked at him. “What?”
“Maybe we could use solar panels to power everything. We’re in the desert—it’s rarely cloudy. As long as the panels were fully charged, I bet we could avoid using a generator.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s brilliant. Yes, let’s look into that!”