“Have you had a chance to read over those manuscripts I gave you?” she asked.
I flushed slightly. “I am halfway through the first one. I was going to read more last night but I found myself… indisposed.” I looked down at my hands, a little afraid I was about to get scolded. When I looked up again, she was just nodding.
“Okay, no big deal. I want you to go home for the rest of the day and try to get them finished if you can. In fact, go ahead and take tomorrow too. Just take your tablet home with you and you can work from there if I need anything. We have that lunch meeting with Emily on Friday, and I want you to be well-versed in her work. I want your full professional opinion by Friday morning”
I sat there, shocked for a minute. Samantha must have seen the look cross my face because she laughed and asked me if I was okay.
“Uh, yeah. I just didn’t figure my opinion would matter that much,” I admitted.
She regarded me seriously for a moment before responding. “Why wouldn’t I want your opinion, Kate? I think you show tremendous promise in the literary field, if I’m being honest. When I give you things to work on, you are always professional and prompt when getting them back to me. I think you have a keen eye for the written word, you just need the confidence to go for things you want.”
I shook my head as she continued. “I know it was none of my business, but I read a little of what you have been writing. You accidentally left your computer open the other day when you went to lunch and the document was right there. I couldn’t help myself. You don’t have much written yet, but what you do have is amazing, Kate.”
She was looking at me with all seriousness. “And, as much as I would hate to lose the best assistant I have ever had, I want you to pursue what you have further. Anyone that can write like that without an education to back it will always have a valuable opinion in my book.”
I felt myself flush again. I had started to just play around with writing for the last couple of days. I really didn’t think it would go anywhere, to be honest. I was just trying to get my thoughts down on paper, and it was starting to take form before my eyes. I never would have thought that one of the lead publishers at this firm would think it was worth anything though.
She nodded at me and went back to her computer. I stood up and told her I would have both scripts read by the end of the day tomorrow and to call me if she needed anything.
I was on autopilot as I shut down my computer and grabbed my things to head home. I was still reeling from what Samantha had said when I made it to my car.
Could I really do this? I loved writing, but I never thought I would be good enough to get published. I smiled to myself as I started my car and headed toward home. I had taken the leap with starting of a new relationship, and so far, it was going great. Why not do this for me as well? Even if it didn’t work out, I still had my job to fall back on.
Feeling excited about what my future could hold, I felt the need to tell someone I cared about. It was almost lunchtime, so I thought about seeing if Lindsey wanted to grab something to eat with me. I quickly ruled that out as an option when I thought she would probably be in class. Jill was still at work so I knew that wouldn’t do either.
Smiling again as the idea struck, I drove past my apartment as I made my way to The Sand Dollar. The fact that Heath came to mind when I thought of the people I cared about wasn’t lost on me.
Parking my car, I glanced in the building to see if he was inside. I hopped out of my car and started to walk to the doors. Stopping right as I put my hand on the handle, I had the irrational feeling of being watched. I looked all around to see if I saw anyone I knew. A few people were walking about, but I didn’t recognize anyone.
Shaking the feeling off, I walked inside. The bar was empty except for a few employees milling around, getting ready to open. The waitress from last night spotted me and made her way over. “Is there something I can help you with? We aren’t open for another thirty minutes, but I can see if we can seat you early.”
I shook my head. “Oh, no that’s okay, I was just looking for—”
“Kate!”
Turning toward the bar, I spotted who I came here to see. Heath put down the clean glasses he had been carrying and made his way to me. I breathed out a nervous breath at the sight of him. This man had put me in a hundred different positions last night, bringing me intense amounts of pleasure, and the sight of him still made me nervous.
“Hey, Amanda I got this. Will you finish putting the glasses up for me please?” He talked to the waitress without taking his eyes off me. “Hey, sweetheart, is everything okay?” he asked me, concern written along his brow.
I nodded. “Yeah, I got sent home for the rest of today and tomorrow so I can finish up those manuscripts for a meeting on Friday. I also had something kind of exciting happen so I figured maybe we could get some lunch and talk about it. I wanted to share the news with someone I care about, and you came to mind.” Was I rambling? I felt like I was rambling.
Heath just stared at me with a grin playing on his lips.
I let out a nervous laugh. “But I can see that you’re busy and this was just silly of me. I should have known better than to interrupt you at work. I’ll just go home and I can talk to you—”
Heath cut off my next words when he brought his lips to mine, effectively shutting me up. When he pulled away from me, I swayed a little. He grabbed my hands and brought them to his mouth, giving my fingers little kisses.
“You aren’t interrupting anything, sweetheart. I was just about to take a break and get something to eat before we open. Have you eaten yet?” At the shake of my head, he led me to the bar. Pulling out the stool for me, he kissed my neck and told me he would be right back.
He headed toward the kitchen, opening the door, and asked whoever was working for two house burgers and fries. He was back to me before I could even miss him. He sat on the stool beside me, turning to face me. We faced each other with our legs tangled together. He grabbed my hands and threaded his fingers between mine. “Now, tell me all about your exciting news.”
So, I smiled and told him everything that Samantha had told me. Even relaying the fact that I used to write back in high school and I was so excited to get back into it. I told him that I had a really good feeling about this, and I wanted to go for it. He listened intently and gave me his input when it was needed.
Our food had come, and we began to eat as we were still talking. We sat and talked for what felt like hours, even though it had only been maybe thirty minutes. I shared with him that it had been a dream of mine when I was younger to write a novel but just never had the opportunity.
He told me that this bar had always been his dream, and it was Reid who pushed him to take the leap. He said that if he hadn’t had someone in his corner cheering for him, he probably would have never bought this place and now have a successful business, so he was going to do the same for me. I believed that he and Reid would always help me flourish and make me a better version of myself.
When our food was long gone and customers started filing in for lunch, Heath stood and cleared away our plates. Then he came back and pulled me into his arms. “If you need someone in your corner to push you to follow your dreams, just know that Reid and I will never hold you back. We will do everything we can to help you achieve your goals.”