38. Chapter 38
The media circus appears to be dying down, so Ledger calls a family dinner before Lennox is slated to come home.
It’s been a week and a half since we’ve been stuck in here, and as much as I love being locked in with Oakley, I am so ready to get back to our regularly scheduled programming.
He’s been getting really antsy too. I’m sure the calls from Arlo and Woodcroft keeping him updated on the media haven’t helped a ton. But I’ll give him credit; he’s been keeping me well fed and hyped up on the lattes I love so much. I’m not sure how he talked Arlo into making that happen, but I’m not asking questions.
Large hands slide around my waist, spanning my stomach, and I melt back into Oakley. “You ready for dinner?” he asks.
“Are you?” I ask with a laugh. The last time he saw any of my siblings, Ledger sucker-punched him.
“Yeah, Ledger and I talked. We’re good.” He says it so casually. It makes me wonder when he actually had time to talk to my overprotective brother when we’ve been with each other 24/7.
“You’ll eventually have to tell me all about that conversation.”
His hand pulls me tight against him, and I tip my head back onto his shoulder.
“Cabin fever is strong, but I almost don’t want to leave,” he whispers against my temple.
“Same. But people have cleared out ,and Lennox is beyond ready to come home.”
“I’m worried about him. He’s been putting on a good show for everyone, but I’m concerned that when he gets home and has a lot of alone time, everything will hit him at once,” Oakley says.
“I know,” I whisper. “He’s just so damn headstrong. I don’t know if he’ll be receptive to help, even if it’s just from us.”
“Well, we’ve got to try. That’s all we can do.”
I nod against his shoulder. I know he’s right, but it doesn’t make me any less stressed about Lennox’s future.
“You ready to head out?” he asks, his thumb brushing back and forth on my stomach, making me absolutely not want to head out.
I sigh. “Not really, but it’s time.”
He spins me around, pressing soft kisses to each cheek, my forehead, and finally my lips before pulling back and looking at me. “I love you,” he murmurs.
“Love you too. Let’s go visit the circus.”
Ainsley answers the door and pulls me into a tight hug.
“Hello to you too,” I grunt.
“We haven’t seen you in almost two weeks! We had to sneak into the house in the dead of night a couple of days ago to even get here,” she grumbles.
“Might have to put that in my next book,” I think out loud.
“Make sure I get the correct credit, Will.” She smiles as she pulls back, and I have to laugh. Okay, maybe I did miss this.
“Always.”
Oakley clears his throat, and I watch Ainsley’s eyes look him up and down before looking at me with a sly smirk and an arched eyebrow.
“Wonderful to see you, Oakley. Please come in.” She steps aside, fanning out her arm like Vanna White, and I don’t hide my laughter.
“Girl, we need to talk about that later,” she says out of the corner of her mouth as Oakley walks past.
“We can talk about it at dinner if you’d like,” Oakley calls over his shoulder, and I snort as Ainsley’s cheeks turn bright pink.
“Well, that’s not embarrassing at all. I thought I was craftier than that.” She walks to the kitchen, where Ledger and Rina are leaning on the island.
Ledger stands and holds out his hand to Oakley. “Eye looks good.”
Oakley huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, it healed nicely.”
“Oh, Jesus, stop the macho-man act, you two. Who’s cooking dinner?” I move and give Rina a hug as she smirks at the men.
“I haven’t seen Ledg’s ‘dad act’ in a while. This is fun,” she whispers to me.
“It’s only fun when it’s not happening to you.” I pull a seltzer and a water out of the fridge and crack it open, tossing the water to Oakley.
“I’m cooking, and I’m making Ainsley’s favorite,” Ledger says, arching an eyebrow, daring me to question him.
I truly don’t care what he cooks for dinner. I’m just happy to get some of his home-cooked food. Although, a certain coffee shop owner sure has been spoiling me on that lately.
Ledger moves to the stove to stir some things in pots as Oakley joins him to help. I smile at how he seamlessly works himself into my family, like he was always meant to be here.
“So, the plan is to bring Lennox home tomorrow. He’s being a crotchety asshole to the nurses because he’s going crazy sitting in the hospital. The good news is that all the superficial cuts have healed nicely, and the deeper ones are out of the danger zone and healing well. The doctor said he’ll need stitches out soon, but we can do that here.”
We all nod, happy with the progress this extended hospital stay allowed.
“I am worried about him being alone in that cabin of his,” Ledger says.
“I offered to have him stay with me for a little bit, and he immediately said no,” I tell him.
“Yeah, I offered too. It probably didn’t help that we both asked,” Rina adds.
“Shit, I did too. No wonder he wants to be alone,” Ledger says.
“Him being alone isn’t a bad thing, but I do think it’s wise that someone checks up on him daily, or every other day for the next few weeks. He’s been through … a lot, and even if it annoys him, it’s better to be cautious,” Oakley says. If anyone knows what he went through, it’s him. And if there’s anyone who’s seen the aftermath of Tennison, it’s Oakley.
“And what if it pushes him away more?” Rina asks.
“Honestly?” We all nod. “It probably will. He’s going to be angry and not understand a lot of the feelings he’s feeling. Hell, I still feel that way, and I was never directly attacked.” I wince at the thought but also at the fact that he was. He was stabbed, and he’s brushing it aside like it’s nothing. I’m going to have to take his own advice and use it on him, I think.
“And what do we do when turns that anger onto us? I don’t want to push him too far,” I say.
“I think it’s important to feel him out daily. Just general texts and see how he’s doing. You all have different relationships, so one day, he may benefit from joking around” — he looks at me — “or tough love.” He looks at Ledger.
“Why do we automatically assume I’m the tough love?” he asks, put out.
The four of us burst out in laughter, and he rolls his eyes. “One punch, and suddenly I’m the hard-ass,” he mutters.
“It was a good punch.” Oakley grins.
“It fucking hurt like hell. My hand was all swollen,” Ledger tells him. My eyes ping pong between them, and I am amazed at their interaction. One little conversation, and now they’re joking about the punch. Men.
“Fucking men,” Rina mutters as Ainsley and I giggle.
“They’re ridiculous,” Ainsley says, walking over to the double oven and pulling out the garlic bread.
Carbonara. I was trying to figure out which one of Ainsley’s favorite foods Ledger was cooking, and I’m not disappointed.
I can practically feel the drool on my chin.
“Do I not feed you well enough?” Oakley’s low voice hits me from behind.
“You do, but Ledger makes fresh pasta.”
“I could make fresh pasta,” he says in a petulant tone.
I rub my lips together to hide my smile before turning around. “You could make the best pasta, James.”
“James? Your real name isn’t Oakley?” Rina somehow hears with hypersonic hearing.
“James Oakley. I’ve gone by Oakley for most of my life, though. She’s the only one who calls me James.” There’s a very small threat weaved into his words. Apparently, I will be the only one to call him James.
“Well, okay then.” Rina grins at me. “Dinner ready yet, old man?”
“I swear to God, if you don’t stop calling me that, I’m not feeding you. I tweak my back one time lifting soil, and you badger me with old comments for weeks,” he grumbles.
“Okay, family.” Ainsley claps her hands. “Let’s eat.”
The rest of dinner is filled with our usual banter that I didn’t realize I missed so much.
Rina and Oakley are helping clean up when my phone rings. I take a peek with no intention of answering because this is family time, but when I see my editor, Ruby ,calling, I immediately think something is wrong.
Rushing out the back door, I answer on my way out.
“Hey, everything okay?”
“Holy shit, Will. Have you looked online recently?”
“Umm, not after I posted on my socials today, why?”
“Go check how many pre-orders you have.” She doesn’t answer my question, but I do as she asks anyway. I’m currently trying to push my new book hard on marketing, and because it’s so different for me, I just know something bad happened.
I pull up the website and do a double take.
“What the fuck?” I whisper.
“Put me on!” I hear Ruby yell through my phone that I’m still currently looking at.
“What happened?” I finally ask.
“The post from this morning blew up. Like, virally blew up. You can’t look anywhere without someone talking about it.”
“How— What? How did this happen?” I feel frantic and very confused.
“I don’t know, babes. It hit perfectly and people kept sharing it, and here we are.”
“What do I do?” I mean, I’m successful enough to afford the life I currently live, but I’ve never seen these kinds of numbers. And that’s just the pre-order.
“You keep pushing and marketing, and see how high you can take this.”
“But what if it sucks? What if people get it and then absolutely hate it? What if it doesn’t live up to the hype?” I whisper. Imposter syndrome never quite goes away, it seems.
“Do you not trust me? Do you think I wouldn’t be brutally honest in my edits and let you publish something less than perfect?”
“No!” I tell her quickly.
“Babes, this book is fucking phenomenal. You’ve earned this.”I feel myself nodding, tears filling my eyes at being so overwhelmed.
“I gotta go. Call me. Keep me updated. I love you. Keep kicking ass.” Ruby makes a kiss sound through the phone before hanging up.
I hear the door shut behind me, but I’m so confused by this little five-minute conversation that I can’t draw my attention to it.
“You’re shaking. What happened?” Oakley’s voice is hard, like he’s ready to go to bat for me, and I love him all the more for it.
“I, uh… That was my editor.”
“Was there a problem? I don’t understand all the things it takes to, you know, release a book or whatever, but did something happen?”
“I went viral. And that sounds so fucking lame, but look.” I shove my phone in his face, the page that shows my pre-orders still up.
“Is that how much you’ve made? But it’s not out yet? I’m confused.” His brows are furrowed, trying to understand what he’s looking at.
“That’s how many people have pre-ordered. Just the number of orders, not how much I’ll make. You know, my last book? That pre-order number is double what I’ve sold total since my last book has been out.”
“Holy shit.” His eyes are wide as he continues to stare at my phone.
“Yeah,” I breathe out.
He hands me back the phone, making sure I have a good grip before he lifts me up and spins me around.
“Bestseller lists, here we come!” he yells into the night, and I can’t help but giggle at his enthusiasm.
“What in the hell?” Rina calls from the back door.
“Willow blew up. I mean, her book.”
I put my forehead on his shoulder, mine shaking with laughter.
“Hell yes! Amazing job, Will!”
Everyone comes in a huge group hug, and the only thing I can think of is how Lennox is missing.
“Okay, enough about me. It’s just pre-order. So much can change between now and release. You guys are picking up Lennox?” I ask Ledger and Ainsley. I can see their looks, but now’s not the time to focus on me. We have a brother that needs us.
“Yeah, we’ll pick him up and bring him home. How do we want to do the check-ins?” Ledger asks.
“Group chat? That way, it feels how we normally communicate,” Rina offers.
“I agree. That way, we don’t solely focus on him.” I nod.
“Alright. I’ll keep you guys updated on everything tomorrow, but otherwise, family dinner next week? Lennox’s favorite?”
“Absolutely,” I agree.
“Well, we’ll talk to you guys tomorrow then,” Oakley says as he leads me inside.
Guess we’re leaving now, but with the pre-order news and the stress of bringing home Lennox tomorrow, I’m ready to go back to my little cave of a house.
“Love you!” I yell over my shoulder as we head to my car.
There is so much still happening in our lives. I’m just glad I have James here to support me every step of the way.