CHAPTER 5

‘Now here’s the sun, come to dry the rain

warm my shoulders and relieve my pain

you’re the one thing that I’m missing here

with you beside me I no longer fear.

I need to be bold,

need to jump in the cold water,

need to grow older with a girl like you.’

She was trying to be calm as the clock ticked steadily closer to 1 p.m. when Everly needed to get on the chat with Lennon Stark, the man of her dreams for the past few months.

He’d sent his number she’d checked the conversion between time zones twice. She thought she was doing a decent job of not letting it make her nervous until her personal assistant, Daisy, came for her usual hours in the afternoon.

Everly had hired Daisy initially to help her with emails and all day-to-day business of her writing career, but over time she had taken on a greater role by helping Everly in her personal life as well. No one understood Everly’s anxiety better than Daisy.

Daisy crossed her arms and stared at Everly.