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Back Long Story Short Save as PDF
Chapters (61)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. 35
  38. 36
  39. 37
  40. 38
  41. 39
  42. 40
  43. 41
  44. 42
  45. 43
  46. 44
  47. 45
  48. 46
  49. 47
  50. 48
  51. 49
  52. 50
  53. 51
  54. EPILOGUE
  55. THANK YOU!
  56. MORE FROM VICTORIA WALTERS
  57. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  58. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  59. ALSO BY VICTORIA WALTERS
  60. Boldwood Ever After
  61. About Boldwood Books

I knew the man was Jake’s editor, and the head of the publishing company, Craig Blanc. He greeted Hayley and Jake like old best friends though I knew that, just last month, he had been avoiding her calls. Hayley’s ‘bullshit’ phrase swirled around in my head. There seemed to be a lot of it about to happen in this room.

The door closed and we were trapped together for an hour.

‘Well, well, well, what a week you’ve had,’ Craig said once we were all seated at the table. I was next to Hayley with Jake on her other side, and it was a relief to have her in between us. Craig sat opposite us with his colleagues, who he had introduced but I’d missed most of their names because I’d been trying to not think about being so close to Jake again. ‘We’ve heard amazing things from the conference. Hayley, you told me that Jake could turn around his reputation and boy, did you pull it off this week. You kept your strategy quiet, though. We had no idea what Jake was going to reveal.’

‘I didn’t—’ Jake started to say but Hayley leaned forward in her chair and interrupted him.

‘Thank you, Craig. I decided before the three of us went to New York that we couldn’t stick to the same statement we had been using about that article. I realised Jake’s readers are a sentimental bunch and would love to hear the true story from him. I knew the conference would be the perfect opportunity to come clean, and get everyone back on his side,’ Hayley said, a sweet smile on her face.

39

My head swivelled around to look at Hayley in shock. Not only was she claiming that we’d all gone to the conference together with a strategy in place to save Jake’s reputation; she was taking the credit for it. She was telling Craig that it had all been her idea! I thought about her saying that I should just sit and take notes so I could learn from her. Had that been because she knew she was going to pretend the romance conference going so well was all down to her?

‘Hang on—’ Jake started to speak again.

‘Jake,’ Hayley cut in again, turning her smile on to him. ‘Why don’t you tell everyone how your readers reacted to you at your event? When you told them all what had been going on these past few months… I know we all saw the buzz on social media but there is nothing like a first-hand account.’ She waved her hand. ‘Go ahead, don’t be modest.’ She laughed a little bit. I hadn’t realised quite how phony her laugh sounded before now.