Page 19 of Modern Persuasion

Patrick raised an eyebrow. "I noticed you fixed his tie. Here's a secret. I saved it for you. I could've fixed it if I wanted. I thought to myself, Emma needs one little moment of happiness to get her through this tour."

"Happiness would be not being on tour," I said as my good mood sank.

Patrick patted my hand. "Emma, I figured you out the moment I met you. This tour will probably be the best thing that has ever happened to you. Trust me, next year you will call me and tell me exactly that. Come to the parties. If Fredrick doesn't anchor you, then I will. Now that I know you need it, I know what to do."

I smiled at him, again feeling overwhelmed by my long-repressed emotions. After dinner, as we walked through downtown Atlanta, Patrick stopped and wrapped his arms around me. I couldn't fight it anymore, and I cried in the arms of a man I barely knew. He didn't say anything. He just let me cry.

Chapter Thirteen

I sat on the aisle next to Louisa during the flight to LA. Thankfully we were in first class, and the drinks were free. I debated getting drunk on the flight. I decided against it, not sure what I would do once I was drunk. We both tried to sleep for a while. I put in my earbuds and listened to some soft music. I kept replaying my dinner with Patrick and the disastrous fantasies I had later that night when I thought about how Fredrick's friends would treat me. I repeatedly played through a scene where they all pointed and threw stones while laughing at me.

When I couldn't stand dwelling on that anymore, I switched to thinking about how my career seemed to be taking five steps back. I was supposed to be working with authors to create the best version of their books and publish them. Now I was babysitting a celebrity author, who also happened to be my ex, on his book tour with his publisher and an intern. I was the least helpful person and a waste of time and money for my employer. Clearly, I was in demand, and the time I spent here was time I wasn't working with other authors. The more I thought about what was going on, the less it made sense.

After mentally yelling at myself, I finally gave up on sleep and ordered a glass of wine.

"Can't sleep?" Louisa asked, pulling her eye mask off and pulling out her own earbuds.

I shook my head. "I'm ready for Cape Cod," I told her.

"The best I can offer right now is the beach in Los Angeles," she said with a bit of bounce.

I did my best to smile. Louisa looked out the window as the flight attendant brought my wine. I took a sip and let out a sigh.

"We're here to work," I reminded her.

"We should go to the beach one day, just you and me," Louisa said. "We aren't working twenty-four-seven. We can take a day off."

"Maybe," I said between sips of wine.

Louisa adjusted in her seat to face me. "What about tomorrow while they're doing the morning shows? We can get suntans before we get to Cape Cod! Everyone will be so jealous of our pre-vacation tans. Mary will demand to know why we left her behind. Then she'll complain for hours, and we'll giggle because we won, again."

I chuckled and shook my head. "It's not hard to make Mary jealous. We don't have to go out of our way to do so. Anyway, I have an appointment tomorrow morning."

"What appointment?" Patrick asked, sitting up and leaning into the aisle.

The one detail I had been keeping to myself since my conversation with Patrick. It was time to come clean. I didn't know who to trust anymore, but there was one person who would be honest with her, hoping that it would give him what he wanted. I took a sip of the wine to give me a moment to think of how to respond. "It's just with a friend who started his own publishing company in LA. He wants me to come by and see what he's done in the two years since they started."

"A job interview?" Patrick asked, leaning on the arm of his seat.

"No, I mean... yeah, sort of," I said, trying to explain why I would have this meeting when I didn't want to move to Los Angeles. "Technically. He keeps offering me a job, but I can't leave New York."

"So, you go to the interview, you lead him on, tease him a bit, and then say no when he offers you a job," Fredrick said from his seat.

I leaned forward and saw that he was staring at the back of his seat. "No, this is the first time I've ever come out," I said, wanting to clear up his confusion. "He was at PubCon and insisted I stop by when he heard I was going to be in Los Angeles. I decided to accept the meeting since I have the free time this week."

Fredrick turned his head and glared at me. I stopped talking about it at this point because I wasn't sure I was explaining it accurately or if Fredrick would understand. It was clear all he could see was a pattern. Nothing was going to make him see this any other way.

"Is it Ted?" Louisa asked. "Your dad is always complaining about Ted, the publisher in LA."

"Yes, it's Ted," I said, hoping explaining this to the men would help Fredrick understand. "Ted was my father's protege. When my father retired, he packed up and moved to Los Angeles. Ted thinks the West Coast needs more major publishers. He swears he needs me because authors will follow me to any publisher."

"Move it. I have to go to the bathroom," Fredrick said to Patrick.

As Fredrick got up and walked away, I could see the back of his neck getting redder.

"What's up with him?" Louisa asked.

The three of us watch Fredrick bang into some of the seats and swear.