Chapter 7

"Addison, this is Bobbie Daniel," Meredith says walking into Addie's office. "And Bobbie, this is Addison Forbs," she says motioning between the two. "

Addie walks over to Arizona and holds her hand out. "Please to meet you Bobbie. We here at Bellas Historias Publishing have been looking forward to meeting you."

"Nice to meet you too," Arizona says as she holds her hand out to shake Addie's. "My agent speaks very highly of you."

"That's what we like to hear. Have a seat, please," Addie says as she smiles and motions to the plush chair across from her desk. As Arizona makes herself comfortable, Addie decides to keep things less formal and sits in the chair next to her instead of behind her desk.

"So Bobbie, as I said, we have really been looking forward to this meeting. We didn't feel the need to have a big formal meeting, so it's just me here today."

"That's fine by me," Arizona says as she chuckles.

"So, why don't we just get right to it. Tell me a little about what you are looking for," Addie says.

"Well, as you already know, I have had pretty decent success where I have been. Unfortunately, they don't have the means to offer much more in terms of marketing and distribution."

"Yes, unfortunately, financial restraints really limit the smaller companies. We have been there ourselves. However, as your agent has told you, in the last year, we have really grown. We now offer both marketing and distribution on a world-wide level."

"My agent did tell me that. And, that is exactly what I am looking for."

"Great. Now, what else do you have in mind? Obviously, you have four books out already, which given the limited markets they were pushed out into, did phenomenal. I'm sure given more opportunity, that success will only multiply. Where are you at in terms of future projects? Any in the pipeline?"

"Actually, I brought this with me," Arizona said as she reached into her messenger bag, pulling out what looked to be a fairly lengthy draft. "This is my latest project I just finished drafting last week. If we can come to any agreements today, I of course would leave it with you."

"That's great to see. What about other future projects? How often do you see yourself wanting to release new material?"

"As I'm sure my agent told you, I am an adjunct English professor. My schedule is light and although my son is my main priority, I spend a good deal of my time at home writing. This draft I have here with me today is about 3 months in the making."

"Wow, that's rather impressive," Addie remarked. After reading the first three, I have to say, if the quality is anything like those, that is quite amazing. Our editor just started on your latest. She will also be very excited to see this newest draft."

"Thank you," Arizona smiled. "I think I would say, ideally, that's probably not going to be the norm, obviously. I would think one every 9-12 months would be what I would feel comfortable committing to. And as you know, the editing process can be rather lengthy at times. Especially if the writer and editor clash over much."

"Well, I would say you are being very realistic about the whole thing. Also, if it eases your mind any, our top editor is personally a huge fan of yours. She doesn't have a lot of time to read for pleasure but loves your books. It says a lot if she chooses to read your material in the limited extra time she has."

"That makes a girl feel good about herself," Arizona replies.

"So," Addie continues. "let me just cut to the chase and tell you where we are. I think as far as a timeline, what you can promise and what we would like, match up perfectly. It's actually what we were hoping for."

Addie reaches over to her desk and picks up a file and hands it to Arizona. "Here is what we are prepared to offer."

Arizona opens the file and scans the documents. "Bobbie, we are offering to sign a five-year contract. In the five years, we would require at least five books to be produced and distributed. More if you so choose, but that's totally up to your discretion. We have amazing people working in our departments and can promise unlimited distribution. Our marketing folks have been doing an amazing job. We have a photographer on staff and an artist to take care of any cover art you would need. We have it all. And, our top editor that I mentioned, she asked to personally be the one to oversee the editing of your books."

"Wow, it sounds really amazing, I mean, that's just...wow." Arizona can't believe how easy this is turning out to be.

"Well, the last piece of information I'm sure you are very interested in, will be on page five if you want to turn there."

Arizona flips to page five and looks through the document. Addie watches to see her reaction and isn't too surprised to see the grin on Arizona's face.

"As you see, you will be compensated a flat fee per book. Each book will then give you a return based on your sales. You get a very high percentage from each book you sell. I can assure you that with this offer, we have diligently researched that percentage and have presented to you more than what any other company can offer. We wanted to make an offer you would be crazy to refuse."

"Ok," Arizona simply said.

"OK?"

"Yeah, where do I sign?"

"Seriously, you don't want to take any time to think this through?"

"No. You are offering everything I was hoping to get. So," Arizona said smiling, "where do I sign?"

"Ok then," Addie says as she grabs another file folder off her desk. She sets it on the desk in front of Arizona and hands her a pen.

"Oh, one more thing. As we go through the process, we will try to do as much as we can remotely, through email and maybe video calls. However, we do like to see you for an initial sit-down with the editor once she has had a chance to go through it. Then we like to do one more at the final draft. Will that be acceptable to You?

"Absolutely."

"Great, then here is where you sign." Addie shows her where she needs to sign and then grabs an envelope from her desk. She waits until Arizona is finished signing then hands her the envelope.

"What's this?"

"That's a signing bonus. We here at Bellas Historias Publishing want you to know we believe this is going to be a great five years. That is just to show you our appreciation for trusting us with your work."

"Wow, thank you so much," Arizona beams. "I think it will be a great five years too."

"Alright then, I think that covers about everything. Do you have any questions?"

"No, I think that covers it."

"Excellent. Well, thank you so much for coming. You made my job easy today. I'm sure Meredith, our secretary, or our editor, Mustang Sally, will be in touch soon to schedule a time for you to come back and review the first round of edits."

"I'm sorry, Mustang who?"

"Oh my goodness, I apologize. I have started using a nickname for our editor. I didn't meant to use it in front of clients. I even had cards made up for her to see when she stops to talk to Meredith. We like to have fun around here. Her real name is Ca…"

Meredith's knock on the door interrupts Addie. "I'm so sorry to bother you," Meredith says as she likes her head in, "but there is a call I think you need to take. It's Millie from the London office She says it's urgent."

"Oh, ok. She was trying to handle a copyright issue this morning. She must be calling with an update." Addie stands up and turns to Arizona. "Bobbie, I hate to do this, but I need to take care of this. It's something that could become a problem if we don't take care of it asap."

"No worries Miss Forbes. Thank you for everything and I will leave this with you." She hands Addie the draft and adds, "I also have an electronic copy I will send if you have an address you want it sent to?"

"Meredith will set you up, right Meredith?"

"Absolutely. Shall we?" Meredith asks as she motions towards the door.

"Again, thank you," she says to Addie as she follows Meredith out the door

"No, thank you," Addie replies as she rounds her desk to take the call.

After Meredith sets Arizona up with the office email, Arizona takes the elevator back to the ground floor. As she exits the building she notices it us only 12:30.

She can hardly believe it was that easy. She was hoping for a contract but didn't think it could possibly be that painless. She expected to have to plead her case for a opportunity like this. She can't wait to celebrate. She booked a room for the night, expecting the meeting to run long. Looking at the time now though, she knows she doesn't want to spend the evening alone when she could be home celebrating with her little boy.

She takes her phone out and calls the hotel. Cancelling this late will cost her a few but she is more than ok with that. She grabs a cab and heads for the airport.

Walking up to the counter, she pulls her ticket out for tomorrow. "Excuse me, I was wondering if I can change my flight from tomorrow to a flight today. I've finished early and would love to head home sooner."

"Let me look," the attendant says. "It looks like the next flight with available seating will be around 7."

"I'll take it!" Arizona is ecstatic she will be able to make it home today. She grabs her stuff and heads to find something to eat. All the excitement has made her hungry.

After grabbing a small lunch, she finds an out of the way place to sit and once again takes out her laptop. Reflecting on the meeting, she realizes she was so caught up in everything, she never told them she wanted to use her real name. "Oh well, maybe we can address that later if I still want to change it," she says to herself.

Thinking back to her conversation with Tim, she thinks about what she can do to show Callie she really doesn't want a divorce. Some might think she is crazy, especially after Callie left her for this long, but she would take her back in a heart beat.

She ponders over what she needs to do to convince Callie she needs her? That she never wanted this and she still loves her, even after everything that's happened. She decides to let it go for the time being. There is nothing she can do right this second anyway.

As she opens up a blank document, new ideas are rolling through her mind now. She starts typing and before she knows it, she is hearing her boarding call.

The flight back to Virginia seems to take forever but she is now in her car heading home from the airport. She tried calling Tim several times with no answer. She knew if something was wrong, Lucy would have heard and called her, so she figures he and Zac have been too busy playing. Zac can talk Tim into about anything.

What she doesn't know is that Tim heard the calls, but let them go straight to voicemail. He wasn't going to risk her finding out what he did so soon. He has a plan and he wants it to work.

As she pulls up to her house, she sees Tim's car. "Oh good, I don't have to track him down now," she says out loud.

She walks in and the house is quiet. She sees a jacket she doesn't recognize but figures Tim has been doing some shopping.

She climbs the steps and heads straight to Zac's room. What she sees as she quietly opens the door, takes her breath away. There, cuddled up with her son, is the love of her life.

"Calliope..." she says softly.