Page 79 of The Dating Contract

What felt like millions and zero hours later, after the last movie was done, he headed off to bed.

The next morning, he braced himself before checking his phone.

Nothing from Leah, which was to be expected.

It still hurt.

But he had gotten a text from Oliver, asking if he wanted to catch up and grab coffee with him, and if he hadn’t had to ask Oliver professional questions, he would have stayed home.

Which was a far cry from an answer he would have given six months ago, and yet there he was.

But what kind of person would he be if he left people hanging?

What kind of professional would he be if he let huge opportunities go by the wayside?

What kind of partner for Leah could he be if he dropped everything and hid at the first sign of weakness? Because that’s something she never did. Leah was tenacious and smart. She was a woman in a profession still dominated by men, with clients prepared to do great things.

Because no matter what happened between them, in order to deal with his own issues, he needed to become, if not remain, someone who’d make Leah believe it was possible to have a good, strong, clear relationship.

Someone who used his time effectively, someone who understood the time she needed.

Which meant he had to find himself an agent who could make clear the mess of the contract Liam was going to send him.

He’d asked Leah for recommendations, but he could ask Oliver.

Oliver had worked with Liam before, which meant there was a good chance the man had an agent. And so he got off the subway near the café Oliver wanted to meet at, full of purpose, eyes wide and bushy-tailed.

“Glad you came,” Oliver said.

“Thanks for asking me,” he said. “How are you doing?”

“Good. How are you?”

Andthatwas the question, wasn’t it. Samuel didn’t feel up to diving into the whole story, updating Oliver about what had happened since the party, at least not yet. So he chose to avoid the subject.

“Trying to focus on other things,” he said with a laugh.”

“Things aren’t good with Leah?”

What was it with people and how observant they are? “Long story,” he said, in a second effort to change the subject while at the same time giving him…something. “But I’m trying to be the person who would be good for her, no matter what’s going on with us.”

“Which is actually a smart way to handle it. Coming from, you know…” Oliver said.

He laughed. “Someone in a very long-term committed relationship?”

Oliver nodded. “Got it in one. So aside from the fact you’re fixing things, what’s going on?”

What better time than the present to dive into the specifics of the situation. “I need an agent,” he said. “If the thing is going to happen that we can’t talk about, then I’m going to need an agent to go through that contract.”

“When it happens,” Oliver qualified. “Because you know it’s coming. And my agent’s name is Ryan Kaplan.”

He put the name in his notes app.

“Ryan’s closed to queries at the moment,” Oliver continued, much to Samuel’s utter surprise. “But he’ll definitely look at people who are referred to him working on a project he’s interested in.”

“Thanks,” he said. “I appreciate that.”

“Good,” Oliver said with a smile. “Now. What else are you going to do to get your house in order?”

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