"Are you ready?"
Mitch looked up at Alicia and took a deep breath. Was he ready? He didn't think he'd ever be ready. Swallowing hard, he glanced at the line of people already gathered outside the book shop and shook his head. "Hell no."
"You're going to be fine," Alicia said in an attempt to soothe him as she guided him to his chair. "Just smile and sign, baby. Piece of cake."
Mitch smiled, but it felt foreign on his lips, as though it belonged to someone else. He couldn't believe he was sitting here. But then the last eight months had been a whole series of couldn't believes.
He'd spent three weeks moping around the house after waking up to Kade's letter, which he had read time and time again. Then he'd done exactly what Kade had urged him to do. He took the bull by the horns. With the help of a friend of his mother's, he opened an online custom-made furniture store. He wasn't sure what hopes he had, but during their first week the site had thirty thousand hits and he'd sold almost half the contents of the barn, not to mention dozens of orders for specialized pieces.
Stepping back into rehab had been the easy part. Sticking with it… not so much. Within twenty minutes of his first session he'd had to hold back the urge to beat his PT into a bloody pulp. He was convinced that the petite woman with the grip of a pissed off shark got off on his pain. But the day he was able to pick up a fifty pound weight without thinking about it, he changed his mind and declared her to be his own personal angel sent down from heaven to heal him.
But what was he doing in a small GLBQT bookshop with a sharpie in one hand and a terrified smile on his face? In the balmier evenings he'd sat out on the deck with a glass of wine and his laptop waiting for inspiration to strike. It hadn't taken long before his lips had twitched and he'd typed the very first words of his own personal, great American novel… 'The wind whipped at his hair, sending the short strands in all directions around his head, its grabby fingers stealing the very breath from his lungs.'
Submitting his manuscript had been the most terrifying thing he had ever done, or at least he thought so until he had to wait for a response. Opening his inbox every morning had been a nightmarish ritual he couldn't break, until there it was… a shiny contract. Two days later he received an email from a literary agent who was very interested in working with him. Everything after that was a bit of a blur if he was honest. The book sold like wildfire within its genre and now, here he was, ready to commence his first book-signing, arranged by Alicia, the spitfire who was his agent and new best friend.
"Mitch?"
Glancing up, Mitch noted the quizzical expression on Alicia's face and mentally shook his head. "Sorry, what did you say?"
"I said, are you ready?" Alicia's fingers were poised to open the door.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Mitch mumbled and nodded, taking a deep breath as the first people bundled into the shop and headed for the table, copies of his book clutched in their hands.
Three hours later, his fingers cramping, Mitch smiled up at the last person in the line, a blushing woman closer to his mother's age than his own. "I hope you enjoy it, Carol," he said and couldn't help chuckling as she blushed anew and trotted out of the shop. He watched Alicia turn over the closed sign and sank back into his chair. "That was insane," he laughed, putting down his pen with difficulty.
"I told you it was going to be great," Alicia replied, dropping a kiss on his forehead before heading over to the desk to discuss the afternoon's signing with the owner of the store.
Mitch closed his eyes and rubbed his hand vigorously, trying to tempt some blood flow back into his fingers. He swallowed a groan when he heard the bell above the door ring and Alicia's voice say, "Oh, I'm sorry, the signing is over for today."
"I'm sure Mr Spencer won't mind signing just one more."
Mitch's eyes flew open like a shutter in a cartoon, so fast he was sure he'd gotten whiplash of the eyelid. He waved a hand at Alicia as his gaze locked with a sea of green. "No, I don't mind." Holding out his hand for the book, he swallowed hard. "Who should I make it out to?" His voice shook and he cursed his inability to remain composed.
"Kade." Kade stared down at Mitch, his lips curved in a hesitant smile. "It's a fantastic book, but I had a question and wondered if you could answer it for me."
Mitch signed his name below Kade's and closed the book, pushing it back across the table. "I'll try." He bit back a grin as Kade pulled up a chair and tried to ignore the excitement buzzing through him.
"After Cole reads the letter that Adam leaves him," Kade began, placing his elbows on the table and cupping his face in his hands. "I was wondering… pure speculation you understand… but how do you think Cole would react if Adam told him he hadn't been able to stop thinking about him? That he thought leaving Cole was the best option for everybody, but he was wrong… very, very wrong."
"He was?" A kaleidoscope of butterflies took flight in Mitch's stomach.
"Yes, and that he wished it could have rained forever."
Mitch stared deep into Kade's eyes and the emotion he saw there made his heart beat faster. He picked up his bottle of water and took a sip to lubricate his suddenly dry throat. "Well… I think Cole would… firstly… tell Adam what a butthole he was for sneaking out like that. But then I think he'd thank him. Thank him for having enough belief in Cole to push him into stepping back into the world and being everything he never thought he could be." He gasped as Kade slid his hand across the table and gripped his, entwining their fingers together.
"And if Adam suggested they go back to the valley and pretend there's one hell of a storm?" Kade's fingers tightened on his and the hope in his gaze had Mitch's heart trying to escape through his throat.
Turning his hand over in Kade's, he returned the pressure of the man's fingers and smiled, hoping to convey in one glance everything he wanted to say. "I think there's only one thing Cole could say."
"What?"
"I've got an umbrella."
THE END