At First Sight - Nicholas Sparks [90]
Lexie gave them the tour: Mayor Gherkin immediately suggested that the house be added to the Historic Homes Tour, while Jed repositioned the stuffed boar near the window of the living room, giving it prominent display.
As Jeremy watched Lexie and Rachel move into the kitchen, he noticed Rodney lagging behind. Rodney glanced at Jeremy.
“I wanted to apologize,” he said.
“For what?”
“You know.” He shuffled his feet. “But I also wanted to thank you for keeping Rachel in the wedding. I’ve wanted to tell you that for a while. It meant a lot to her.”
“It meant a lot to Lexie that she was there, too.”
Rodney flashed a quick grin, then grew serious again. “You’ve got a nice place here. I never imagined it could look like this. You two did a fine job.”
“It was all Lexie’s doing. I can’t take any credit for it.”
“Sure you can. And this place suits you. It’ll be great for your family.”
Jeremy swallowed. “I hope so.”
“Congratulations on the baby. I hear it’s a girl. Rachel’s already picked out a bunch of outfits for her. Don’t tell Lexie, but I think she’s going to throw her a surprise baby shower.”
“I’m sure she’d enjoy that. Oh, and congratulations on your engagement. Rachel’s a prize.”
Rodney glanced toward the kitchen as Rachel vanished from sight. “We’re both pretty lucky, aren’t we.”
Jeremy couldn’t answer, for once at a loss for words.
Jeremy finally made the call to his editor, a call he’d been dreading and putting off for weeks. He told him that he wouldn’t be submitting a column this month, the first he’d ever missed. While his editor was surprised and disappointed, Jeremy informed him of the complications with Lexie’s pregnancy. His editor’s tone softened immediately; he asked if Lexie was in danger or whether she was bedridden. Instead of answering directly, Jeremy said that he’d rather not go into details, and by the pause on the other end, he knew his editor was imagining the worst.
“No problem,” he said. “We’ll just recycle one of your old columns, something you did years ago. Odds are people either won’t remember it or never saw it in the first place. Do you want to pick something out, or would you rather I do it?”
When Jeremy hesitated, his editor answered his own question. “No problem,” he said, “I’ll handle it. You take care of your wife. That’s the most important thing right now.”
“Thanks,” Jeremy said. Despite his occasional battles with his editor, the man did indeed have a heart. “I appreciate it.”
“Is there anything else I can do?”
“No. I just wanted to let you know.”
He could hear a squeak and knew his editor was leaning back in his chair. “Let me know if you can’t make the next one, either. If you can’t, we’ll just run another old one, okay?”
“I’ll let you know,” Jeremy said, “but I’m hoping that I’ll have something for you before long.”
“Keep your spirits up. It’s tough, but I’m sure everything will turn out okay.”
“Thanks,” Jeremy said.
“Oh, and by the way, I can’t wait to see what you’ve been working on. Whenever you’re ready. No rush.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your next story. I haven’t heard from you, so I figure you’ve got something big in the works. You always go into hiding when you’re working on a doozy of a story. I know you’ve got other things on your mind, but I just wanted you to know that a lot of people were impressed with what you did with Clausen, and we’d like to have the chance to publish your next big article here rather than in the newspapers or somewhere else. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about it, and to reassure you that we’ll be competitive when it comes to your fee. It might do the magazine some good, too. Who knows, we might even be open to making a big deal about it on the cover. I’m sorry for bringing this up now—there’s no pressure. Just whenever you’re ready.”
Jeremy glanced at