Chapter 37

As the morning drew on, Starbucks became filled up with Turn the Pages employees. Everyone we messaged bypassed the office and joined us for pumpkin spiced lattes that Noah put on the company card with great relish. Deborah and Ed joined us too, both hardly able to believe that social media was full of excited posts about Bitten or that the chart position kept on climbing each time we refreshed the page. It was now inside the Kindle top ten.

‘This hasn't happened to me for like fifteen years,' Deborah said as she sat down. ‘It's hard to take in. I kind of felt like my career was over. Suddenly, it feels like it's beginning again.'

‘The second time around feels even sweeter,' I said, glancing at Noah as he talked to Paul, pushing his shirt sleeves up. He felt my gaze and dropped me a wink.

‘It sure does.' Deborah caught our look and leaned in closer. ‘Does that mean you found your own second chance?'

‘I think so,' I said, unable to stop smiling goofily. ‘What about you?' I nodded at Ed, who was a few feet away.

‘I've agreed to a celebratory holiday together in a couple of weeks. Life really likes to throw curve balls, doesn't it?'

Ed seemed to sense us talking about him and he drifted over. ‘You two look like you're plotting something.'

‘I don't think even I could have come with all of this,' Deborah said, gesturing to the crowd of us around the table. ‘Talk about a plot twist.'

I smiled, knowing that I had thought the same thing myself when I met Noah again.

‘Life is stranger than fiction, I guess,' I said, sipping my latte.

Ed leaned in. ‘So, Stevie, what about you jumping ship and coming to work with me?' He saw me glance at Noah again and sigh. ‘I already know the answer, don't I?'

‘You don't know if I got the book on the bestseller list yet,' I reminded him.

‘Yes, don't jinx it,' Deborah said anxiously.

‘I'm going to try my very best not to jinx anything, don't worry,' he said, giving her a fond look.

I saw her cheeks flush and I hid a smile behind my coffee cup.

Emily came to sit down on the other side of me. ‘I should have supported your idea to push Bitten from the start,' she said. ‘You knew the market and that readers would love it. I told Noah he better promote you after this.'

‘Thank you but I don't think his father would support that,' I said darkly. Everyone was a little confused why we weren't in the office but Noah hadn't said anything yet. We wanted to toast to how well everyone had done on this book before dropping the bombshell, but I didn't want to lie to Emily. ‘Mr Matthews wasn't happy when we saw him earlier.' I had told them he'd arrived from New York without us knowing he was coming, but not why he was here.

‘Has he heard about the TikTok though?'

‘No,' I said. ‘I hope it's enough for him. He's a hard man to please. We might still need those new CVs.'

‘He's an idiot if he doesn't start rolling out romances after this,' Emily declared. ‘And if he doesn't sack Paul,' she added with twinkling eyes.

Paul heard his name and ducked away from Noah to come over. ‘Congratulations to you all,' he said a little stiffly, but he seemed genuine. He turned to me. ‘You proved me wrong, Stevie. I won't get in the way of any other of your campaigns.'

I smiled. ‘Can I get that in writing?'

‘Don't push your luck.' But he smiled back.

‘I know I can get very enthusiastic about things,' I said. ‘I think you all thought it was a bit much someone new coming in and trying to push a book that none of you thought was a good idea. It's water under the bridge.'

Paul reached out his hand and I shook it firmly, knowing we'd get past our issues. He walked away to another group of colleagues.

Emily leaned over me to look at Deborah, who had watched our exchange with interest. ‘I am sorry that we didn't get behind your book from the beginning like we should have done,' she said with a stark honesty that I admired.

‘I lost my temper,' Deborah admitted. ‘I get that probably didn't help my cause. All's well that ends well.'

‘You think you might stay on with us?' Emily asked with a cheeky smile.

Deborah glanced at her agent. ‘We'll see.'

‘Noah.'

I turned as the group around me fell quiet and saw Mr Matthews stride to the back of the coffee shop.

‘Can we speak outside?' He seemed oblivious to the hush he had created as he waited for Noah's response.

Noah nodded. ‘Of course.'

He put his drink down and looked at me. I gave him a reassuring smile and he seemed to study for me for a second before turning and following his father out.

‘God, Mr Matthews is intimidating,' Emily said. ‘Even the fact we call him that and not his first name in this day and age.'

‘I hope Noah will be okay,' I said, biting my lip as they disappeared from sight.

Emily nudged my shoulder with hers. ‘Are you ready to spill the beans about you and him?' she asked in a stage whisper.

‘Can we not tell the whole company?' I said, shaking my head. I sighed as Gita appeared. ‘Can you just smell gossip?'

‘Yep,' Gita said proudly. ‘And everyone knows you two ditched us at the pub for quality time together so your secret isn't really a secret any more, just FYI.'

‘HR is talking about arranging a meeting,' Emily added.

I groaned. ‘Great.' But they couldn't stop my smile. ‘Okay, fine. Yes, last night was pretty incredible. And Noah still loves me. And I love him.'

Emily squealed and threw her arms around me as Gita clapped. ‘We knew it. As soon as you came into the office.'

‘No, you didn't. You said Noah was a grump.'

‘Well, yeah, but a handsome one,' Emily said. ‘And we saw the way he looked at you even when he was being grumpy.'

My phone lit up with a message from Liv asking where to meet me now she had cover at work so I told her where to come. She needed to be here. I messaged Georgina too to see if she could take a break from the bookshop and join the celebrations as they'd both been a big part of the promoting.

Can you sneak away for a minute?

When I saw Noah's message, I excused myself and walked through the coffee shop and outside. I saw him waiting for me and I followed him to the river where we'd had more than one serious chat since our reunion.

We leaned against the railings. A golden leaf floated down from the tree that arched over the river and I watched it drop onto the water's surface and float on by. Autumn always reminded me that life was full of new beginnings. Like the one me and Noah were getting.

I covered his hand on the railing with my own. ‘What happened?' I asked. ‘Are you okay?'

Noah took a deep breath and faced me. ‘He read my email. And he told me I was wrong. That he didn't blame me. He told me that when he said that, he was just angry and upset that Mum was ill. He needed me with them but didn't express it in the right way. He didn't think I still thought he felt that way. He feels guilty for…' Noah choked a bit and I squeezed his hand. ‘Working all the time and not being at home as much as he could have been. The lost time he and Mum can never get back.' Noah sighed. ‘He isn't good at talking about his feelings and that was hard for him to say, I could see it. He said he hasn't called New York. Yet. That he'll see what the bestseller list says first. But he did say he wants to meet you. Properly this time.'

‘Wow.' I took that all in. ‘I'm glad he's opened up. That you both have. It sounds like there's been a lot of missed communication. I hope you can fix that now. I really do.'

‘Writing to him was the best idea. Thank you for suggesting it.' He picked up my hand and kissed it. ‘For believing in me.'

‘Reading your words while we were apart has meant so much to me. I like knowing what you're thinking and feeling. Finally,' I added with a wry smile. ‘I'll meet him properly. I have perhaps a crazy suggestion for it.'

Noah's eyes twinkled. ‘I like your crazy suggestions. Promise you'll keep them coming?'

I smiled. ‘That's one thing you can count on me for.'