for June

32. Best darn ending

Terry's assistant, Minsi, popped her head in through the door after a brief knock. "He's here, Terry."

"Send him in."

A moment after the assistant disappeared, Chad walked in as if he were walking into a funeral. He still had a slight hobble despite it having been two weeks if not more since the 'incident'. No one used the word 'kidnapped'.

He slunk down like a wet cat on the chair opposite her, placing the fat leather-bound journal on the edge of Terry's desk.

"What the hell is wrong with you? A girl broke up with you, she did not kill your cat!" Terry barked at him. No hello. No how are you. Straight into the meat of it, like she always did.

"You may as well rip the contract. I can't do it anymore."

She leaned back in her chair and stared at the pathetic mess he was. "I got you a year," she said. When Chad looked surprised, she smiled. "Considering recent events, we couldn't say no, and your readers have plenty of other books to catch up on, or reread. Plus, I gave the higher-ups a brief pitch of your story, and they love it. So we want it. Now, all you gotta do is finish it."

"I can't."

"You can, and you will. She already knows you used her."

"I did not use her."

"You used her, mate. Own up to it." Terry rose from her seat and walked around the desk towards him. "Did you mess up? Yes. Should you have told her from the beginning? Yes. Should you throw away a bloody good story because you didn't get to have your cake and eat it too? Hell no!"

She slammed the journal sitting on her desk. "It's good, Chad. Yeah, you took more from life than you're used to, but that makes it so good, so fresh, so... raw, and so needed. Your stories were getting a little stale. They were getting too good to believe, too mushy. This one got you by the balls, didn't it? Surprised you? You fell in love and the woman you fell in love with left you, not because she doesn't love you, I suspect she does, but she left because you were an ass who lied to her from the beginning."

She grabbed Chad's face in her hands and squeezed it between her palms. "So write the best darn apology you can. Write the ending you want. Win her back. She'll read it, I swear to you."

"And if she doesn't?" He pulled his face out of her grip.

She smiled like a person who knew things. Chad hated it when she did that. It made him feel clueless sometimes. "You wrote a story about her." She walked back to her seat and sat down, grinning. "Like a giant love letter. What woman wouldn't read it, knowing you wrote it for her?"

Terry pushed the book back to him. "Write the best darn ending you have ever written. Leave the rest to me. Now go. Work your magic."

Chad smiled, feeling a huge weight lift off his chest. He hoped she was right. If there was even a faint change June would pick up a copy and read it at least once and know how he felt, even if she didn't come back, it was a chance he would take.

"All right. I'll do it." He grabbed his copy and headed out.

"Oh, and Chad?"

"Yeah?"

"Just because you got a year, don't take it. And change all the names when you type it up, so we don't get sued." She waved him off with an encouraging wink, done coddling.

Chad stared at the title he'd scribbled in as he walked out of her office. He'd crossed 'Cassie' out with a blue pen and re scribbled 'June' back in. "What shall I call you then?"

He walked into the lift as Minsi called out, "See you next time, Chad."

He wedged an arm between the doors and hovered out of the lift. "Hey Minsi, what's a nice girl's name?"