Page 6 of Love or Your Money Back

CHAPTER

Two Weeks Earlier …

As Freddy picks up Kat’s crappy, age-stained phone to call Book Haven, he reflects on his surroundings. He is used to making business deals on a Bang and Olsen phone in a gleaming glass office, with a personal assistant making notes and handing him research documents.

The call connects.

‘Hey, Mike!’ Freddy feels Kat’s eyes boring into his shoulders. ‘It’s Freddy Stark here. Co-owner of Little Voice. I’m just calling to apologise on behalf of Katerina. She wants to apologise herself, but she’s too emotional. You know how women are.’

A pen flies past Freddy’s ear. Not the sort of high-quality, branded pen you’d get in the Salt Marketing offices. A plain Bic biro.

‘So, Mike,’ Freddy continues. ‘I’ve got some insider information for you. No. Not about shares. That would be illegal. It’s about Little Voice’s lead title, which I’m very, very excited about. What’s that? Too long for the average consumer? Well, do you stock Game of Thrones

? Of course you do. Yeah, okay … this book is a little longer than Game of Thrones

. But we’ll be editing it down for the mass market. Didn’t Kat mention that? It’ll be 500 pages. Plus, Kat gave you the working title. The real title is: Why Good Girls Get Married

. I know. Great, right?’ How about we send three copies to each of your stores, sale or return? See how they do? Fantastic. I’ll have my assistant set something up.’

Freddy hangs up the phone. ‘You need to edit your marriage book down to 500 pages and change the title. Then Book Haven will stock it.’

‘I’m sorry.’ Kat gives five angry blinks. ‘What?’

‘Apology accepted. Just to clarify – I just got you into all 150 Book Haven stores.’

‘I … wow.’ Kat looks conflicted. ‘But we can’t cut the book that much.’

‘Why not?’

‘We don’t have the resources,’ says Kat. ‘I barely have time to edit right now, let alone re-edit. And we’d have to create a whole new cover and put second edition on all the systems and … we just can’t.’

‘Well, I’m not asking you to do it,’ says Freddy. ‘Get your team on it.’

‘My team?’ Kat laughs. ‘Gabriela has a sick cat, so she’ll be no use this week.

Alan still isn’t A1 after his cataract surgery.

Duncan won’t function with his instant coffee all over the floor.

And no, he won’t want coffee from your fancy machine, before you ask.

He is a creature of habit. What you’re asking is for me to do extra work. And I already have too much to do.’

‘Kat. Listen.’ Freddy puts both hands on Kat’s desk.

‘You do no marketing whatsoever, have terrible, wordy titles and overly long books and yet you still have runaway bestsellers every year. You have something good going here. But you need staff who can take you forward, not people who hold you back. Let me help you.’

Freddy gives a pointed scan of the office, gesturing to an overweight man quietly snoozing under a tartan bucket hat and an elderly chap flagrantly booking a Caribbean cruise on his work computer with the help of a magnifying sheet.

‘I’ve been running this business for over a decade without your help.’ Kat’s left eye twitches. ‘This is how Little Voice rolls. I do most of the work and occasionally lose my temper and shout at people. We are a moderately happy, dysfunctional family turning a minor profit.’

‘Darling, your profits are dwindling every year,’ says Freddy.

‘It’s not dwindling –’

‘It’s erratic,’ says Freddy. ‘All over the place. Some months it’s great. Others, you have no output whatsoever. You don’t even get books out of the door.’

‘That’s because …’ Kat shakes her head. ‘Never mind. I’m working on increasing my output.’

‘You shouldn’t,’ says Freddy. ‘You should work on delegating. Or hiring staff who know what they’re doing.’

Kat sighs. ‘I don’t have time to delegate. Thank you for this new coffee-machine soon-to-become-a-paperweight. Now if you don’t mind, I have even more work to do.’

Freddy knows he should leave, but he watches Kat for a few more seconds. Truthfully, he finds her fascinating.

Freddy understands people instinctively, discovering their flaws with unnerving ease.

But Kat is different. There is no angle.

Nothing to be worked on. He wonders how clearly she sees him.

Whether she can tell that, underneath the bluff and bravado, he’s homesick for something.

There are moments when the glint in his eye fades and something quieter emerges. Regret, maybe. Or hope. Or both.