Chapter three

The next morning, Keira woke with backache. She blinked and looked around, disoriented. It took her a long time to work out where she was. Not Milo’s, nor her room at her mom’s, but her brand new apartment. Unfortunately, the only thing she currently had inside of it was a mattress. She didn’t even have a bed frame; hence, the backache.

Keira managed to heave herself out of bed. The only clothes in the new apartment were the ones in her case. Luckily, Yolanta had insisted on washing all her stuff for her during the Christmas vacation, so at the very least she had clean clothes to wear. She chose her most work-like outfit from the selection of wool skirts and comfortable jeans, then headed out onto the streets of New York City.

The moment her shoes hit the sidewalk, she felt a surge inside her at being home. Even the smell of pollution comforted her, despite being in complete contrast to the crisp, clean mountain air she’d been breathing in Sweden.

She went to a coffee truck at the side of the road, joining the queue of bleary-eyed workers glued to their phones.

“I’ll have a double espresso,” she told the man when she reached the front. Then she paused. She’d been drinking the extra-strong Swedish coffee for weeks. Perhaps it was time for a change. “Actually, can I have a caramel macchiato with cream?”

The man shot her a tired, unimpressed expression, and Keira grinned.

“I’m just back from vacation. I want my coffee to taste of home.”

“Good for you,” he said in a dry, deadpan voice.

As she waited for her coffee, the people who’d been milling around at the other side of the truck adding sugars to their coffee moved away. For the first time, Keira noticed there was a stand of newspapers and magazines, and amongst them was the latest issue of Viatorum. Just as Nina had explained, the cover had been changed and it was now one of the original shots of the model they’d been planning to use in the first place. It was a relief to know she’d been listened to, but she still felt a swirl of anxiety knowing that today she was going to hand in her Norwegian article. She had no idea how Elliot would react to the ending.

Once Keira had her caffeine fix, she headed to the subway. Luckily her new apartment was well located for the office and it wasn’t a very long journey at all, so being pressed up so close to so many people didn’t concern her as much as it did when traveling in from her mom’s.

She made it out the other end and began the short walk to the Viatorum HQ. Just as it came into view, Keira heard her phone ping with a message. She checked and saw that it was from Bryn.

Can you come to dinner tonight at mom’s? Felix and I have some news to share.

Keira’s jaw dropped as her mind went straight to marriage. Surely her sister wouldn’t be settling down with Felix so soon? They’d literally only just moved in together!

Keira quickly typed back her response, saying she would be there. She put her phone away – along with all thoughts of what Bryn’s announcement might be – and headed into the office.

It was already very busy inside. Since Lance had gone on a hiring spree and added a load of plucky new college grads and interns – something Elliot had not been particularly thrilled by – the office had become increasingly busy. And since it was located in a large open-plan converted warehouse, the noise was amplified tenfold.

“Hey, Keira,” someone called, and she looked over to see Meredith waving.

Keira hadn’t forgotten about Meredith’s underhanded attempt to steal her last assignment from her, so she greeted her with a somewhat frosty, “Good morning.”

She scanned the faces before her, searching for someone familiar, and saw Nina. But before she had a chance to beeline for her old friend, Elliot came hurrying out of his office. He was wearing a bright red suit, and he was frowning deeply.

“Finally!” he yelled, coming right up to Keira and taking her by the elbow.

The whole office craned their heads to watch as Keira was marched toward Elliot’s office, her cheeks burning as red as his suit.

“Finally what?” Keira asked out of the corner of her mouth as she was half-dragged through the aisle.

“Finally you’re here!” Elliot exclaimed.

They made it to his office and he slammed the door shut.

“What happened to the open-door policy?” Keira quipped. It had been one of many fluffy policies Lance had imposed on the office when he’d bought the magazine.

“Trust me, you’ll be glad I closed the door,” Elliot huffed.

“Am I in some kind of trouble?” Keira asked, folding her arms. She didn’t enjoy being frog-marched through the office like that, and she definitely didn’t appreciate the tone Elliot was taking with her.

He faced her, arms folded. “I told you the deadline was final. Yet still, you’re pushing it. Are you trying to give me a pulmonary embolism?”

“Pushing it? What do you mean?” Keira replied, confused. “You gave me until today. And unless it’s somehow unclear, today is today!”

Elliot’s frown grew even deeper. “Don’t get smart with me, Keira. You know full well the printers need the article by nine a.m. at the latest. It’s eight forty-five.”

Keira let out a silent gasp. She hadn’t realized Elliot meant final deadline as in straight-to-print! Usually her articles went through at least a couple of rounds of edits with Nina before making it to the page.

“I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I misunderstood.”

Elliot glowered. He was having none of it. He held his hand out, palm up. “Hand it over then. This had better be good. Because it’s all on you, Keira. One hundred percent your words. One hundred percent your responsibility.”

She gulped as the weight of that sunk in. Could she be fired off the back of a bad article? Could the magazine fold because of her?

Quickly, Keira rummaged in her bag and pulled out the hard copy of her article, along with the thumb drive she’d saved the original to. Elliot snatched the paper copy and sat heavily in his chair. Keira watched on nervously as he read her words.

Time seemed to stretch on for eternity. Keira peered back over her shoulder to see the rest of the office watching her; some stealing tentative glances from their desks, others more brazenly gawping at the entire proceedings. Her stomach swilled.

In his office chair, one leg folded stiffly over the other, his eyebrows drawn together, Elliot turned to the last page. This was the part no eyes other than Keira’s had ever seen, the section she’d worked on during the flight back from Sweden. As Elliot’s eyes scanned from left to right, Keira’s unease grew more and more, and Elliot’s jaw grew tighter and tighter.

Finally, he looked up, nostrils flared. “What the hell is this!”

Keira recoiled. She couldn’t have anticipated a worse thing for him to say.

“What’s wrong with it?” she asked, racking her brains for any obvious errors. Had she accidentally used the wrong country name; Switzerland, perhaps, instead of Sweden?

“What’s wrong?” Elliot repeated, growing more and more irate. “What’s wrong is that you’re a romance writer who can’t write a goddamn romantic ending! Juliet didn’t dump Romeo! Lizzy Bennet didn’t leave Mr. Darcy at the airport! And Catherine didn’t just let it fizzle out with Heathcliff!”

“To be fair, none of those are particularly healthy examples of romanti – ”

“I don’t care!” Elliot snapped, cutting her off. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but romance isn’t exactly my forte. But even I know that the two leads don’t just maturely decide to break up! Shane had the whole dead dad thing. Gold! Cristiano was the spurned lothario. Magic! But Milo? Milo just… what… drifts away?”

Keira swallowed hard. She couldn’t exactly defend herself. “I don’t know what to tell you. It’s the truth, and I think my readers appreciate that. I couldn’t lie about how the Scandinavians approach relationships or about what I learned while I was there.”

Elliot shook the paper. “You’ve literally said here that what you shared with Milo can’t be labeled! Keira, your whole purpose it to write about relationships and you won’t even call it what it is!” He took a deep breath and sunk his head into his hands. “The readers are going to hate this.”

“I disagree,” Keira replied boldly. “I’ve met my readers all over the globe. They want the truth. They respect my honesty.”

But Elliot wasn’t listening. “There’s no time for a rewrite. We’re doomed.”

“I know my readers,” Keira said more insistently. “You have to trust me.”

And seeing that Elliot was still muttering to himself and not paying her any attention, she slammed her fist against his desktop. He jerked up, startled.

“Trust me,” Keira said again, sternly, through her teeth. “I know what I’m doing.”

Elliot glared at her silently for a long time. Finally, he spoke. “You’d better be right.”

Chapter four

Later that evening, Keira rang the bell to her mom’s apartment. A moment later, the door was opened. But it wasn’t Mallory standing there. Instead, it was Bryn.

“I’m ENGAGED!” Bryn screamed.

Keira blinked as her sister held up her left hand, showing off an enormous sparkling diamond ring. Her grin was bigger than ever as she waited expectantly for Keira to say something. But still, Keira just blinked.

“Oh,” was all she managed.

Bryn’s expression began to change from elation to hurt, when the door was opened fully by Felix coming up behind her. He rolled his eyes.

“She was supposed to announce that when we sat down for dinner,” he said, smiling at Bryn in an affectionate but paternally stern way.

“I couldn’t help myself,” Bryn replied, turning her goo-goo eyes up to him.

Keira grimaced.

Felix turned his attention back to Keira. “Welcome back,” he said. “Come in out of the cold.”

Keira stepped inside. From the kitchen, she could hear Mallory call out, “Is that Keira?”

“YES!” Bryn shouted over her shoulder before immediately turning back to face her sister. “So? Aren’t you going to say anything?” she demanded, testily. “Congratulations, for example?”

“Of course,” Keira said, shaking herself from her stunned reverie. “Congratulations. To you both.” She kissed them each in turn. “I was just shocked. It’s so… sudden.”

Bryn narrowed her eyes. “Says the girl who falls in love every month.”

“Be nice,” Felix warned her. Then to Keira, he added, “I know it seems like a big rush, but I’m not getting any younger.”

You can say that again, Keira thought.

Just then, Mallory came out of the kitchen, holding a casserole dish. Her hair was a frizzy mess and she looked as flustered as ever.

“Dinner,” she exclaimed. “Everyone take a seat.”

Keira quickly shucked off her jacket and took her place at the table. Mallory shoved a plate of macaroni and cheese, salad, and garlic bread toward her.

“Thanks, Mom,” Keira said, taking the plate. “And hi.”

“Yes, yes, hello, darling,” Mallory replied, her attention already shifting to dishing up a portion of food for Felix. “Big news, huh? I never thought your sister would settle down first.”

“MOM!” both Swanson sisters exclaimed in unison.

“Well, you can’t blame me,” Mallory replied, continuing in her usual abrupt, tactless way. “Keira was always more of the homely type and she’d been settled with Zach long enough. I thought you’d been put off marriage, Bryn, because of what happened with me and your dad.”

“Oh, Mother, please,” Bryn snapped, taking the plate Mallory offered her. “We are not turning my engagement announcement dinner into a pity party about your divorce.”

Mallory let out a woeful sigh.

“I think what Bryn is trying to say,” Felix said in his calm, grandfatherly way, “is that we’re very happy to be celebrating with you both, and that we hope you’ll share in our joy and excitement.”

Keira couldn’t help but let out a derisive snort. She didn’t mind Felix as a person, but the fact he was dating – no, marrying—her sister, who was half his age, definitely lowered her impression of him. Adding Bryn’s very obvious daddy issues into the mix made it even more ick-inducing for Keira.

“Yes,” Bryn agreed, turning her attention to Keira. “And I was hoping that you’d be my maid of honor.”

Keira almost choked on her cucumber. “Really?”

“Who else would I ask?” Bryn replied.

Keira was genuinely touched that her sister would want her to be the maid of honor. She decided to put her own judgments out of her mind, and be happy for Bryn. It was her life, after all. If she wanted to spend it married to a sixty-plus-year-old father-substitute, then really that was her own business.

“I’d love to,” Keira told her. “Thank you.”

Bryn smiled, clearly happy that Keira had accepted. Then she immediately switched to bossy mode. “So you’ll have to tell work you can’t travel for any more assignments. I can’t have you jetting out of the country every five minutes. I need my maid of honor for dress fittings and cake tasting and venue booking. I won’t have you ruining my wedding.”

She winked, but Keira knew she was only half joking.

“Speaking of assignments,” Mallory said, “how was your last trip? Your Swedish Christmas?”

Keira noted the hint of discontent in her mom’s voice. She must have been more stung about Keira spending Christmas abroad than she’d let on.

“It was really great,” Keira told her. “I had an awesome time.”

“Well, he must be The One, then, if he can keep you apart from your poor mom on Christmas day,” Mallory said, in her woe-is-me voice.

Keira prodded her food with her fork. “Actually… we broke up.”

“What?” Mallory said, stunned. “But I thought… But you were…” Finally, she put her fork down. It clattered against the chinaware. “Oh, for goodness’ sake, Keira. When are you going to stop all this silliness?”

“Excuse me?” Keira asked, surprised.

“I just want you to find someone already,” Mallory replied. “You keep meeting all these fantastic men but it’s never quite right. Never quite enough. When are you going to just settle? It’s what everyone does after all.”

Keira shook her head. Her divorced mom wasn’t the best person to take relationship advice from.

But Mallory’s little tirade wasn’t over yet. She turned to Felix.

“Do you have any single friends for my daughter?” she asked. “Since it worked out so well with you two.”

“MOM!” Keira cried, almost spitting out her mouthful.

“My best man is single,” Felix said, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “We’ve been friends since high school.”

It was clear to Keira that he was just winding her up, playing into Mallory’s suggestion for the fun of it, but she still couldn’t help but be appalled at the thought.

“Since high school?” she repeated. “So for the last hundred years, give or take?”

Felix took the jibe lightheartedly, and let out a chuckle. From the other side of the table, Bryn’s cell phone flashed. Keira looked over.

“Did you just take a photo of me?” she demanded.

“You look good,” Bryn replied, shrugging. “Thought I could send it to Nathan, Felix’s best man.”

“Don’t you dare!” Keira yelled, leaping up from the table to grab Bryn’s cell phone. But her sister shielded her from getting it with her body, leaving Keira flailing. “I’m not going on a date with a grandpa!”

The lighthearted moment ended with Keira’s words.

Bryn cleared her throat, looking unimpressed. “I was only teasing.”

Mallory shifted awkwardly in her seat. From the other side of the table, Felix failed to hide the look of offense on his features.

“I’m sorry,” Keira said, sinking back into her seat. “That went too far. I don’t mean that. I’m just a bit touchy about people trying to orchestrate my love life.”

She thought of Elliot and his overt disapproval of the way she’d ended things with Milo, not to mention Mallory’s bizarre outburst earlier at dinner. It saddened her that her mom was so concerned about her settling down, and that Elliot seemed convinced her readers would hate how things fizzled with Milo. She’d been so certain and confident in her own actions, but everyone else’s opinions were starting to shake her. She reminded herself that every relationship was different, and everyone’s love journey looked different.

The table was silent for an awkwardly long time, with everyone prodding at their dinner glumly.

“How’s the apartment?” Bryn asked finally.

Keira was grateful for the lifeline she was giving her. “Empowering,” she replied. “Actually, empty would be more accurate. I only managed to get a mattress delivered while I was abroad. The rest of my boxes and clothes are here.”

“Do you need furniture?” Bryn asked. “I’m an expert furniture shopper now, so I’d be happy to assist.”

“You would?” Keira asked, grateful that Bryn wasn’t holding any grudges. She seemed to be letting her off very lightly considering, and Keira wondered if she was planning some future dressing down. “I’d really like that.”

“Cool. Let’s go to a store after work tomorrow,” Bryn said.

Keira nodded. “Thanks, sis.”

“No problem,” Bryn replied. “And don’t worry, my taste is very modern. Very young. Nothing vintage. Nothing old. There’s nothing even remotely grandpa about my taste.”

Keira sucked in her cheeks and took a deep breath. Of course. This was Bryn. She was never going to let Keira live her grandpa comment down.