Chapter 22

I didn't speak to Noah for two days. The first, he was holed up with his father in his office and I went home before they left the room. The second day, we all breathed a sigh of relief when Noah came in to work alone and Mr Matthews appeared to have gone back to New York, but Noah didn't come out of his office. I felt a huge gap had opened up between the two of us and I wasn't sure if we'd ever build a bridge to close it.

I didn't open any more of the emails Noah had sent me from New York. I was too angry with how he'd acted in the meeting with me and his father. I was curious about them but it felt like Noah was a different person now so it would only be a kick in the teeth to read them. Based on how he hadn't supported me, I guessed his illness had been a blip and now he was reverting to his pact of focusing on work. Not us.

And I would do the same.

So, I ploughed on with my idea to promote Bitten for as little money as possible and yes, you could say I was ignoring anything personal to focus on this. I couldn't solve what was happening or not happening between me and Noah but I was going to solve this work problem.

Avoiding the office, I went straight to Book Nook on Thursday to see Georgina. It was still so strange to think of it as Noah's bookshop. I walked in and the bell on the door jangled. Georgina turned from where she was shelving books to say hello to me. I was prepared this time for the rush of memories and forced myself to focus on the task in hand.

‘Georgina, I've had a somewhat mad publicity idea that I'm hoping you'll want to come on board with,' I said, pulling out leaflets I wanted her to put out in the shop.

Georgina grinned. ‘I love mad ideas.'

I told her about how the budget had been cut for Bitten and my plan to make it a bestseller anyway, and her eyes lit up.

‘What do you think?'

‘I love it. I hate how romance readers can be treated as second-class citizens. And that romance books can be seen as less than other genres,' she said. ‘I will help any way I can.' She tipped her head to look at me. ‘What does Noah think about this?'

‘Well, he doesn't know my exact plan,' I admitted. ‘His father was pretty against us focusing on Bitten so I didn't want to put him in the position of having to lie to Mr Matthews or anything. But they will both be happy when the profits roll in, right?'

Georgina put my leaflets out on the till desk. ‘I can't see Noah being against publicising a romance novel; they are his favourite genre, aren't they? My dad told me he used to devour thrillers but then wanted to buy all the love stories he could get his hands on.'

I thought about the bookshelf I had seen in Noah's flat. ‘He never used to read romances,' I agreed. ‘When we were together, I was the romance junkie, not him.'

Georgina raised an eyebrow. ‘Maybe you influenced him more than you knew then.'

‘I suppose I did talk a lot about books with him.'

I could never help myself; if I read a good book, I could wax lyrical about it for days if you let me and Noah always liked to talk about books or come book shopping so maybe he had taken my book reviews more seriously than I'd thought.

‘Well, more men should read romance,' I said.

‘Preach,' Georgina agreed. ‘Noah said you two met in here?'

‘We did. It was like something out of a novel. I'd always had this fantasy of meeting someone in a bookshop,' I said, looking around. ‘It felt like fate or something. But then Noah moved to New York without me. I suppose that's the problem with life, isn't it? It isn't a book. We don't get a happy ending.'

‘You still might now Noah's back in London.'

I shook my head. ‘Noah is very different now.'

‘You think?' Georgina raised a pierced eyebrow. ‘He seems the same to me. Maybe it's all the stress of work that you're picking up on. He finds his dad a nightmare to work for, I know. I used to get emails from him at the office in New York at like midnight. I don't know how he coped with it all.'

I thought about his emails to me and wondered if any of those had been sent at the same time.

‘I kind of cut off contact when he left so I don't know about his life out there,' I admitted. I had always pictured Noah as living his best life in NYC. Like a male Carrie Bradshaw swanning around with cocktails and women hanging off his arm. I wasn't sure how to feel now I knew that wasn't the case. ‘I blocked him everywhere, to be honest.'

‘I understand. I'm not friends with any of my exes.'

‘Did he tell you about his mum?' I asked.

She nodded.

‘I had no idea. He left without telling me. I only know now. And I feel terrible that I wasn't there for him but he didn't let me.'

‘I think it's been a rough time,' she said. ‘His family seems complicated.'

‘Yeah, I just met his dad,' I replied ruefully.

‘All I know is when Noah told me you were working at his company, I'd never seen him so happy.'

I hated the way my heart soared when she said that.

I shook my head. ‘I was furious.'

Georgina laughed. ‘I don't blame you. But he's a good guy. He was there for my family when we had nowhere else to turn. So, I am a big fan.' She gestured to the leaflets. ‘Noah would want to be part of this, I'm sure.'

I wasn't as certain. Not after the way he'd backed down so spectacularly with his father, but I thanked Georgina for her help and left the bookshop for my next meeting.

I walked from the Book Nook to the Starbucks opposite our office to meet with Ed Thomas, Deborah's agent. I spotted him at a table with his laptop. He'd instantly agreed to meet me here, saying he needed a caffeine fix so often he preferred working in coffee shops to working in his office. I sensed a kindred spirit.

‘Thank you for meeting me,' I said as I sat down in the chair.

‘I'm intrigued. You weren't making a lot of sense on the phone talking rallies and protests and t-shirts but I agreed when you said we can't let Debs down,' he replied with a grin.

‘Well, I've had my budget cut for her publicity and marketing campaign,' I said. His face turned to thunder. ‘I know, I know.'

I briefly explained how the big boss had come over from New York and chosen to give the money to a new thriller instead.

‘I'm going to be honest, I didn't like the dismissive way he talked about romance books. I reached out to my librarian friend, who's just as much of a romance fan as me, and we came up with this idea. Everyone at Turn the Pages is on board so all we need is Deborah to agree to join us.'

I proceeded to tell Ed what we were planning.

He whistled. ‘I like it. Bold but fun. A way to get people involved. But how will you keep the focus on Bitten?'

I pulled out my phone and showed him the t-shirt design Emily had knocked up for me.

Ed nodded. ‘I like it. And I think Debs will too. But what will John Matthews say? And Noah? I don't want them pulling the book or something like that.'

‘They can't, they'd lose too much money and once we have all this publicity, they wouldn't dare. Talk about bad press! Are you okay with it being a secret?'

‘I'm all for getting one over John Matthews. I have a friend at the firm in New York and he's pretty terrible. I know things have been shit for them this past year but they are really making enemies. And Debs deserves this book to be a hit so I say we do it.'

I nodded. ‘Great.' Then I thought about what he'd said. ‘Things have been bad for Noah and his father?'

I was surprised that he knew about Noah's mother being ill.

‘Yeah, it was a terrible time and everyone feels so sorry for them, of course, but John Matthews took it so hard, it's made him lack any empathy when it comes to dealing with people. Not the way to get the best out of your staff, in my book.' He saw my confused expression. ‘You didn't know that John's wife died?'

I sucked in a breath. ‘Noah lost his mum?'

Ed nodded. ‘Just last year. Then they went hell for leather with this takeover. Throwing themselves into work was how they coped, I reckon.'

‘Noah didn't tell me,' I said in a small voice. I suddenly felt terrible for attacking him after the meeting with his father.

‘They don't like talking about it,' Ed said. ‘Well, if nothing else, you're trying something different which is what Debs has been pushing for. I think she'll be on board.'

I was relieved. ‘Good. I'll see you on Monday then.'

I stood up, my mind on what had happened to Noah. Why hadn't he told me about his mum?

‘I know I made a joke about it when we first met but Stevie, if it's a success, you're going to leave Turn the Pages, aren't you? Come and work for me, Stevie. I like you. You're smart, passionate about books and not afraid to do something outside the box.'

‘Let's see how this goes first,' I said, smiling. I was flattered, I couldn't lie, and things at work were definitely not easy.

As I left Starbucks, I thought again about the emails Noah had sent me in New York. Had he said anything about his mum in them?

I pulled out my phone and scrolled to the final email he'd forwarded to me and opened it up. It was dated a year ago. I began to read.