Page 6 of One More Chapter
“All of them?”
“All of them,” I nod, answering Claire’s question with a curt nod.
“But mybabies.”
She whines, her fingers tracing over the spines of the now waterlogged backlog of my collection.
I’ve been an author for the past three years. Unfortunately, the work of my blood, sweat, and tears was one of the many victims of what I’m deeming “The Plagues of Penelope: Chapter Flood.” I had twenty copies of each of my seven titles, which means several hundreds of dollars are currently weighing down the built-in shelves of my office.
“It’s no biggie. They’re insured.”
I shrug. It’s all that can be done. No crying over spilt milk and all that jazz.
“I’m just sad to see them getting tossed. It’s like a crime against the bookish community.”
“Maybe I’ll auction them off. Flash Flood Sale!”
This gets a laugh out of my friend. She seems more sad about the whole situation than I am. Then again, she hasn’t lived a life of disappointment like I have. I guess I’m just used to it.
“I think most of your stuff was saved,” I say, rerouting the conversation.
Claire has been staying with me since last fall, when she finally decided to stand up to her parents, who had been using her as a live-in nanny since she was in elementary school. Without their support of her wanting to live her own life, I opened my doors, gaining a friend, and someone I could confide the secret of my authorship to. It was a breath of fresh air, exactly what I needed. And then, she just had to go and start dating my boss. Well, our boss at the time. Claire and Nathan met while she was long-term subbing at River Valley Middle School, where I teach eighth grade math, and now that she’s pursuing a career of her own, they are free to date more openly.
They sure are, because he built them a house, and she’s free to move in at any time—which might be coming sooner than we thought it would.
“That might be because most of my stuff is at Nathan’s…”
She trails off, biting her bottom lip like they’re still keeping their relationship a secret. I wrap my arm around her shoulder.
“Don’t feel like you need to be ashamed of your adult sleepovers. I knew this day was coming, Claire Bear.”
She sighs, resting her head on my shoulder.
“I think we’re ready to move in together. I just don’t like leaving you by yourself. I kind of love having you as my roomie.”
“I’ll do fine on my own. I always have.”
That truth hangs heavily—my loneliness, and her stark opposite. We only ruminate in our sorrow for a moment before we get to work. I must have done something right to have Claire by my side while I schlep through what can and can’t be salvaged. After the professional crew dried the place out, and it was deemed safe, I sent out an SOS to the only friend that’s still in town. While Nathan has to serve as assistant principal throughout the summer, Claire gets finished with her internshipearly enough for us to still spend a little time together. God bless her for using her few free minutes to help me clean up this wreck.
We trade mindless chat—books we’ve both read, how things are going with her family, how I’m feeling about the upcoming school year—while we clean.
“Have you made a decision about your contract yet?” she asks.
I sigh, setting the last of my undamaged clothes into the new suitcase I bought. “Yes and no? I want to re-up, but we’re not settled on terms.”
She folds the last hoodie from the back of the closet and plops down on the dry floor next to me.
“Okay. What are they? What’s holding you back?”
“They want six more books over the next two years. While it’s definitelydoable, I can’t account for any roadblocks during the school year. It’s one of the reasons I sometimes wish I had stayed indie. When I self-published, I made up my own timeline.”
“Can you go back?”
“No,” I chuckle, eyes wide. Looking around at the home my first author contract bought me, my debt-free status, and the financial freedom I have for the first time in forever, it isn’t a choice. “I just need to fight for what I want. Two years. Three books. An interconnected series. Renegotiate after.”
“And you won’t quit teaching to write full time?”
“Nope. No matter how hard the kids push me, I can’t leave. Teaching’s in my blood.”