As I was working on the outline for the last novel in the series, my cell phone rang. I saw Edward’s number. I picked up my phone, smiling as I answered. “I thought you were working, hunkered down in your editing suite.”
“They let me out for good behavior,” Edward snickered. “Alec said that the room smelled. I’d grown nose blind to my own funk. Besides, I got a phone call from the US Attorney’s office. Amanda, the paralegal, left me a message since I’d had my phone on silent. They’ve moved up the trial date for Jacob.”
“When is it?” I asked, closing my laptop.
“Right around Thanksgiving, the week following,” Edward answered. “Amanda said she’d emailed you, but hadn’t heard back from you.”
I opened up the laptop and loaded up my email. “I found it. It went to spam,” I frowned.
“The timing is …” Edward sighed. “It’s not ideal.”
“We can make it work,” I shrugged. “I wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving up here in San Francisco since Rose can’t really travel.”
“Okay,” Edward said absently. “I can fly up the week of Thanksgiving. I should be done with the movie edits. We’re getting ready to release the first trailer. It’ll be posted on YouTube and released with several big movies coming out leading up to Thanksgiving. After that, we’ll release the second trailer. Alec is working on that as we speak with Elliott since I’m banned from the editing suite.”
“Wow, things are moving forward,” I breathed. “With all the drama, I’m shocked that Summit didn’t scrap the project.”
“Aro is invested in this movie and despite the difficulties we had to deal with, it’s still trending well with focus groups. If anything, the drama inadvertently hyped the movie up a bit more. Have you ever heard of the quote ‘there’s no such thing as a bad press’?” Edward questioned.
“Yes,” I answered, dragging out the word.
“Well, the situation brought more publicity to the movie,” Edward said. “Working with Summit, we’re spinning it to benefit us, benefit the movie. Seth is being kept out of it. I made sure of that. He’s been through enough shit.”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled. “I mean … I want to close this chapter and move on to the next. With the publicity of what happened, it’ll just keep the wound open, festering.”
“I know and I understand. Before we move forward with any publicity, you can approve or deny them,” Edward said. “Do you trust me?”
“I trust you so much,” I whispered. “But, that compromise sounds good. I just … hate all of this.”
“Me, too, gorgeous. However, we should be able to go into the new year without the baggage of Jacob weighing us down,” he breathed.
“Here’s hoping,” I chucked humorlessly.
“Now, onto something interesting,” Edward snickered. “I’m switching to FaceTime. I want to see your face when I tell you this tidbit of gossip.”
I pulled the phone away, clicking to FaceTime and saw my very rugged-looking fiancé. “Oh, Edward. I’m not a fan of the beard,” I teased.
“I’m shaving it off tonight,” he sighed, rolling his eyes. “I know I look like a mountain man. Smell like one, too. Katie set me up at some posh spa to get completely made over or whatever.”
“Good, because, you have a jaw that can cut glass,” I quipped. “Gossip?”
