SWNOVELS Chapter 78
Chapter 78: Ayla
I pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot and looked for Zeff’s car. My excitement about seeing him had been growing the entire ride down from the lake. Yesterday had been a long day. I had spent about six hours recording with Alpha and Beta Harry. Then I spent most of the night compiling everything together to get some of the work started.
I really was trying to keep my promise to Kingston. But I needed a break and had planned to see Zeff since I decided to return home. He had been out of the territory on business since I had been here. He was finally back, and I was ready to catch up.
I saw his car near the front and pulled into an empty spot next to him. When I got out, I saw him waiting outside the entrance. I practically ran at him, throwing my arms around him as he lifted me off the ground in a big bear hug. We both laughed with joy, and I had to fight back tears.
Goddess, I had missed him.
“How’s my Ayls doing?” he asked as he set me down. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too,” I said, looping my arm in his as he led me into the restaurant. “Everything has been so crazy lately.”
“You don’t say?” he teased. He had been there for me through just about everything, after all.
“What about you?” I said. “You’ve been all over the place lately. Are you finally going to tell what that’s been all about?”
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“That’s exactly what I plan to do,” he said with a smile.
A hostess greeted us and led us to a booth. We requested a spot a few tables away from anyone else for some privacy.
“So, what is all the secrecy about?” I pressed once we were settled.
“I’m not sure how else to say it, so I’m just going to get it out,” he started. “I left the publishing house.”
“What?” I said, shocked. “Why?”
“It was time, Ayla,” he said, giving me a knowing look. “It was a great job, and I loved the people I worked with. But you know it wasn’t my plan to stay there forever.”
“Zeff, if this is because I left…”
“It wasn’t because of that,” he interrupted. “Well, it wasn’t only because of that. Your leaving was more of a catalyst to get me to do what I’ve wanted for a while.”
Zeff had gotten his degree in journalism. He had worked with newspapers in his early career. It was a competitive industry then, and he wasn’t growing as much as he wanted. So when the opportunity with the publishing house came about, he took it. But he always told me he wanted to go back to journalism at some point.
“Did you find something with a newspaper?” I asked excitedly.
He shook his head. “No, I had an offer but decided not to take it. Do you remember Holly? The interviewer for that magazine that did that piece on Sabina Heartwood early last year?”
“Yeah. From the Blue Fang pack, right?”
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“Yeah,” Zeff confirmed. “Well, we’ve kept in touch. She had an idea for an online magazine. So, we’ve been working together, and we’ve actually gotten some decent interest in it. We have few investors. We’ ve launched the first two weekly issues through pre-release to a test demographic. Things are looking pretty promising.”
“Zeff, that’s fantastic,” I exclaimed. “I’m so proud of you. How long have you been planning this?”
“We’ve been discussing it and making plans for a while,” Zeff said. “But I didn’t seriously consider making it my primary focus until you left. Let’s face it. You were my best client. There didn’t seem like much of a reason to stay.”
I knew he was making light of everything that happened, but it still bothered me that I had hurt him the way I did.
“Zeff, you know how sorry I am about what happened.”
He grabbed my hand. “Don’t be, Ayls. Honestly, it was the best thing that could have happened for both of us. I know that now. Asking you what I did wasn’t fair for many reasons. So, just forget about it all. You did nothing wrong, and I’m happy. Okay?”
I smiled at him, believing every word. “Okay.”
“Good,” he said. “Because I have a proposition for you.”
“Okay…” I said skeptically.
“So, we have an open segment that we feel we need to fill, but we were having trouble finding anything we think would be a long-term fit. But we got a suggestion that, with the right writer, we think would be interesting to try. And I thought of you.”
“Okay,” I said, still skeptical. “You know I’m a Sablemane now, Zeff. I
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have a job there.”
“I know,” he said. “You can do this from anywhere, and it wouldn’t be a full-time position. We publish one issue a week at this time. We may bump it up to two issues later if it’s justified. But you wouldn’t have to contribute to every issue.”
“Okay, so what’s the project?” I asked.
“We want you to cover an advice column,” he replied. “Kind of like a Dear Abby. Industry stats say they are making a comeback and doing well on online platforms. Holly and I both think you’d be perfect.”
I was shocked. That wasn’t anything like what I expected. I was flattered but confused.
“Oh,” I said. “Well, that’s not where I thought this was going. Why me?”
He chuckled. “Trust me, Ayls. You’re a natural at it. You may never see it yourself, but you can do this no sweat.”
I sighed. “It sounds great, Zeff. But I’ve already got a lot going on right now. I’m still learning how to run the business at Second Story. Plus, Alpha Torin’s book.”
“You absolutely don’t have to commit to anything right now,” he insisted with a smile. “We have the next couple of months scheduled out anyway. And we would need to run a few issues with submission requests. We’re open to working with you on a schedule and have time. So just think about it.”
“I think I can do that,” I said.
I changed the subject to his recent travels. He had been in the Blue Fang territory for the most part, working with Holly to get the site up
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and running. But he had visited a few other packs looking for investors and contributors. The more we talked, the more I started to feel something was going on between him and Holly. After some prying, he did finally admit that they were dating. I was so happy to hear that and couldn’t wait to meet Holly again.
We ended up spending hours at the restaurant. We talked about a bunch of things, and I was reminded just how much I loved Zeff’s company. It was late afternoon by the time we left, leaving a huge tip for the server for taking up her table for so long.
I was giving him a hug goodbye when I noticed a man standing on the sidewalk at the end of the lot. He was familiar, but I couldn’t remember from where. We briefly made eye contact, and the man turned and walked away. It felt strange to me. But it wasn’t surprising that I would see someone I knew in the area, so I brushed it off.
Zeff and I planned to get together again later in the week and parted ways. I wanted to run a few other errands before heading back to the lake house.
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