“Mmm.” She leans over to grab the bag she brought and pulls out a container of muffins. “Practical would be staying here, where you have support during your recovery. Where you don’thave to climb three flights of stairs because the elevator is perpetually broken in buildings like these.”
“My leg is fine.”
“Your leg will never be fine again, as much as we both wish it were different.” She pops open the lid and offers me the first pick. “But that’s not what this is about.”
Heat creeps up my neck as I take a chocolate chip muffin. “What’s it about, then, since you’re so sure of what’s going on in my head?”
“Fear of the blank page.” She gestures around the cabin with a cranberry orange. “I realize how all the changes in my life have pushed yours in a new direction, too. And the work you’re doing for Aurora Storm isn’t nearly as satisfying. I’m sorry.”
I bump my shoulder against hers. “Never be sorry for being happy.”
“But I do worry that my happiness has caused you unhappiness.” She picks at the wrapper on her muffin. “Who is Grady Finch when he’s not Aurora Storm’s agent?”
The observation hits too close to home, a direct strike to vulnerabilities I’ve buried beneath schedules and other people’s priorities. I set the muffin back into the container untouched and push myself up from the couch.
My leg protests at the sudden movement as I limp toward the window. “I don’t know. I’ve spent six years building up Aurora Storm’s career.”
“You had a different career planned before me,” Chloe reminds me softly. “Three manuscripts, if I recall correctly.”
My fingers curl on the windowsill. Those manuscripts sit in a storage box at my old apartment, rejection letters still paper-clipped to their title pages. Testaments of failure I can’t bring myself to reread or throw away.
“Ancient history.” I tap my knuckles on the glass, watching my distorted reflection. “And not the point.”
“What is the point, then?”
I turn back to her, leaning against the window frame for support. “The point is independence, and finding out if I’m anything beyond a footnote in your biography.”
Chloe’s face softens. “You’ve never been a footnote to me.”
“Not to you.” I gesture around the cabin, to the half-empty mug of tea I abandoned earlier, to the stack of query letters from unknown authors waiting on the side table. “But to everyone else? A footnote is all they see. And not even a current one.I love you, Chloe, but I need to stop trailing after you.”
She rises and walks over to the desk, flipping through the queries. “You’ve organized press tours without breaking a sweat, soothed the meltdowns of New York publishers when I missed deadlines, and navigated contract negotiations that would bring corporate lawyers to tears.”
I cross my arms, suspicious of this list of my professional accomplishments. “And?”
“Any one of these authors would benefit from your experience. You could change a stranger’s life, the same as you did mine.”
“Uh-huh…” I say, still suspicious.
She tosses the letters back onto the desk and turns to me with a determined glint in her quartz-colored eyes that says she’s up to something that’s going to be a giant pain in my ass. “Or, there’s a certain young Alpha on the island who could really use some positive PR right now.”
My chin pulls back. “Are you suggesting I launch a counter-campaign to change the town’s opinion of Jared?”
She cocks her head to the side. “What, you think you can’t do it?”
“Don’t play mind games with me,” I scowl,pushing away from the window. “I don’t need a pet project.”
“Sounds to me like that’s exactly what you need.” Chloe bounces on the cushion with excitement. “Help reshape the narrative and save a young Alpha’s reputation. Isn’t that what you do best?”
“What I do best is keep your deadlines straight and ensure your social media followers think you’re an outgoing person.” I return to the couch, sinking into the cushions again to give my knee a rest. “Jared needs legal help, not PR management.”
“He’s already got the legal side covered. That’s who Dominic is meeting with right now.” Chloe bounces over to join me, animated with the thrill of problem-solving. “What he really needs is someone who understands how to shift public perception. Someone who can help him tell his side of the story.”
“I write press releases and book tour schedules. I don’t perform miraculous resurrections of reputations.”
Chloe raises an eyebrow. “You salvaged my career after my crazy superfan hacked my account and almost ruined me.”
I frown at her. “That was damage control. This is different.”