Prologue #3
Her twin had divorced her husband and left Houston, also returning to Hawthorne.
Autumn had been named Director of Nursing at the new Hogan Health Hospital, known in the community as Triple H.
Her sister had also remarried, and Summer’s new brother-in-law was the medical director at Triple H, as well as Jace’s brother.
West, her older brother, had retired from the NFL and taken a job as the head football coach and athletic director at their alma mater.
He, too, had wed a local girl, Kelby Blackstone, who was Darby’s best friend.
Summer did feel left out, with so many of her family members moving back to their hometown the last two years.
It made her long for a life in the sleepy North Texas town.
An hour went by, Summer pacing in her office, knowing no work would get done while she was hanging in the balance. Then her phone rang.
“Summer Sutherland,” she said.
“You can return to my office.”
Hiding her trepidation, she left her office, head held high, and returned to the Dragon Lady’s lair. This time, she had Bill Larson present. The portly attorney’s face gave away nothing. Both were seated at a table, and Summer went and joined them.
Bill pushed a document of several pages across to her. “This is an employee separation agreement that Liberty House would like you to sign, Ms. Sutherland.”
“I will need to read it first,” she said. “I also want my attorney to go over it, as well.” She handed Bill a piece of paper she’d brought with her. “Please email him the document at this address.” To ensure Sawyer received it, she added, “I’ll text him and tell him you’re sending it now.”
She did that and then picked up the separation agreement, blinking a few times because she didn’t want any tears to spill onto it.
The pages in front of her spelled the end of her editing career.
She’d come to New York with high hopes, wanting to conquer the publishing world.
While she had worked her way up to be a senior editor at an established publishing house, she still felt she was letting herself down.
After she finished reading it, Summer said, “I need to see what my attorney recommends. We’ll wait to hear from him before I go a step farther.”
The three of them sat in complete silence for eleven minutes. It was the most uncomfortable time she had ever spent in her life, and that included the one time she’d skipped school and gotten caught. She’d waited outside the principal’s office while he met with her parents, and that had been awful.
This was agony.
Her cell buzzed, and she saw it was Sawyer. “This is Mr. Montgomery. I need to take this.”
Instead of leaving the room, however, she answered it in front of them. “Hello, Mr. Montgomery. I hope you’ve had a chance to read the separation agreement.”
“Yes, and they’re jerking you around,” her cousin said bluntly. “I’ve just sent a list of what I want the agreement to include. Have Larson check his email.”
She instructed the attorney to do that and turned her attention back to her cousin. Briefly, Sawyer said the portion regarding the separation details and waiver of claims was fine, but he wanted more for her protection.
“I’m asking for a severance. While they stipulate they’ll pay you for unused vacation days and through the end of this month, I want more incentives in order for you to sign this agreement, Summer.”
“Such as?” she asked.
“In your case, benefits. Your insurance to be paid for one year, including medical, dental, and vision. Private insurance is expensive, and I want them on the hook for that. I want those benefits spelled out, plus the exact amount of compensation for the rest of February and its method of delivery placed in writing, along with the timeline when those monies are due.”
“Got it.”
“They want to get rid of you fast, so I’m asking apart from the severance that they offer you a set amount to sign this agreement. This isn’t usually what employees ask for, much less what employers agree to. If Dragon Lady really wants you gone, however, she’ll agree to this.”
“Okay,” she said, keeping her eyes on the pages before her.
“Do you care about the non-compete clause they included?”
“I don’t think it should be there.”
“Good. I agree with you. I also want to modify the non-disparagement clause they’ve inserted. It basically says that you won’t trash talk Liberty House. I want that to be a two-way street, where they legally can’t disparage you, as well.”
“Agreed.”
“I think if they agree to the one-time payment for you signing, they’re going to insert a non-disclosure clause. You won’t be allowed to share any details of this agreement with anyone, other than me.”
“If you get the first, I can abide by the other,” she told him.
“Look and see what their attorney is doing.”
Summer looked up and saw Larson frowning at his tablet. He leaned over and whispered something to Dragon Lady.
“Larson has read it,” she said quietly. “They’re talking it over.”
“I’ll stay on the line. You’re not alone in this, Cuz.”
She watched as they went back and forth, Dragon Lady hissing at Bill several times. Finally, she nodded, and Summer knew they had reached a number.
“Put me on speaker so I can hear,” Sawyer ordered.
“My attorney wishes to hear your counteroffer,” she said, putting her cell on the table.
Larson cleared his throat. “We can agree to what Mr. Montgomery is asking for, but we wish to add a non-disclosure clause to the employee separation agreement.”
Sawyer answered for the both of them. “Only if we receive the figure we asked for.”
Summer saw Dragon Lady grimace, but she nodded, and Larson said, “Yes, we’ll do that.”
“Draw it up,” Sawyer said. “Send it to me. I’ll read over it and advise my client. Please take me off speaker phone.”
She did so as Larson typed away. While she didn’t say anything, Sawyer told her not to worry.
Everything was working out for the best. He then told her about the latest basketball game he’d attended in the high school gym and some about last weekend’s national cheer competition he’d gone to, where Darby’s cheerleaders had taken first place.
The printer whirred, spitting out several pages. Bill retrieved them and said, “I just emailed the final agreement to Mr. Montgomery. You may look over this copy, Miss Sutherland.”
Summer did so, seeing the changes Sawyer had asked for in print. She gritted her teeth so her jaw wouldn’t fall open when she read the amount he had asked for as a general payment for separation.
It was half a million dollars.
And Dragon Lady had signed off on that.
Her mind began whirling. That was serious money. More importantly, it would give Summer the freedom to make a move she had longed to but hadn’t been financially secure enough to make. She kept her composure.
In her ear, Sawyer said, “Back on speaker phone, please.”
She did as he requested and heard her cousin say, “I am advising Miss Sutherland to sign this employee separation agreement.”
Larson nodded at Dragon Lady, who left the table and went to the door. She spoke to her assistant, and a minute later, the assistant and a copy editor entered the office.
“You will act as witnesses as this document is signed,” Bill told the pair. “Watch as we sign, and then you’ll follow suit.”
He offered Dragon Lady the pen first, and her boss scrawled her name, her mouth set in stone.
Summer signed next, followed by the two other employees.
The four also signed a second copy of the agreement, with Bill telling Summer that one was hers to keep, and one would remain with him.
He also promised to email her attorney a copy now.
Dragon Lady dismissed the two employees and turned to Summer. “Mr. Larson will escort you to your office. You will claim any personal items and turn in your employee badge. Provide him with the password to your email account. I will need to see what you are working on and reassign those authors.”
“I keep a list of current projects and where I am in the editing process,” she said coolly. “I’ll share those with you.”
She was glad she had updated the list after she spoke to Celia so it would be on record that Liberty House had granted the author an extension.
She still planned to contact Celia because she meant what she’d said when she had offered to write the last few chapters of the book.
She would need Celia to send what she had of the manuscript to Summer’s personal email account.
As a parting remark, she said, “Please tell Ted goodbye for me. He always had thoughtful advice for me. I appreciate his counsel.”
Dragon Lady practically bared her fangs at that remark, and Summer knew that was her cue to leave.
She returned to her office without speaking to anyone, going to the copy room and claiming a small box.
In it, she put the few personal things she had at the office, including pictures from her desk and an African violet.
She gave Larson her badge and showed him the list of where she was in her current workload, and then she walked out the doors of Liberty House for the final time.
Going to the closest subway station, she took the train back to Brooklyn, knowing exactly what she was going to do now that she was financially secure.
Summer had edited several romance writers over the last few years, and she thought she could do better than they had.
She’d read romance since her early teens, and over the last several months, she’d written the first book in a small-town romance series.
Using West and Kelby’s romance as inspiration, she had begun outlining the second book in the series, turning West into a hockey player instead of one who played football.
Kelby had gone from a social media consultant to a photographer, but their love story had provided the seeds for the second book in the series.
All her life, Summer had put her dream of wanting to be an author herself on the back burner, even more so once she left college because editing had taken up far too much time.
Now that she had all the time in the world, she was going to work for herself.
And she was going to move back to Hawthorne, Texas. For good.