Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
A fter his run with Bunny, a shower, some breakfast, and a good dose of Ruthie time to give Kyle a chance to sleep in, Mitch took a cup of coffee into his office, ready to start his day. Later than usual, but this was his new normal and he wasn’t going to give up time with his granddaughter just to sit at his desk earlier.
The house was quiet. Beryl was looking after Ruthie, Joyce was taking care of the household, and Kyle was sleeping, but would eventually be writing. Which was exactly what Mitch needed to do. Write.
Instead of going to his desk, however, he took his journal out of the top drawer, grabbed a pen, then took them and his coffee to the couch. He didn’t want to get out of the habit of his daily journaling. He looked forward to it.
He hadn’t at first. It had been an odd and uncomfortable behavior for him. Now, he understood that it was helping him learn to express himself without the fear of repercussions. He actually liked doing it now.
As was usual, he wrote the date on the top of the next blank page, his mind instantly going to Jeanie. Journaling had also become his way of talking to his late wife.
I haven’t stopped missing you, Jeanie. But the intensity of my grief has lessened. There’s a big part of me that feels guilty about that, but another part of me knows it needs to happen. I’m glad it’s happening, that I’m experiencing happiness again. Even though it gives me some guilt, I also know it’s what you’d want for me.
Kyle and Ruthie have been instrumental in that happiness. Especially Ruthie. It's hard to look at her and not see traces of you, Jeanie.
You would love this child so much. I know that for a fact. Sometimes, I catch glimpses of you in her little expressions. I do mourn that she will never get to know you, but as much as I am able, I will tell her all about you. I will show her pictures, I will show her videos, I will tell her stories about you. My promise to you is that you will very much be alive to her. You will be more than a name to her.
He hesitated, choosing his words carefully for the next line.
Harper and I are moving cautiously forward. I have to believe you’d approve of her. I need to think that. Otherwise, I’ll be alone the rest of my life. You wouldn’t want that. I know you wouldn’t. If that’s not true, send me a sign.
He laughed. I’m being ridiculous, aren’t I? You can’t send me a sign. Otherwise, you would have sent me one a long time ago telling me to stop wallowing and get on with my life. That’s just who you were.
What else is new? Well, you’re not going to believe this, but I adopted a dog. Her name is Bunny, short for Bunnicula, which helped seal the deal. She’s a Jack Russell, full of life, and already glued to Ruthie, which is exactly what I’d hoped for. She runs with me in the morning and she’s great company for all of us.
I’ve also hired Joyce’s sister, Beryl, to be extra help around the house and a nanny for Ruthie. Kyle’s written a book. A great book. You’d be amazed. He might be a better writer than I am. Certainly when it comes to thrillers. It’s called Cold Blue Murder and it’s with Lucinda right now. I know she’s going to offer him representation and get him a great deal. He’s going to have a career in writing, if he can replicate the quality. Harper’s going to help him with brainstorming. She’s great at that.
Jack Marsh is staying in the guest house next door. Long story, but he’s dealing with some things. I’m sure he’ll get through them, but the paparazzi have Arlington’s house staked out by boat right now. Crazy.
He didn’t want to tell her about hiring a private investigator to help with Ruthie’s custody. He wasn’t sure Jeanie would approve of that. Although maybe she would. She’d want to protect Ruthie. At all costs. Jeanie could be fierce at times.
But with it being so up in the air, he didn’t want to put anything about it on paper. He closed the journal. That was enough for the day. Charlie Nightingale awaited. He went to his desk, put the journal in the top drawer, then fired up his laptop. He sipped coffee as it came awake.
Apparently, it had restarted itself overnight. He hated when it did that, but he was a stickler about saving his work, which was also backed up to the cloud, so nothing was lost.
He opened his document, then went to check email. Nothing of any major importance. It could wait. He needed to get pages done.
He switched back to his Word document and his phone rang. He checked the screen. Lucinda. He answered immediately. “Good morning.”
“Good morning to you! Well, that son of yours sure can write a book.”
Mitch smiled. “Yes, he can. I take it you liked it?”
“It’s a flipping masterpiece. How much of it did you help him with?”
Mitch laughed softly. “Other than giving him a few pointers on how to tighten some sections, not one bit.”
“Come on. This is old Lucinda you’re talking to. We’ve known each other since time began.”
“No, I’m serious. I didn’t even know he was writing it.”
She let out a low whistle. “If that doesn’t beat all.”
Mitch wanted to get down to business. “Who are you going to pitch it to?”
“About that. What’s the decision on using the Ripley name?”
Mitch took a breath. He and Kyle had discussed this, but he didn’t think Lucinda was going to like it. “You can tell publishers he’s my son, but he’s going to use a pen name and doesn’t want my name used as a promotional device.”
“You’re hogtying me here, Mitch. Without the ability to put your name on the cover, too, no publisher is going to give Kyle the kind of advance he could be getting.”
Mitch tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling. “It’s a good book. Any publisher who turns it down because they can’t put my name on the cover is an idiot.”
“Mitch, they’re not going to turn it down. But without your name, there will be at least one less zero on that advance check. Maybe two. You have pull. A lot of it. He doesn’t. But that changes if the publisher can make a big deal out of him being your son.”
“I get that. We’ve talked about it. This is his decision and I stand by it.”
“But you’re his father. Can’t you change his mind?”
“Maybe. But he should be allowed to do things the way he wants to.”
“Do me a favor—talk to him one more time. While you do that, I’m going to send some feelers out. We have to go to Brighton first, it’s a courtesy thing. Oscar would feel slighted otherwise.”
“I get that.” Brighton was Mitch’s current publisher, Oscar was the president of the company. “I’ll talk to Kyle, but I don’t expect it to make a difference.”
“It might if I give him the differences in dollar amounts. Tell you what—hold off on talking to Kyle until I get a response from Oscar. Then we’ll hopefully have some hard numbers to throw into the mix. In the meantime, he needs to be writing another book.”
“He knows. He’s working on it.” Mitch nodded. He wasn’t about to hammer his son over the head with something he already knew.
“Good. Talk soon.” Lucinda hung up.
Mitch put his phone back on the desk. For two seconds, he considered going to talk to Kyle about what Lucinda had just said, then he thought better of it. There really was no point until she had numbers to give him.
He still didn’t think that would be enough to change Kyle’s mind. The truth was, he respected his son’s decision to rely on his own merit. It was a brave move, and certainly not the easiest choice. Easy would be putting Mitch’s name on the cover, but if Kyle didn’t want that, Mitch would support him. He’d support him no matter what Kyle decided.
He tapped the touchpad to wake the screen up, then scrolled back a few pages to read through the previous day’s work. He put his fingers on the keyboard, making a few changes here and there, adding a bit of description, layering in some additional emotion.
He reached the end and started writing fresh.
He got two paragraphs done before his phone rang again. He needed to put it on silent. He glanced at the screen, not recognizing the number. Something told him he should take it anyway.
“Hello?”
“Mitch?”
The voice was vaguely familiar. “Yes. Who’s this?”
“Angelo. Lucas’s brother.”
“Oh, right. Hi. How are you?”
“Good. How you doing?”
“I’m all right. Have you found out anything about Addison?”
“I have. She’s in a lot of debt. Could be part of the reason she kicked your son and granddaughter out. She couldn’t afford them.”
“Maybe, but I thought she was making money as an influencer. How much debt?”
“Approximately twenty-eight thousand dollars. Her credit cards are maxed. From what I was able to uncover, she’s relying heavily on sponsorships, so she is making money as an influencer, but get this. She has an eBay account where she sells most of the merchandise she’s given to promote. It’s probably the only thing keeping her afloat.”
“How did you find all this out?”
“I have a reliable network. More than that, I can’t say.”
Mitch smirked. This was valuable information. Information that they could use. “How would you feel about paying Addison a visit?”