Page 34 of Long Story Short

‘I hope you didn’t take anything Mulberry said seriously back there,’ Jake said as I watched Liv go. ‘You know what he’s like.’

I nodded. ‘I do but what he said…’ I trailed off, annoyed that I had let Davis get into my head about Jake’s intentions.

Jake stepped closer, the noise and sights of New York fading away as I looked at him. ‘Forget about him. Let’s go somewhere now, just us. Where else do you want to see in the city?’

I hesitated for a moment. I wanted to see more of New York and Jake had proved himself to be a great tour guide but I was nervous to be alone with him again. ‘I did want to walk along the Brooklyn Bridge…’ I admitted.

‘Then I’ll take you. If you want me to. Do you?’

‘Yes. I’m just wondering if it’s a good idea or not.’

‘Why don’t we decide that afterwards?’

I let myself laugh. ‘That is a dangerous suggestion surely.’

Jake grinned. ‘I can’t help myself. Please, Freya?’

I hesitated but I was too weak not to want to spend more time outside of work with him. And the panel had gone well so we could afford a couple of hours away from the conference. I wanted to get to know him more, to know if this could be something or not. So even though Davis’s words echoed in my head, I agreed to a walk with Jake.

We jumped into a yellow cab as Jake suggested walking from Brooklyn to Manhattan would give me a great view of the city skyline and then we could head back to our hotel. I watched the views out of the taxi window, in awe again, as we drove to Brooklyn. It still felt surreal to be here in the flesh.

‘You’re quiet,’ Jake said. ‘Did Davis upset you?’

‘I guess what he said made me think… I don’t know you very well.’

‘He doesn’t know me at all,’ Jake said firmly. ‘And he can see I like you, and you already know he tries to ruin anything I like. Why don’t we get to know each other better?’

I nodded. I did like the sound of that. I knew I couldn’t ask him what I really wanted to so I went with something else I was curious to know. ‘When did you first really think about writing a book?’

‘I haven’t thought about that for a while,’ he said. ‘When I was about nineteen, I went on holiday with my family and I had just finished readingTheCatcher in the Rye. We were in this remote place in the Lake District, and it was raining, and I was bored. My mum had a copy ofEmmaand I reluctantly decided to read it.’ He smiled at the memory. ‘But I was captivated by it.’

I smiled too. ‘I love her books so much.’

‘I enjoyed it even more thanThe Catcher in the Rye. I liked the humour and the irony, the way Austen created these characters I could absolutely see in my mind, and the fact that they made mistakes but things worked out in the end. Which is something I think I use in my books.’ He paused and glanced at me. I nodded because he absolutely wrote very human characters that you believed in and rooted for. ‘When I told my mum I had loved it, she said it was her favourite book because she had been reading it when she met my father. Anyway, I was inspired and after that, I found myself choosing romantic stories over everything else. That summer was long and I ended up starting to write my own stories. It was ten years until I’d get a book published but that summer shaped me as a reader and a writer, and started me on that journey.’ Jake looked a little bit startled then. ‘Sorry for such a long speech.’

‘No, I liked it.’ I knew then he wasn’t lying about enjoying love stories. I could see it in his smile, in his eyes, the wistful look as he thought back to that summer. Whatever happened to make him say those things about romance books, it wasn’t because he didn’t love them any more. ‘I hope you get to carry on writing books, Jake. I think the world would be a worse place without them.’

‘That means more to me than you could know.’

We smiled at one another, and Davis Mulberry’s warnings about Jake faded to the back of my mind.

We reached Brooklyn then and the taxi dropped us off so we could walk up to the bridge and start crossing it. We started at the point where the suspension cables were anchored. I sucked in an awed breath to be walking above the traffic, feeling like I could almost touch the cloudless, bright blue sky. Ahead, I could see the Brooklyn Tower granite archway which I recognised from scenes of the bridge I had seen; it looked like a cathedral opening. Behind the arches and cables, in the distance, was the incredible Manhattan skyline. Below us, cars sped on by like they had no idea we were up here.

I felt all at once tiny and on top of the world too. It was overwhelming.

I had to stop walking then and lean against one side to take everything in.

‘Are you okay?’ Jake asked, coming to stand beside me.

‘Yeah, it’s just incredible. I honestly wasn’t sure if I’d ever get here. And in the run-up to this trip, I was so focused on what Hayley needed me to do and having to work with you, I didn’t fully grasp the fact I’d actually be here. Seeing New York below me like this just makes me realise I did something I’ve wanted to do for years.’

Jake smiled. ‘I’m glad you got to see this city, Freya. And I’m sorry if I made you feel like you couldn’t be excited about it with me. Being with you has made me see how far removed from myself I’ve been for the past few months. You seem like you always are just yourself.’

‘I’m not sure if that’s always a good thing, though,’ I admitted. I thought about how my advice to Jake hadn’t really panned out.

‘I wish you’d be more confident in your abilities. What made you want to be an agent?’

‘I’ve always wanted to work with books. I went to a book signing once and I met the author’s agent and she told me all about the job. It seemed like something I would love. But it took a long time to get the job with Hayley, and Liv was the one who kind of connected us, so maybe I’ve been struggling with a bit of imposter syndrome.’ I sighed. ‘That’s why I was so nervous for this trip and so desperate to prove myself, I suppose.’

---