Page 97 of Smoke and Glitter

Not tell me more.

Just that.

He breathes out on the other end.

"Send it."

"I will."

"And Sam?"

"What?"

"I'll sign it."

Nothing in me knows what to do with how easy that sounds. Three years attached to a dead company. Months of trying to get Pilsen moving. Doug counting down days. One call. Not even a good call. Just the right one.

"Okay," I say.

Then I hang up. For a while, I stay exactly where I am. The phone is still in my hand. Autumn's pages are spread across the desk beneath it. I don't feel lighter. I'm still angry. He's still the man who slept with my wife and left me holding pieces of a life I didn't know had already ended. None of that changed. But the company is moving toward dead. That changed. I gather Autumn's pages and straighten their edges against the desk.

My first thought is to call her. It comes fast enough that my hand is already moving toward the phone before I stop. She would understand what this took. That's probably why I want to tell her. But she already did her part. She found the way through and put it in my hands. She doesn't owe me the part where I feel better because I finally used it. I set the phone back down. Then I open my laptop and start sending the paperwork.

Chapter eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Autumn

By the time the first leg of Nix's tour starts winding down, nobody is talking about wrapping up anymore. The campaign has worked better than we planned for. Manchester has added another date, Amsterdam is confirmed, and the interview requests coming in are pushing against a schedule that was already full.

Nix is beside me going through the new routing when Gemma turns her laptop around. "They want another Manchester press day."

Nix looks at me. "Do I?"

"Yes."

"You answered that very fast."

"I've had practice."

Her expression suggests she finds that personally disappointing, but my phone starts ringing before she can argue. Anna's name is on the screen, so I move far enough away from them to hear her.

"They want to keep you through the extension."

"I figured they might."

"You don't have to stay."

That isn't what I expected her to say. Anna gives me the clean version. The campaign worked. The album moved. Nix is in a different position than she was when I got here. The job I was sent to do is done, and if I want to hand the next leg over, nobody is going to read anything into it.

I glance back at the table. Nix has taken Gemma's laptop and Gemma is trying to get it back without spilling either of their coffees. A few months ago, Anna's offer would have made the decision easy. Finish what I was sent to do. Leave things better than I found them. Go home before anybody has to wonder whether I stayed too long.

"No," I say.

Anna goes quiet.

"I want to stay."