Page 23 of Long Story Short

‘Sounds like bullshit to me.’

‘How can we believe him?’

‘He thinks he’s so charming that we will just accept what he says.’

‘I thought there was one man in the world who believed in love like we do but now I’m not so sure.’

‘Why would slagging off romance books be better than sharing what’s going on in your personal life?’

‘He’s such a ladies’ man; I think he writes romance just to get women into bed.’

When I heard that comment, my cheeks turned pink remembering how Jake said he would treat me well if I was his.

‘How can anyone believe that you don’t hate romance books after what you said?’ someone called out to Jake.

Jake sighed and held up a hand, slowly quietening the room back down again. ‘I love writing romance. I chose to write love stories. And I want to continue to do so. What I said was in the heat of the moment after a terrible few weeks. I know that shouldn’t excuse what I did but maybe it might help you to forgive me,’ he said pleadingly to everyone.

Again, there were murmurings. I was unsure, along with his readers. Jake had ended up telling half the truth. He had explained he was trying to distract Davis from his secret and I did believe that he had been going through a hard time and didn’t actually look down on romance readers, but I still longed to know what he was trying to hide from everyone.

And I felt disappointed that I hadn’t managed to persuade him to be completely honest today. I kind of wanted to have him respect my opinion like he had always respected Hayley’s when it came to his career. But maybe he did still just think of me as young and inexperienced, especially after making a fool of myself in his presence as many times as I had done. If Jake didn’t think he should be honest to save his career, it made me wonder if I was capable of advising authors, full stop. Hayley had given me hope if this conference went well, I could be an agent myself but it felt like I was failing on all fronts.

‘I get why you are sceptical,’ Jake called out above the noise in the room. ‘But that conversation with Davis Mulberry happened at my lowest point. I did almost want to give my career up. After the article came out, I realised that I really could lose it all, and that made me see that I didn’t want to. That there is still hope and love in the world, and I do want to write about it. Now though, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to. And that makes me feel really sad. It’s up to you all to decide.’

There were a few scoffs around the room.

‘I don’t know what to think,’ I heard a reader say loudly to the person beside them.

‘It feels like his books are tainted now,’ their neighbour agreed.

Jake sighed and walked down the room towards the door before he faced everyone again. ‘I’m sorry I can’t share the full story with you all. But I do mean what I say here today and I hope you will all give me that second chance. I don’t suppose anyone wants me to sign a book but if you change your mind over the rest of the conference, just come and find me.’ He walked out of the room then and I stopped filming.

I posted the video online and then I got up and hurried after Jake. He had looked so downhearted that even though I was upset he hadn’t come completely clean, I had to check on him. I told myself that was because for all intents and purposes here, I was looking after his career like his agent would, but my heart ached for him in a way that I wasn’t entirely sure was professional only.

Turning when I left the room, I caught a glimpse of Jake as he walked through the lobby of the hotel so I followed him outside, breathing in the fresh air with relief.

‘Jake,’ I called and he stopped, sinking down onto a concrete bench nearby. I walked over slowly and sat down next to him.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said after a moment. ‘I was going to explain everything but, in the moment, I just couldn’t. It’s too personal and raw for me to do that. I felt like everyone in that room would be judging me, and people close to me, and I couldn’t handle it. I thought telling them that I was trying to avoid Davis Mulberry finding out something personal would have been enough. Do they really expect me to be even more honest?’

‘I suppose only getting half the story means your imagination wants to fill in the gaps,’ I said, knowing that’s exactly how I felt about it. ‘It makes it harder for them to trust what you told them.’

‘Maybe this is worse, them thinking I’m a liar, but I still wasn’t able to say the full story, Freya.’

I sighed. ‘I don’t know if what you said was enough or not. It’s best I tell you that.’

He nodded. ‘I know. I’m not getting my hopes up. But worse than the reaction in there was the look on your face.’ Jake turned to me and I looked at him in surprise. ‘I felt like you were disappointed, and I hated that. I don’t want to let you down. I know you believe I should be honest, and I trust you. It was nothing to do with me not respecting your opinion or anything. I’m just not used to being… vulnerable, I guess. And what’s happened the past few months has made me even more reticent to open up.’

‘It is nice to hear you respect my opinion,’ I admitted. ‘I was doubting my advice to you. I still am. I don’t know where we go from here.’

‘Let’s get out of the hotel again. This conference feels like it’s not the real world. When we went out earlier, that felt real.’ He looked at me with those piercing eyes again. ‘I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.’

I hesitated, unsure if I should be spending more time with him not in a work situation. This was supposed to be a trip to help our careers, and it wasn’t going the way we had hoped. This felt like we were running away from the problem almost. Plus, although I was drawn to this man, I wasn’t sure if I could trust him.

‘Freya, will you have faith in me, please? I promise you there is a good reason for all of this and in time, I hope I can share it with you. Out of anyone here, it’s you who I want to share it with,’ Jake said then, surprising me again. ‘I need time, though.’ He stood up. ‘Come on, let’s have some fun. All this will be waiting for us later, right?’ His lips curved into a mischievous smile and I couldn’t resist smiling back.

With an exhale, I pushed myself up from the bench. ‘This feels like a bad idea but I would like to see more of the city,’ I said. I also hoped that spending more time with Jake might let me see more of who he really was and allow me to have faith in him. Because right now, I really wasn’t sure if I could.

‘You won’t regret it,’ he promised, leading the way.

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