Elle Wright - Wherever You Are

Avery smiled sadly. “El, I guess I understand why you feel the way you do, but can we—”

The loud blare of his phone interrupted her attempt to...what? Talk? Make amends? Start over? At this point, she wasn’t sure what she wanted.

El turned his back on her as he answered his phone. The low, serious tone of his voice told her it was the hospital. Her speculations were confirmed when he turned around and told her, “I have to go.”

Before she could stop him, he disappeared around the corner.

When she arrived back at the hotel, she pulled her suit coat off and kicked her shoes off. Usually there was a flurry of activity around her at all times, but the suite was relatively quiet, which was exactly what she needed. She’d only been in Michigan for a few hours and it already felt like a lifetime.

Although Ann Arbor was her home for most of her life, it had been months since she’d been back. The last visit was incognito. She’d flown in for a family funeral and left again before the day was out. It wasn’t that she hated her city. It was just the opposite. Even though Avery now called Georgia home, as beautiful and happening as Atlanta was, it paled in comparison to her hometown and her home state in her mind. She’d often dreamed of the tree-lined streets, colorful people and Blimpy burgers. But life had taken her in a different direction—away from everything she’d thought she held dear, including El. Her town had been good to her today, though. The temperature was a comfortable seventy-five degrees, with a light wind and blue skies. It was a beautiful May day, one she wished she could have enjoyed.

“Avery?”

The familiar voice of her best friend called to her, jolting her out of her memories. “Jess? You’re here? Yay!” Avery embraced her friend Jessica Brown in a tight hug. “I thought I was going to see you at the graduation.”

“I know. I tried to get there,” Jess said. “My meeting ran longer than I thought it would.”

Avery waved her friend off. “It’s okay. That, I definitely understand.”

Work was always hectic for Avery, and it seemed her life was one big meeting. If she wasn’t implementing last minute script changes with her staff, meeting with network executives or running from one interview to the next, she was writing until the wee hours of the morning.

“No worries,” Avery told Jess. “You can probably watch it on YouTube right now.”

Jess eyed her. “Avery?”

“Huh?” she answered, squeezing her eyes shut. The headache that she’d woken up with that morning had seemed to intensify after her run-in with El. However, there was no time built into her schedule for sickness. Unfortunately, no amount of pain reliever seemed to ease the symptoms. Massaging her temples, she met her friend’s cautious gaze. “I’ve missed you, girlfriend. We all set for the flight? I’m so glad you’re coming to LA with me.”

Jess nodded, concern in her dark-brown eyes. “Yes, but are you okay? You don’t look well.”

“Avery!”

Her attention snapped to Luke, her assistant. So much for quiet . Luke had been with her for the past year, and he’d definitely made the job his own with his exceptional ability to multitask and keep her on time. Avery had a tendency to get so engrossed in work that she forgot to do simple things, like eat or shower or sleep. He’d insisted on traveling with her to Ann Arbor so they could finalize her summer schedule before he left for his month-long vacation back home in Alaska. A last-minute trip to Los Angeles to film a segment on a popular morning talk show was her last appearance. Then Avery was also finally taking some time off. “Yes, Luke.”

Luke was scribbling wildly in his planner, his bald head gleaming. “Walter called. He wants to know if you can squeeze in a—”

“No,” Avery told him. “I told you, I wanted this time to work on something personal for me.”

“I’ll let him know,” Luke grumbled. “Oh, Monique has called several times. I told her you’d get back with her as soon as possible.”

Avery groaned and took a seat on a sofa. Monique was one of her scriptwriters who was more than likely calling about the new changes Avery sent earlier that morning. “I know, Luke. Trust me, I know.”

When Avery submitted the novel she’d written in her spare time during a summer break to a publisher all those years ago, she had no idea the world she’d created would eventually turn into the wildly successful drama series The Preserves . One day she’d been in her fourth year of medical school and finishing a yearlong master’s degree in clinical research, the next she’d been “discovered” and eventually transformed into an overnight celebrity. Who knew a collection of stories based on the neighborhood she’d grown up in would be this popular? So popular that her little book was optioned for a scripted television series that had recently finished its first season a ratings hit. There were chat rooms devoted to her, fan fiction created around her characters and her world.

Luke strutted over and set a piece of paper in front of her. “According to Monique, the network doesn’t like the direction you’re going for next season. They want changes. You may have to rethink the love triangle. The audience is too invested in Robert and Riley. We can’t throw Caleb into the mix.”

Scanning the document Luke handed her—a screen print of the first page of her new script—she frowned at the word “No” in big bold letters across the top of the paper. Damn . “Get Walter on the phone,” she ordered, sighing heavily. “Tell him to handle it. It’s his job to go to bat for me with the network. I can’t do this right now.”

Jess set a tall glass of ice water in front of her, and Avery gulped it down in two-point-two seconds. Something wasn’t right, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Swallowing roughly, she closed her eyes and briefly considered calling her doctor.

“Luke,” Avery called out, without opening her eyes. “Leave. You have a plane to catch. I’ll be fine. Jess is rolling with me while you’re out.”

Avery intended to return to Michigan after her trip to Los Angeles to work on her special project, the Avery Montgomery Foundation. Although Avery was sure she could handle her life without Luke, Jess had agreed to step in and help when she could, if things went left.

Avery’s competent but loud assistant announced a few last-minute changes to her LA itinerary, and within ten minutes he was gone.

Now alone with Jess, Avery let out a slow breath. Peace and quiet was what she needed.

“So, how did the speech go?” Jess asked, joining her on the sofa. “Did you get a chance to meet any of the... Avery?”

Avery couldn’t think. It made her head throb even more.

“Avery,” Jess whispered, pressing a comforting hand to her back. “Maybe you should lie down.”

Avery shook her head. “I’m fine, so stop worrying.”

“But...” Jess shrugged. “I’ll grab you something to eat. Maybe that will help.”

Avery was excited to spend some time with her best friend. She appreciated Jess more than the other woman would probably ever know.

Avery was the youngest of five. Her father had married her mother after a nasty divorce from his first wife. Her siblings were all at least a decade older than she, which had made for a lonely childhood at times. More than that, her older sisters couldn’t stand her because she represented the deterioration of their parents’ relationship. They also couldn’t stand Avery’s mother, Janice, so her sisters had never really tried to have a relationship with her. Despite how often she’d tried to reach out to them, they never reciprocated and she’d eventually given up.