The Scarecrow

Chapter 29

Shortly after Finn left, Rory crawled out of bed.  After she ordered room service, she pulled out her computer to check her email.  She hadn't checked since late last week when she turned in her chapters.  She didn't expect to see anything from Cate, but there was a flagged message from her.

Rory,

I know we've previously discussed moving your publishing deadline up, but I'm getting the official order to do so.  The senior editing staff has been very impressed with your work and diligence (despite our initial hiccup).  They don't see any reason to prolong things.  They are very excited to get your book out.

What does this mean for you?  Based on our current timeline, we've got three more deadlines over the next four months.  This will be cut and you'll have two in the next two months.  That means three chapters each time.  I know this may seem overwhelming, but we haven't had much editing work to do, and I see this trend continuing.  I'm going to need your next three chapters a week from Friday.  This first deadline has a bit of flex since I've sprung this on you, but the latest I can do is the following Monday.

Please call if you have any questions or concerns, and congrats on the great work!

Sincerely,

Cate

She reread the email to make sure she completely understood.  She couldn't believe they wanted to move everything up by two months.  This was exciting and stressful.  She hoped the baby would cooperate, but knew it would ultimately be to her advantage to get the book to the publishers before the baby arrived.

Finn was already at the office as he wanted to get things taken care of early in the day.  Most of the business that needed to be handled was done the day before.  He wanted to surprise Rory by getting back earlier than she expected.  His thoughts were interrupted by the buzzing of his phone.

Logan: Are you and Rory still in NYC?

Finn: Yes, we are.  We planned on staying tonight and going back to Hartford tomorrow.

Logan: Think the three of us can get together for dinner?

Finn: Let me ask Rory.  I'll get back to you.

He wasn't sure what to make of Logan's request, but things were going well with them.  He figured he'd better call Rory now, so he could get Logan an answer in a timely manner.  He had a good feeling about this meet-up.  He tapped her contact information to call.

"Hello, Finn, I was just about to call you!" she greeted him excitedly.

"Couldn't bear to go on anymore without hearing my sexy voice?"

"It's like you're a mind-reader," she retorted with a chuckle.  "Actually, I've got some news to share with you."

"Oh, you do?  I've got some news of my own," he replied.  He heard the excitement in her voice and assumed it was better news than his.  He decided to continue with his reason for the call.  "The reason I'm calling is that Logan would like the three of us to have dinner tonight."

"Isn't she still here?" Rory asked cautiously.

"He made it pretty clear that it was just the three of us."

"Sure, as long as there's no Parisian Princess," she agreed.

"Now, Love, what's your big news?"

"Well, I got an email from Cate, and they are officially moving up my publishing date," she said enthusiastically.

"That's wonderful news!  How soon are we talking?"

"Two months from now," she replied.  "I'll let you read the email later!  I was going to go shopping this afternoon while you were out, but now I've gotta get moving on this book!"