31. Chapter 31
Avery
“I learned so much that my head is still swimming. Oh, and the people I met! I wish you could have been there, Avie.”
I should be annoyed by Eric’s non-stop chatter when he talks as though I was the one who chose not to go to the conference, but I’m not annoyed.
In fact, it’s nice to see him excited about something.
I hadn’t noticed until he showed up to the office this morning with a giant grin on his face, but Eric was as lost and miserable as I was after the breakup.
“I can’t wait to go through your notes,” I say, expecting him to go back to his office because he’s not one for dilly-dallying.
I need to tell him about the social media manager I hired—she’s showing up here soon—but I’m finding it difficult to dim his good mood and was hoping for the excuse of him being too busy to warn him.
But Eric remains in my doorway, his eyes darting to the empty desk next to mine. “Where’s Sonny this morning?”
I bite the inside of my lips to keep from smiling. “He had something to take care of this morning, but he’ll be in soon. He didn’t give me details.”
While that may be true, I know exactly why Benson isn’t here yet.
After McKay declared my transmission toast and we took my car to a mechanic Saturday afternoon, Benson spent the rest of the day with me at my apartment.
Then he spent all day with me on Sunday.
And after sleeping on my couch last night because he stayed too late, he dropped me off at the office before heading to his hotel to shower and change.
We didn’t come to the office together because we agreed we need to ease Eric into our tentative relationship, as much for our own sakes as for his.
Benson is still dealing with the guilt of betraying a friend, and I need to make sure my personal relationship with Benson won’t hurt my working relationship with Eric.
Neither of us knows how this is going to work, so we figured we should keep things on the down low until we’re a little more… sure.
I’m choosing to be cautiously optimistic, but I haven’t asked Benson about what’s going to happen when his time at R&Q is up. I’m worried he’s not going to have an answer, so instead of dwelling on the uncertain future, I’m living in the moment.
Taking things one minute at a time.
Eric is still standing in my doorway, a thoughtful look on his face, so I search for some topic of conversation before things turn awkward.
“I never did get an email from that agent, by the way.” Not that I care, since an agent would only get in the way of the workshop idea that Benson and I came up with, but it’s an innocent enough topic.
For some reason, Eric blushes a deep shade of red. “Right. Well, it turns out she had some free time, so she decided to take a trip here to Utah to check out our office and meet you in person.”
My eyebrows jump up as I take a sip of my coffee. “Oh. Cool, I guess? Though, I don’t know how many more books we can take on until we stabilize, so I don’t know if we can—”
“She doesn’t care if it takes a bit before we can collaborate,” Eric said, waving his hand. “Publishing is a long game, right?”
“Right.” But I feel like I’m missing something.
“She’s, uh…” He coughs. “She’s coming today.”
Choking, I nearly dump my coffee on my keyboard and scramble to set the cup down on the desk. “Today?” I gasp. “But—”
“Oh Benson, you shouldn’t have!” Lynda’s voice carries from the lobby, sending my heart skittering even more as my full focus shifts in that direction. Toward Benson.
It’s only been two hours since I saw the guy, and I shouldn’t be this excited. Still, I follow a curious Eric out to the lobby, where Lynda is smelling a vibrant wildflower bouquet and Benson is looking entirely scrumptious in a white button-up and khakis.
“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Benson tells Lynda and kisses her cheek. Then his smile turns to me, heating me from the inside out as my mind gets lost in memories of the weekend. “Good morning, R&Q! Eric, good to have you back.”
“You were sick?” Eric asks his mom, still red in the face. “You should have told me.”
“You were out of town, and it was only a little head cold. Avery and Benson had things handled here.” She winks at me, and I have to hold back a giggle.
I don’t know how she knows that something happened between Benson and me, but she knows.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the ghosts of Benson’s kisses are tattooed on my skin.
Benson plucks a deep scarlet cosmos from the bouquet and hands it to me. “Morning,” he says, his voice so gentle that it makes me shiver.
I have no idea if I ever mentioned my favorite flower to him over the weeks I’ve known him, but I love how well he knows me.
After this weekend, it feels like we’ve known each other forever.
Benson the flirt was fun, but Benson the man who’s all in?
Hoo boy, I was not prepared for the way he makes me feel.
“You’re in a good mood this morning,” I say, unable to hold back my smile as I breathe in the chocolate-like scent of the flower.
Benson shrugs. “Good weekend,” he says like it was a perfectly average couple of days. His gaze lingers on me for a few seconds, heating the whole room this time, before he turns to Eric again. “Do you need me to walk you through some of the plans we started putting into place last week?”
Eric blinks, glancing from Benson to me and back again, then shakes his head. “No, uh, I’m sure you two have everything handled. Unless there’s something you need from me?”
“At some point we’ll need to walk through the budget together. I…” Benson pauses when the main office door opens behind him and the new social media manager steps inside, giving all of us a nervous smile.
“Melissa!” I say, and my own nerves spike higher.
I haven’t had a chance to warn Eric about my unilateral hiring decision.
“I’m so glad you made it. Um, Benson, would you mind showing Melissa to the desk in my office and get her set up in the system while I…
uh…” I jerk my head toward Eric, who furrows his brow and glances from me to Melissa.
“Of course,” Benson says, though his hesitant steps make it clear he doesn’t want to leave me on my own with Eric.
“Oh, I can get her settled!” Lynda says brightly. Blessed woman doesn’t know about Melissa either, but she gives me a wink as she takes Melissa down the hall. I love her.
As soon as they’re gone, my office door shutting with a click, Eric folds his arms and gives me a stern look that used to be enough to get me to back down on whatever differing opinion I had. Now it just makes him look petulant. “Avery, who’s Melissa?”
I stand tall despite a tremble in my hands. “Our new social media manager.”
“But I said we didn’t need—”
“You were wrong,” I argue. Based on the way Benson’s eyebrows fly up, I must sound stronger than I feel, and I take that to heart, folding my arms to match Eric.
“Social media has always been under my purview, but it’s time to give the responsibility to someone better suited to marketing so I can focus on acquisitions and production. ”
Eric’s jaw slips open partway as he stares at me. I wonder if I’ve ever talked to him like that. Chances are high that this is the first time I’ve really shown him any backbone.
It feels good.
“I thought her reasoning was solid,” Benson says with a poorly masked grin. “So I agreed with the idea.”
Eric glares at him. “That’s not your—” He cuts himself off as the door opens and a woman who looks to be in her thirties steps in, a polite smile on her face as she takes in the lobby.
All of Eric’s anger dissipates in an instant.
“Cathy!” It’s more of a squeak than an actual word.
I’ve never heard him sound like that, and he’s redder than he was in my office as he hurries forward. “I mean Ms. Stanton. You made it.”
She smiles sweetly, adjusting wire-frame glasses on her nose. “Hi, Eric.”
This is the agent? I wasn’t sure why she would go to the trouble of coming all the way out here with no promise that Rose & Quill would work with an agent right now, but with the way Eric is staring at her with a dorky grin…
The puzzle pieces start falling into place.
No wonder Eric hasn’t sent any messages over the last couple of days.
Benson and I were trying to figure out why he would spend so much energy keeping us apart and then drop the subject without a word.
But if the cartoon hearts in Cathy’s eyes are any indication, I don’t think she came here just to meet me and see the Rose & Quill office.
Based on Benson’s smothered laughter, he’s thinking the same thing.
I clear my throat, breaking the intense eye contact between Eric and Cathy and pulling their gazes my way. “Hi,” I say, holding my hand out to the agent. “I’m Avery Baldwin. CEO.”
“Yes! Hi!” Cathy takes my hand with enthusiasm. “Oh, I’ve been so excited to come here and meet you, Ms. Baldwin.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of time to talk to you today,” I reply, since I can’t honestly say I’m happy to meet her.
Cathy’s smile doesn’t falter. “Oh, that’s okay. I plan to be around for a few days.” She sends a smile to Eric, who seems to have swallowed his tongue.
I’m honestly impressed he learned anything at the conference if his attention was so otherwise occupied.
“Well,” I say, fighting the urge to roll my eyes, “I should get back to bringing our new employee up to speed. Nice to meet you, Cathy.”
She barely spares me a glance because her focus has returned to Eric, and I look at Benson, matching his amused smile before I head back to my office to hug Lynda and get to work.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt.” According to the twinkle in Benson’s eye, he’s not sorry at all, and I playfully narrow my eyes at him while Melissa keeps exploring the scheduling software I use for our socials.
“What’s up?” I ask.
“Phillip Rogers is out on the balcony.”