Invisible String

Chapter 43 - Daylight

I waited downstairs in the lobby for half an hour before it was eleven-thirty when the car was supposed to pick me up. It was a limo again. I got in, sat back, quiet, staring out the window. As we drew closer to the restaurant, I took a pill for my anxiety.

While going inside, I saw Robin. He joined me and linked my arm with his as we went inside to the hostess, who led us to Paul. Paul rose, kissed both of my cheeks, and shook Robin's hand.

"Glad you could join us, Robin," Paul said, smiling wide at him.

"As am I," Robin replied, winking at me.

"Where's Jaiden?" Paul asked, looking around. "Will he be joining us?"

I shook my head. "No, something came up. He won't be here."

Robin reached under the table and squeezed my hand and turned his head. I smiled at him, and he let go and nodded.

"I'm starving, let's order, and then get to business," Paul said.

"Sounds good to me," Robin said, grabbing a menu and looking it over.

The waiter came and took our orders just a few minutes later. I ordered a cocktail, then looked up at Paul. "I promise not to get drunk this time and sneak off to the bar."

He laughed and told me, "Do whatever your heart desires."

After ordering, we talked briefly about the first part of the book release process, but because I'd been through most of it before with Pinnacle, he didn't have to go into great detail. I got the gist of everything.

Next week we were going to start the book tour in big cities. We were even going to some other countries after that, which I'd never done before. I got more and more excited the longer we discussed it. Robin said he'd clear his schedule to accompany me. He wasn't happy about the short notice but stayed professional and polite with Paul regardless.

After we finished eating, we got to the planning of the dates. I obviously had nothing keeping me back, so every time he asked me if dates would work, I nodded, feeling not only useless in this meeting but also dull and uneventful as a human being.

Robin wanted to have enough time to take me shopping for new outfits, and I hated him for that. I had enough clothes as it was. I should probably just donate my old stuff to Goodwill. But I hated the idea of that, too.

We sat around talking about the travel arrangements for another half an hour, and by that time, it was nearly one-thirty. Paul said he'd email me the final details of the trip, such as the cities that we'd be touring through first, along with the hotel reservations and times for departure and arrival.

Once we'd finished up, I went back to Jaiden's place. He was waiting in the living room for me. He'd cleaned up the house even more than I had. He watched as I came in from the elevator, an apologetic look on his face.

"I'm sorry," he said as I sat down on the sofa next to him. I shrugged, and he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer to him. "I was an a**hole."

I looked down at the floor. "You're still irritable."

He nodded, "You're right. I am. But I still shouldn't have acted that way." He kissed the top of my head. "You should know that I didn't drink it." He nodded over at the bottle on the coffee table. It was still mostly full.

I leaned my head on his shoulder. I didn't want to talk about this. I'd be leaving in a week on this tour, and I'd be gone for at least four weeks. I just wanted to forget about our stupid fight and enjoy the next week before the thing I hated most about my career started. I didn't want to be alone for four weeks.

"Hannah?" he finally asked after minutes of silence. "Are you okay?"

I nodded and looked over at him. "Just not looking forward to what's coming."

"What do you mean?" he asked, turning so his legs would rest on the couch around me. Then he pulled me closer to him, and I put my feet up, too. His mouth was against my neck, and he kissed it tenderly.

"I don't want to leave."

"Oh," he said, leaning forward and kissing my neck again. "How long is it for?"

"At least four weeks. And that's only in the U.S. They want me to go overseas, too."

"Why? It's not like you're a nobody? You're a best-seller. People know who you are."

"Well, apparently, not enough people."

"When does it start?" He asked, brushing my hair back and to the side with his fingers.

"In a week," I said, turning to look at him.

"Wow. They moved it up even more?"

"Yeah, they want me to do interviews, conferences and readings and stuff everywhere. They have a bunch of places already booked. Apparently, people are very excited already, according to Paul."

"That's good, Hannah." He smiled at me and kissed me quickly on the lips. "That's really good."

"I know." I shook my head slowly against his chest. "I just don't want to be alone for that long. I don't want to leave you."

"What?" He asked, genuinely puzzled.

"On the road for a month without you. It's going to suck, I don't–"

"Hannah, I'm going with you," he said plainly as if I should've already known that.

"What?" I asked, now the confused one. "You can just do that?"

"What else have I been doing? I don't want to be alone for a month, either." He shrugged. "Of course, I'm going with you."

As much as I couldn't stand the thought of him not being by my side, the idea of him going with me struck me as strange as well. The last few times that I'd toured, and not on this mass of a scale, I'd been completely alone. Even though I was dating Alex at the time, we saw each other maybe once while I was on tour. He was doing his own career thing, and I was busy with mine. I'd never even considered that Jaiden would be able to make it work.

"Why are you so surprised?" He asked, running his fingers up and down my side.

"Honestly?" I asked, not sure if he genuinely wanted to know why.

"Of course, Hannah. I want you to always be honest with me."

I took a deep breath. "Well... I thought you'd be like Alex, have your own things you'd have to do. He always had press meetings, interviews, concerts, or recordings of his own. He didn't have a lot of free time."

"First off," he said calmly, looking me in the eyes, "I'm not Alex. Secondly, I've spent all this time off with you, and I've rarely had to go do things like that. So, you're really that surprised that I'd have the time to go with you?"

"Well, when you say it like that, I sound like an idiot."

His mouth curved up into a half-smile, and I slapped his leg jokingly. "I'm not an idiot, Jaiden. I just didn't expect this."

"Because you keep trying to compare us to your last relationship," he said matter-of-factly as he looked away from me. "But as far as I can tell, we are completely different."

"We are," I said in agreement. Leaning my head back down on his chest. "So very different."

"And that's a good thing?" he asked.

"I think it's an excellent thing." I kissed his cheek. "I'm ecstatic with you, Jaiden. Happier than I ever thought I could be."

"That's more than I could ever hope for, Hannah," he said, tipping my head up towards him and kissing me softly on the lips.