Chasing Her

Chapter 1

Three thousand six hundred and fifty days. My pathetic ass counted them. My heart has been with him since then. It was my own fault. I got in the bed of a lion. I thought I was strong enough to handle it. I was an idiot. Maybe, it was for the best though. Maybe I left just in time for my feelings to be strong but still erasable. Father time would reset, and I would be able to live out the rest of my days reminiscing but not pining.

That was always my favorite joke. I kept telling myself that it was okay, that time would heal and here I was a whole 10 years after, not healed and still pining. Heartbreak is a great money maker, however. In the span of that decade I went from broke with student loans to a few million in the bank. You come to realize that when you don't have a heart, business is easier to conduct. Romance novels that crossed my desk were examined for their literary contents, inspected for the typical requirements to make them best sellers: a hook, troubled male lead, timid doesn't-know-her-beauty female lead, a villain who's only mission is to keep the leads apart, a wedding finale. If it passed that outline it was sent for editing and publication. My selection process for which titles to publish under my label followed the same process.

I had moved from sunny Los Angeles to cloudy London. Thinking that establishing a continent and seas of distance would help me get over him faster. I made it incredibly difficult to be found. No name traces, not phone numbers, no computers. I bought everything new once I was settled in London. He was always good at tracking people he wanted to find. I did not want to be found. I liked to think that my life was one of those cheesy romance novels that had gone awry. I had not gotten the happy ending; I hadn't even gotten the happy beginning. The only card that had been dealt to me had been the villain card, I had the hunky hero, but he was more troubled than planned.

Toward the end I had poured over tons of romance novels thinking I could find the commonality and fix him. That is how I ended up with, nothing can change his love for me; nothing will come between us; its me he wants. You can probably see how bad the environment around is and you can work with that and keep him. I was that anomaly of romance novels. I was the .1% of the 99.9% satisfaction rate the novels I publish bring in.

It began raining in London again. It was almost the perfect week. There had been no editing mistakes, there had been no scandals, no bad books. Sales were up, ad revenue was on the rise and two movie deals had been scored from two different novels that would become franchises should the public like the first installation on film. I had time for myself and for friends, the light at the end of the tunnel had begun to shine-at last. Had it not been for our anniversary.

"please make sure the models are all ready for the cover shoot for the latest Spellman novel." With that done, I was free to go home. penthouse château was waiting for her with the latest trashy tv episode and a glass of wine. I had a few days before some friends from my old life came to visit, which meant doing all of the touristy things London had to offer. "ma'am? The shoot has been scheduled, the letters are on your desk, and you have a call on line three with someone on hold on line 2 and your lawyer is waiting in the lobby." "oh gosh right, I was just about ready to call it a night. Here are the signed letters, make sure I get a signed copy for the files, get a message from line three I will return the call tomorrow, I'll take the line on hold, and give a coffee to Burham and tell him I will be ready for him in 10 minutes I do not expect this call to take long. Thank you." "yes ma'am!"

The rest of the afternoon went by in a flash. There was nothing more relaxing than having one's mind occupied by work and nothing more. "Ma'am?" "what is it miles? I thought I had told you to refer to me as Lyric or if you must, Ms. Wallis none of that ma'am stuff we are essentially the same." An eye roll and he was out. Dramatically he came back in. He was never going to learn I could see that now. "Lyric?" "thank you, Miles, what do you need?" "there is a Carla on line three" "put her through."