Chapter 29 The Darkest Moment
Chapter 29
the darkest moment
The next day, Wes was still dealing with his plumbing problems. By day it was either Old Faithful or the Mohave. But by night? By night his personal pipes were working overtime. As Summer could attest to.
He and Autumn had essentially swapped houses, with Randy and Autumn in the penthouse – deciding to defer their move to New York for a while—and Wes at the apartment. The switch seemed to suit each couple to the tee.
“How much do you think there is in damage?” Randy asked, walking toward him. He was dressed in business casual, perfect for his new job, and he had the bling of an engagement ring on. Autumn said it was to tell the other ladies he was off the market. Wes preferred his love marks and nail scratches to a material item when it came to ownership.
“Tens of thousands in water-damaged books alone. Then there’s the concrete they had to dig up to find the pipe and fix it. Insurance will cover most of it, but it’s a headache.”
“At least we’ll still make the grand opening,” Randy said. “Right?”
“All of the damage is in the basement. Had we not found the leak when we did it would have overflowed into the stockroom and then, no, we would not make the grand opening.”
As it was, he had six industrial fans going around the clock, an interior designer and her team finishing the decor, ten stockers stocking shelves with books and toys, and a partridge in a pear tree. And Wes was trying to oversee it all, but cutting his hours from ninety a week down to a sensible sixty so he could spend time with Summer wasn’t helping.
He was a master delegator, but this opening was too important to leave even one detail to someone else. He and Randy’s professional lives depended on it. The only person he trusted to do his thing was Randy. It was a way to let him stand on his own two feet and gain confidence in his new position at the company. Which was why Wes had felt comfortable canceling their most recent update meeting.
“Well, we’d better make it, because I’ve been putting all my time and energy into this opening. The other night I was lying in bed with Autumn—”
“I don’t need to hear the rest of this.”
“Not like that. Although ten minutes before it was going on, if you know what I mean.” Wes rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I had an ah-ha moment and it hit me. Instead of opening at ten a.m., why not open at one minute after midnight?”
“Who the hell is going to show up at midnight?”
“Oh, just every Sloan Chase fan in the surrounding three states.”
Fear, stark and vivid, registered in his gut. “What the hell do you mean Sloan is coming here?”
“It worked out perfect, man. Her book comes out on the day of our grand opening and her publicist thought it would be a perfect pairing to host a mega signing. I have eleven sponsors donating things for swag bags, a DJ”—he mentioned the name of some masked DJ who was world-famous—“and I even got a red carpet with photographers for super fans for a meet and greet with Sloan to get their photo taken. We’re talking red carpet event. Entertainment Tonight is going to promo it tomorrow, I’ve already sent out newsletters to our subscriber list, which is now over a million by the way thanks to Autumn helping with social media outreach. Our publicity team is working with another company that has access to another three million romance readers.”
Wes’s head began to pound. “Does Autumn know?”
“Not yet. I wanted to see if I could pull it off first. I was going to run it by you the other day at our meeting, but you had to bail to meet Summer for lunch, remember?”
Oh, he remembered. They’d skipped lunch and made love until they both collapsed breathless on the bed.
“I wanted to talk to you first, but tonight I wanted to ask Autumn to host live on our social media feeds.”
Randy was clearly not reading the room, because while Wes’s heart was jackhammering against his chest, and the excitement and pride Summer had carried around the past couple weeks played over and over in his mind, his brother just went on and on about how much he’d done, who he’d signed contracts with, the endorsers he’d partnered with, the verbal agreements he’d made, all in the company’s name—with the kinds of people you didn’t default on without getting sued.
“Why do you look like you’re pissing yourself—and not in a good way?” Randy asked.
Wes started getting blurry around the eyes and he felt like he was going to puke. He bent over at the waist. He breathed in through his mouth and out through his nose while counting backwards from ten. When he reached one, he felt not one ounce better.
“Did I do something wrong?” Randy asked, as if Wes’s reaction had aroused old fears and insecurities.
“No, you did everything right.”
It was Wes who’d got it wrong. Randy had tried to meet with him several times, but he’d been in a rush to get his work done so he could get home to Summer. He’d been so distracted by what was in his right hand he’d lost track of what was going on in his left.
“I told you to run with it, and you did,” Wes said.
“Then why do I feel like I fucked up?”
“You didn’t. I did, and I don’t know how to fix it. This screws up Sloan’s signing at Summer’s shop.”
“No, I made it clear that Sloan was going to do both signings and the podcast. She just wants a bigger venue for the release. We have that venue.”
But Summer had the heart and passion. Hell, he’d convinced her to put the last of her savings into this signing. And now he was essentially throwing the party of the year twelve hours before her event.
“Who the hell is going to buy a book from Summer after they’ve already bought one from us?” he asked. Randy’s face went blank as if, in all the excitement, he’d forgotten that detail. “Who’s going to go to some hole-in-the-wall bookshop when they can party like it’s New Year’s.”
“I didn’t even consider that. I just ran with it and ... What the hell do we do? We can’t cancel.”
“Hell no, the board would have me replaced.”
“What about Summer?” Randy looked up at the ceiling for divine intervention. “This is my mess.”
“No, I should have made time for you, but I’ve been so distracted with Summer, I dropped the ball.”
“A distraction,” a broken female voice said from behind. “Is that how you see me?”
Wes slowly turned his head and what he saw tore his heart right out of his chest.
Summer was standing there in a pretty blue summer dress with her hair braided and her glasses on her nose. Her arms were around her stomach as if they were the only thing holding her together. Her eyes were bloodshot and the tip of her nose was pink from crying.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Then how did you mean it?”
He took a step closer and she backed away. “I just meant that I have so many balls in the air one was bound to fall through the cracks.”
“So, I’m something you have to juggle. That doesn’t sound fun.” She held up a BookLand flyer that made hers look like the PTA had designed them. “So is it true? You’re having Sloan at your grand opening?”
“This is all new news to me. I’m just finding out about it now.”
“It was me,” Randy said, holding up a hand. “I swear it was all me. I just told Wes about the event.”
“You mean BookLand’s event. It sounds like it’s going to be a blast,” she said, and her voice cracked.
“We’ll cancel it,” Randy said.
Wes looked at his brother as if he’d sprouted a unicorn horn and was farting rainbows.
“The solution isn’t that easy, Randy. We’d be sued by everyone we contracted with, verbal or contractual. Not to mention Sloan. The signing in is three days. We’ve missed the seventy-two-hour clause. It’s going to be on ET , for Christ’s sake.”
Summer started gently rocking back and forth as if holding a baby, like the motion would soothe the pain. “I remember you telling me that you had a team of lawyers who could get you out of anything. ‘Shred,’ I believe was the exact wording.”
“This is different.”
“Why? Because I’m a hole-in-the-wall bookshop who doesn’t have the money to fight back?”
“Love, I would reverse this if I could, but we’d stand to lose millions,” Wes pleaded, needing her to understand.
Her lips turned into a sour grin. “I might not have millions on the line, but I have my dream on the line.” Her face was stark with emotion. “And my heart in your hands.” She closed the distance and intertwined their fingers. “I know that for you, everything is about the bottom line, and I know you should choose love every time, but I’m tired of being the only one choosing love. You taught me that.”
“And it’s true. You deserve to have someone who gives you everything. I promise I will make this up to you.”
“Or you can move the event to the night of the grand opening, after mine.” And damn, the emotion in her eyes finally spilled over her lashes. It shattered his chest and punctured his heart, which felt as if it were made of ice.
“The board would have my ass.”
“Well, we wouldn’t want to disappoint the board.”
“Love,” he whispered, because he knew he was losing her. He knew the minute she dropped his hand that she was gone. Out of his life.
“I promised myself a long time ago that my partner would love me as much as I loved them. So the perfect meet-cutes, the funny tropes, the rising tension—none of it matters. All that matters is what happens in the next few seconds. Do you love me enough to walk away from the event, because I love you enough to walk away from mine.” And he could see the conviction in her eyes. All he had to do was say he chose love and she’d change her signing. “I love you enough to cancel my contract, cancel my signing, and pick you over anything else.”
“It’s out of my hands,” he said.
A quiet sob escaped her lips. “Then so is my heart. I love you so much, but I can’t be with someone who can’t prioritize my love over a contract.” She went up on her toes and gave his cheek a chaste kiss. “Goodbye, Wes. And good luck with your opening.”