Page 58 of Austen Persuaded

He gasped, and for a moment, he looked worried. Then, we both broke out into giggles. “He’d expect nothing less.”

“So true, and that’s how youknowit’s meant to be,” I said, smiling a bit wistfully. Before I could dwell on that thought, I returned to my laptop screen, scrolling through more honeymoon locales, when my phone started ringing.

“Unknown number,” I said, setting it back down on the arm rest.

Rafael sat up a little straighter and spoke through a mouthful of chocolate. “Annie, you should answer it. What if it’s the agency? Or the bookstore?”

“Or what if it’s …” I wouldn’t let myself finish the sentence. “No.”

“Fine, I’ll do it then.”

“Raf, no—” I shouted as he grabbed my phone and slid the Answer slider to the left.

“Annie York’s phone. Can I help you?” he asked, sounding like a receptionist.

A few seconds passed as he listened. “Yes, of course. She’s right here.”

As he handed me the phone, I glared at him, making the meanest face I could muster. “Hello?” I said reluctantly.

“Hi, Annie. This is Jardin from Franchersantz Literary Agency. How are you doing today?”

My heart racing, I stifled the desire to scream and motioned to Rafael a thumbs up. “Hi, I’m doing well. It’s great to hear from you.”

“That’s good. I’ll get right to the point. We’d like to offer you the agent assistant role. Though most of our previous new hires for the assistant role have done an agency internship or something similar, we felt that the combination of your editing experience, your drive, and other factors indicated you’d be likely to succeed in this position. And, of course, you come highly recommended by an internal staffer as well as by your past colleagues. All in all, we’d like you to take on this role, if you want it. The starting salary is only $40,000, which isn’t negotiable since it’s entry-level. You’ll have full benefits, and I can send you all of those details in an email later today. Are you still interested in the position?”

When Jardin stopped talking, I released a heavy breath. “I am,” I croaked. After clearing my throat, I added, “Yes, I amsointerested.”

“Fantastic,” Jardin said briskly. “Can you start Monday? Our standard background checks take a while, but we’ve started people earlier on occasion.”

“Oh, um … yes!” I was surprised, but why not? After all, this was a real job, perhaps my destiny.

Once the call ended, Rafael was sitting there with arms crossed, and I was frozen in place. When his face broke out into a grin, I started jumping up and down and screaming, as I’d wanted to do while on the phone. As I felt my head pound in protest, I sank back onto the couch. “Whew, I really needed to get that out of my system.”

“You got the job. Rainn told me last night you would. I was like ‘obviously,’” he said, rolling his eyes. “So, what about your … other commitments?”

I waved my hand dismissively. “Oh, I’ve already decided I’m going to keep doing the Bookshop internship. I even mentioned it during my interview at the agency, so they’re aware. It’ll just be on the side. Hakeem will be fine with me scaling back slightly from the original plan, I think.”

Rafael opened his mouth and then closed it for a moment. “And the school?”

I gasped. “Oh, I—I … sorry, I totally spaced it.”

His frown deepened for a moment, and then he sighed and extended an arm around me. “I know. You’ve had a lot on your mind, girl. It’s fine.”

I laid my head on his shoulder, silently thanking the universe for this wonderful, moody friend of mine. “I think I’d like to keep teaching, actually. But I’ll need to scale back. Could I do just the late evenings and weekends?”

He squeezed my shoulder. “How about just Saturday mornings? I’ll need to hire another part-timer, so I can give them the weeknight ones. And you never know, your agency job might not be a 9-to-5 one. I wouldn’t want you disappointing our little dancers by not showing up if Diana the diva writer decides she needs you to babysit her chihuahua.”

I burst into laughter. “That’s not a real thing.”

“It’s not?” Rafael looked disappointed. “Then I’m not sure I want you doing this agency work. The movies made it look interesting. You’re going to become downright boring, aren’t you?”

I elbowed him in the ribs before we both dissolved into laughter.

I was going to miss this, just relaxing with my friend on a weekday. Working a full-time job plus two part-time ones, I was going to be busy, beyond busy. But I needed that. Busy meant less time to think and to dwell on the past, what might have been, what never would be.

“Annie, please, no!” Rafael whined, sinking into the couch dramatically.

I stood with my hands on my hips. “What’s wrong with you?”

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