Last Place You Look

Chapter 36

I'd finished my first two weeks working for Ryan. It was everything I could have imagined and more. He even introduced me to one of his new clients. Her name was Charlize and she wrote young adult fiction, which Ryan said is the exact reason he wanted me to work with her as well. He'd asked me my favorite young adult literature my first day and was really impressed with the titles I gave him. They were apparently similar to what Charlize writes.

She was a younger author, somewhere around my age. We got along really well. She'd written three books. I'd expressed interest in reading them after I got through the first few chapters of the manuscript she was working on. She showed up to our cover art meeting with copies of them just for me. She even signed them for me too. We talked more than we probably should, but she was quickly turning into a good friend.

I'd gotten into a routine with this job as well. It was way more strict than the routine I'd had with my last job. I was up hours before I used to be, answering emails over my coffee. When I got to work, I got more coffee grabbed something to eat on my way up to my cubicle. I'd decorated it with pictures of my friends and family, but there was also a lot of Harry. He even took a picture of Thing 1 and Thing 2 and printed it so I could frame it. He bought a dog themed frame for it too.

"It's supposed to be ironic. Your coworkers will laugh at it and think you're funny."

And he was right. Charlize stopped by my desk on her way to a review meeting and laughed when she saw the frame. I gave Harry his credit though. His humor was... unmatched.

This job was everything I could have imagined it would be. I spent most of my day reading, occasionally getting to write something for the publishing website. It was mostly press releases and book announcements, so it wasn't anything overly creative or difficult, but it was something that dispelled feelings about what Erin had said.

I had five other manuscripts I was reading besides Charlize's. I was learning that it was hit or miss with manuscripts. They were either really good, or really really bad. It was rare to find one that was somewhere in the middle that could be salvaged into something great. But that was the best part of the job. I was the person that read through manuscripts and decided what was good and what maybe shouldn't be published. Ryan trusted my judgement completely.

He also brought me to meetings that I didn't necessarily have to be in. I called it perk of knowing your boss for most of your life. I was learning everything there was to learn about being a book editor.

This is what I've been wanting to do my entire life. And there was room to grow within the company.

Harry was so supportive and so excited to hear about my day whenever he got home. My schedule was more structured than it used to be, so I was usually home first. We read a lot of my manuscripts together too. We'd gotten in the habit of reading together before bed. I was being productive and we were spending time together doing something we both enjoyed.

We were in a really good place. Talking about getting married and where we were with that had done something for our relationship. I had no clue what that was, but it was a good thing. I was feeling content more days that not. I genuinely enjoyed waking up in the mornings. Things felt like they were falling into place.

Thanksgiving was coming up now too. Kimmy and Dustin pushed for a mandatory Friendsgiving since it had been a while since we'd all been together. Niall had officially become part of the group since he and Kira were slowly turning into something - we didn't know what it actually was though. Harry and I both tried to pry for details, but they were both sealed shut. Kira had asked if she could add him to the group chat we had and that's the first and only time she'd willingly brought him up. And from what I hear, Harry and Dustin had formed a group chat with the three of them to match the group chat Kira, Kimmy, and I had.