Chapter 16 #2
They had a nice dinner with West and Kelby.
West grilled steaks, while Kelby prepared baked potatoes and a Caesar salad.
It was hard for Summer to believe how her siblings had returned to Hawthorne and were both happily married, with babies on the way.
She was glad she would be here for those births and hoped that she would add a baby or two to the mix.
It had been fun growing up with Darby and Sawyer in Hawthorne, and she wanted her own kids to enjoy time with their cousins just as she had.
After a slice of pecan pie, Chance and West left the kitchen. West wanted to show Chance some new plays he’d drawn up for spring football practice. She and Kelby cleared the table and then sat.
“I never thought I would see Chance settle down,” Kelby began. “Then again, I get now that the right woman had to come along for him to want to do that. You’re certainly that woman, Summer. I’ve never seen my brother so happy. The way he looks at you makes me feel so happy for the both of you.”
She patted her large belly. “And it’ll be great for all the cousins to play together. They’ll be each other’s first friends.”
“I was thinking that very thing,” Summer admitted. “None of this would be possible if we all hadn’t come back to Hawthorne.”
Pulling out her phone, she said, “I wanted to show you some of the graphics from the Stars game we went to. Their video board is incredible. I thought you might get some ideas for branding.”
“I do have a couple of new clients,” Kelby told her.
“West has cautioned me not to take on anymore. I’ve actually poked around on LinkedIn, trying to see if there’s someone looking for a job that would be a good fit for Social Synergy Creations.
Tammy told me that even though I want to be a working mother, I’ll fall madly in love with this baby and want to spend a lot of time with her.
That means I’ve got to hire someone to help with all my clients. I don’t want to let any of them down.”
They scrolled through the pictures Summer had taken and batted around a few ideas the pictures inspired. Then her phone rang. She saw it was a FaceTime call with Jen.
“I’ll decline. I’ll call her later.”
“Who’s Jen?” Kelby asked.
“My closest friend and fellow editor at Liberty House.”
“Answer it. I’ll make some tea while you two talk.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
She swiped to answer, Jen’s face appearing. Her puffy, red, I’ve been crying face.
“What’s wrong?”
Jen’s eyes welled with tears. “I did it. I quit.”
“You quit Liberty House?” Summer asked, shocked.
Her friend nodded. “I’d had it up to here with Millicent. She kept piling more and more work on me. On everyone. She didn’t even bother replacing you, just dispersed your stable of authors to everyone.”
“I hate hearing that,” she said sympathetically. “I know how heavy the workload is.”
Jen dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. “At least I don’t have to wait to come and see you. Is that all right? I hate that I’m inviting myself, but I really need to get out of the city.” She sniffed. “I guess Texas is about as far away as I can get.”
“You’re always welcome. I’m staying with my sister now. She’s only got the one guestroom if you don’t mind sharing. We’ll talk through everything and figure things out, Jen.”
Kelby gestured to Summer and mouthed, “She can stay here.”
Nodding to Kelby, she focused on the screen again. “Are you going to apply for work at another publishing house?”
“The witch’ll probably blackball me,” Jen said morosely.
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t think I could edit now.
I’m so burned out. I’ve spent all weekend trying to decide what my next step is in my career.
I love to read and edit. I also enjoy writing.
I’ve thought maybe searching for jobs in advertising or marketing.
You know I’ve got mad skills when it comes to creating graphics, and I’m really tech-savvy. Marketing might be my next chapter.”
“What?” Kelby said, waddling over to the table and taking a seat. She placed her hand around Summer’s and turned the screen so she could see Jen.
“Hi, Jen. I’m Summer’s sister-in-law. Kelby. And you might just be the answer I’m looking for.”
Summer gave up her phone, and Kelby tilted it down to her belly and back up.
“As you can see, I’ve got a baby on the way. She’ll be here in about two months. I own my own company. I’m literally the only person employed by Social Synergy Creations.”
Quickly, Kelby explained to Jen what SSC did, everything from branding to writing mission statements, creating and maintaining websites, and handling social media accounts for a wide range of clients.
“SSC is growing really fast. I want you to look at some of the accounts I handle.” Kelby provided her website. “If you’re interested and would like to talk more about coming to work with me, I’d be happy to talk the nitty-gritty details once you arrive in Hawthorne.”
“This is fantastic,” Jen exclaimed.
“I’m giving you back to Summer now,” Kelby said. “Let me know if you have any questions.”
Summer took her phone again, and she saw the excitement on her friend’s face.
“When can you come to Texas?” she asked.
“Anytime. Tomorrow?”
“Sounds good to me,” Summer encouraged. “Book it. I’d love to see you. I want you to meet Chance. You’d also be able to talk with Kelby in person.”
“I’ll look at flights right now,” Jen told her. “I’ll let you know when I’m coming. Oh, Summer, you don’t know how much I need to see you.”
“I understand.”
They ended their call, and Kelby said, “This seems like fate. Your friend needing a job. Me desperately needing full-time help at SSC.”
“It would be terrific if things could work out.”
Her phone chimed, and she read the text from Jen.
“She can get a ten-thirty flight on American to DFW tomorrow morning. She said she’ll rent a car. Just for me to send her the address,” Summer said.
She texted back to book the flight and then gave her West and Kelby’s address, along with Autumn and Eli’s, telling Jen she was staying at the latter and that Jen would be a guest of West and Kelby’s.
“I sent her your address,” she told Kelby. “Autumn wouldn’t mind having another guest, but I think it would be good for Jen to stay here at least a couple of days. Since you work from home, she could really shadow you, and the two of you could see if she might be a good fit.”
“Let’s go tell the guys,” Kelby said.
As they left the kitchen, Summer hoped that Jen would soon become a permanent resident of Hawthorne.