Page 28 of As They Are
“It isn’t a vacation. I’m visiting a close friend.”
“Sounds like a vacation to me.”
“It turned out to be something good. I know where we’re filming season two.”
“Okay, I’m listening.”
“Strawberry Springs.”
“Where?”
“It’s a small town a few hours outside of Nashville.”
“Hours?Wren, our show is basedinNashville.”
“Our show is based inhistory,and trust me, this place has a lot of it.”
I could still see the ghosts of years past in those hallways and the memories of what once was. God, I wanted to bring it back to life.
“I told you to find another place in the city.”
“Yes, but this is unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. This is inspiring, Madison. It’s the center of a small town run down by a lack of funding. We could change lives with this!”
She sighed. “I mean this in the kindest of ways, Wren. But the network isn’t interested in changing lives in a small town. They’re interested in changing lives throughTV.”
“Don’t people love an underdog story?”
“They do, but you have to consider what kind of undertaking restoring a library would be. It needs books, employees, and long-term funding that the show can’t provide. Unfortunately, libraries in small towns like that close for a reason.”
“But what if I funded some of it?” I was growing desperate. I wanted thissobadly. Working on the show here was the only way I could stomach doing it. At least I wouldn’t be alone withJude while he flirted with me on camera and avoided me off of it. At least I wouldn’t miss any more of Mollie’s life.
“Then we could consider it, but you’d have to fund it long term. We can’t renovate a library and have it close in a year for the same reasons.”
“Still—”
“Wren, I understand that this is important to you. And I applaud you for finding it. But unless something changes, I don’t think this is a project worth your time. I’ll send you a few options I’ve found on my own. Pick from those. We need to move fast on this.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. I regretted signing a contract for season two when I still thought I had a chance with Jude. When I didn’t feel like ... this. It was ironclad. I couldn’t get out of it.
“I’ll look at them,” I muttered.
“Thank you for listening to reason.” She hung up without another word and I flopped onto the bed.
Between all the work I had finished and planned to do in Nashville, plus the income from both seasons ofRenovating with Love,I had money. But was it enough to fund a library?
A place like this deserved to be showered with income. They deserved the ability to buy new books and host things without worrying about how they’d pay for it.
I could keep it running for a year. Maybe two, if I took consistent flips and houses and upped my rates. But I couldn’t give it what it deserved by myself.
I stared at the ceiling, my emotions crashing over me. It had been a long time since I’d felt this much disappointment. Usually, I could find a project to work on to make it better.
And I thought I had.
A knock at the door pulled me from my thoughts. “Hey,” Mollie said. “Ready for dinner?”
I wasn’t. I wanted to be miserable for a little longer. But I also didn’t want to be a rude guest.
“Yeah, I am.”
