On the flight to New York, Owen suggested that it might be a better idea if they lived in Manhattan, instead of them living in Westchester. If they lived in his apartment, it might be better for her commute, if she found a job. Also, it would be easier for him to shop around her manuscript. She agreed that it was a better idea for them to live in Manhattan. She also said that she would try and get Logan back into the preschool that he used to attend. She was relieved that Logan easily adjusted well to his surroundings so it would not be too much of a strain on him.
Cristina dug into her savings and paid off all of the bills of the Westchester home. She eagerly started looking for jobs, while Owen used his contacts to get Cristina's book on to the desk of some of the top editors in the publishing world.
He decided to check out other publishing houses, other than Meteor. He wanted her to succeed elsewhere. He knew he would try Phoenix, a rival of Meteor. He met with Sondra Jones, who was delighted to welcome him to her office. The first words out of her mouths were to ask him if he was ready to jump ship and leave Meteor.
This was when he turned on the full charm assault on Ms. Jones. He said that while he was not thinking of moving at this time, he had made an exciting discovery and wanted to share it with her. There was a young, talented author, whose work he had found to be quite wonderful.
"Are you pitching me an unsolicited manuscript, Owen?" Sondra asked.
"Yes, I am, Sondra," Owen said, giving her the most dazzling smile he could muster. The woman blushed. "But I wouldn't be doing this, if I didn't believe in the author and her work. Take a read. Let me know what you think."
"Okay, Owen, only for you. If you believe in it, I am pretty sure it is going to be good," she said. They shook hands and Owen gave her a slight kiss on the cheek.
His next target was Juniper Lewis at Titan Publishing. Juniper asked him the very same question that Sondra had asked when he came to see her. "Are you ready to leave that dragon, Phyllis Dolan and come join us here at Titan?" she said, shaking his hand.
Owen had to chuckle at how she described Phyllis. Phyllis truly had a fearsome reputation among her peers. "No, no. I have a wonderful arrangement at Meteor."
"Just tell us and we can top whatever they have offered you," Juniper said, with a steely grin.
"I am very flattered, Juniper, but this is not why I am here. I want to introduce you to the work of an amazing young novelist," he said. He handed over a copy of Cristina's manuscript. "Cristina Yang," Juniper said. "Haven't heard of her before."
"Well, that is why I am bringing her to your attention," Owen said. "Give it a shot. You won't be disappointed."
"Okay, Owen," Juniper said. "I will have someone take a read. If it is as good as you say, then maybe, it will be worth our while."
As he left Juniper's office, Owen had a lightness in his step. He had a good feeling about this. He headed back home where he found himself alone. Cristina had gone on a job interview and Logan was at pre-school. He made himself a screwdriver, kicked off his shoes and stared at his view of Central Park. It was very relaxing, he thought. He closed his eyes and fell asleep on his chair.
He didn't know how long he was asleep when he was awakened by the persistent buzzing of his phone. He didn't answer it quickly enough, so it stopped ringing. He rubbed his eyes and stared at his missed call. It was Phyllis. He was going to call her when the phone started buzzing again. It was Phyllis, again.
"Owen Hunt," he heard Phyllis shriek on the other end. "Are you planning to leave us?"
"What?" Owen said. "No, whatever gave you that idea?" He got up and stretched, hoping that would wake him up, fully."
"Because you were spotted not only at Phoenix but also Titan, today. Not only that, you had appointments with Sondra Jones and Juniper Lewis. Did those scoundrels offer you more money? Whatever it is, we can top them," Phyllis said. "We are not going to lose one of our best assets. Where is your loyalty, Hunt? We signed you up when you were 22 years old and this is how you repay us, now that you are one of the best-selling authors on the planet."
"Hmmm, Phyllis, you have spies everywhere," Owen said, with a laugh. "No, I am not planning to leave Meteor. I think we have a very comfortable and mutually beneficial arrangement."
"Then, what were you doing at those snakes' offices?" Phyllis pressed on. Owen could not help laughing at how Phyllis described Sondra and Juniper. Clearly, there was no love lost between any of these ladies.
"Well, if you must know, I wanted to introduce them to a new author," Owen said.
"What? A new author and you didn't come to me," Phyllis spluttered on the other end.
"Well," Owen responded. "I wanted this young author to get a fair assessment of her work with people who didn't know her." There was a pause as Phyllis tried to figure out whom it was. It could be only one person, she concluded. The one person who was most important to Owen and the only person he would go to all of this trouble for - Cristina.
"So Cristina has written a book?" Phyllis said.
"Yes," Owen said. Phyllis scoffed as she remarked, "I can't believe that you wouldn't come to me, first, instead of going to Juniper and Sondra."
"They didn't know her and would not have any pre-conceived notions about her," Owen said, trying to defend his choices to this woman who was like a surrogate mother to him, even though she had an iron lady presence about her.
"What makes you think that I won't be fair to the girl, Owen Hunt? I am appalled that you would think so," Phyllis said.
"You know her as a young editorial assistant, Phyllis. You might be quick to dismiss it because of her lowly position in the company," Owen replied.
"If the girl is talented, I will say the girl is talented. I have a fondness of the girl. She was a very good editorial assistant. If it weren't for her, your last book would not have been finished," Phyllis said. "You know I am always on the lookout for fresh talent that can bring money for this company. So be a good boy and drop off a copy of the manuscript to my offices, please. I can't allow my competitors to get ahead of me."
"I will drop it off tomorrow," he said. "No, you will not," Phyllis said. "You will drop it off, right now. I mean it, son." Owen groaned but he got up and put his shoes back on. "I will see you in a bit," he said before he hung up.
It was two weeks before they heard back from any of the companies. The first was Juniper, who wanted to meet Cristina. Half an hour later, Sondra called and asked for the same thing. It was Phyllis who called last.
When he answered, Phyllis said, "Where is she?"
"Oh, she got a job at a magazine and is at work, so she is quite busy," Owen said. "But I am here to take all of her messages."
"We are interested," Phyllis said. "Very interested."
"Well, you are not the only one, Phyllis. You are kinda late," Owen said, chuckling. "In fact, Juniper and Sondra have already called and would like to meet with Cristina."
"What, those witches have called, already. If they think that they are going to steal her right from under my nose, they must be out of their minds," Phyllis said. "I groomed that girl. She was with me for more than two years. Who knew that she had such talent?"
Owen could not help but chortle. "Maybe if you paid attention to her a little more and not treat her like a plebe, then you could have been in the driver's seat for this deal."
"Aaargh!" Phyllis said. "At least, what you can do for me, is to give me first shot with her. You and I go back a long way and I think I deserve some consideration. I was the one who gave you your book deal. I was the one, who took a chance on a young, unknown author. I am applying emotional blackmail here and I don't care. You owe me, Owen Hunt. You are a millionaire because of me."
"Alright, alright, Phyllis, you made your point. I will bring her by after work this afternoon. I trust you will stay in to speak to her," he said.
"Certainly," Phyllis said. "I will expect you at 6."
Over the next few days, Cristina had meetings with all three publishing companies. She heard money figures that she had never imagined she would hear in her lifetime. If she was successful, she realized, she would not have to work full-time, again. After much thought and discussion with Owen, she finally made a decision. She decided to stick with Meteor, not only because they decided to top any offer of the other two companies, but also because she had a great loyalty to Phyllis, who gave her the first job of her life.
They celebrated the night that she signed the contract with a dinner at a really fancy restaurant. Logan was home with a babysitter, while Cristina and Owen wined and dined each other. Owen rubbed his eye. It was smarting, really stinging. He had been noticing twinges of pain throughout the day. "What's the matter with your eye?" Cristina asked.
"I don't know. Maybe I got something under the contact lens," he said. "It has been bothering me." He didn't want to spoil their celebration because it was such an important moment for her.
"Let me take a closer look," she said. "Your eye is very red. I think we should go to the doctor, tonight to check it out."
"I am sure it is just an irritation," he said. "It will be fine. We will get an appointment, tomorrow. Let's just forget about it for now. We are here to celebrate you and your book deal. Let's have some more champagne." He smiled at her, even though his eye was hurting him. She gave him a doubtful look. She was worried about his eye. He tried to brush it off but the pain was not going away. She cut short their dinner and took him to the emergency room.
The ER doctor took one look and asked if he was a corneal transplant patient. Owen nodded. The doctor sighed. "I am not really sure so I am going to call an ophthalmologist to take a look."
"What's wrong?" Cristina said, alarmed. "I don't want to say because I am not sure. Let's see what the eye doctor says," the ER doctor said. "Just hang on. He should be here in a bit."
The eye doctor came about 15 minutes later. He read the chart and examined the irritated eye. "Hmmm," he said. That was not very reassuring, Owen thought.
"Doctor?" Owen asked, anxiously.
"I am sorry, Mr. Hunt, but I think your eye is rejecting your corneal transplant," the doctor said. Owen's heart sank.
"Does this mean I am going to go blind in my right eye, again?" Owen asked, quietly. Cristina took his hand into hers and squeezed it.
A/N Please leave your thoughts and comments. I do appreciate when you do so.