Winter’s come, and 35 is coming! That’s right; I’m turning 35 on the 7th of December!
I still can’t believe it. The point isn’t that 35 is old. Of course, it isn’t. But it is still a lot in terms of lived experience, and you can’t help but be both amazed and freaked out by how fast years have gone. It was certainly slower when I was in high school and college, let me tell you! 🙂
So as my gift to you, I’m giving away my two books Making A Difference (M.A.D.) (affiliate link) and How to Write an Amazing Romance Novel (affiliate link) for my birthday. And if you want to give me a present instead, you can always leave a review.
How it will work:
On the 7th of December, How to Write an Amazing Romance Novel will be free to download on Amazon and Smashwords. I’ll announce it on the blog and social media. If you want to buy it before or after then on Amazon, just click on the links above. If Smashwords is your jam, you can buy it here. Smashwords offers more formats.
Because I uploaded my novel Making A Difference (M.A.D.) through an intermediary publishing company, I can’t make it free on the websites. I can, however, send the format of your choice to you via email. So if you want to read my romcom novel for free, email to me by the 7th of December, asking me for my novel. Mention my birthday. 🙂
My email: pinartarhan@windowslive.com.
Want to check out the novel before then? Here’s the first chapter.
Enjoy!
CHAPTER 1
Present Day
Clark and Foster PR
“We’ve already saved the world today, mate.” Martin faked a passable English accent as he stood before the desk of his partner Jay. Jay raised a quizzical brow without looking from his computer. “Well, we’ve helped. And Faye will eat us for lunch if we are late,” Martin pointed out, returning to his regular New York accent.
The mention of Faye accelerated Jay’s exit faster than a fire alarm. Martin grinned as Jay grabbed his jacket from his chair and shut down his computer. They left together.
Martin Foster and Jay Clark had been partners for ten years. They’d established Clark & Foster PR right after college, with full blessing and intellectual support from Faye Clark, Jay’s PR ultimate guru grandmother who was a lot better at managing her social life so she let them be workaholics on their own time.
Faye was already at the chic new restaurant, sipping her Cosmopolitan when Martin and Jay arrived two minutes late.
“My boys! Three more minutes, and you’d have to share me with Dave,” she said, winking at them mischievously.
“Hey, Faye!” they greeted her in unison. Nobody was allowed to call her anything other than her first name. Even at seventy-five, she was too robust, young-looking and fun to be called Grams or Mrs. Clark.
Dave, her boyfriend of three years, would agree. Dave was a suave and agile sixty-five-year-old who still prioritized Faye over anything and anyone, despite running several successful skydiving schools. They had met when Faye decided to take up the sport for her seventy-second birthday. Faye’s husband, Jay’s grandfather, had been killed in combat many decades ago.
“Dave wanted to come,” Faye said. “He says hello.”
“Yeah, well, he can meet you for dinner,” Jay said and sat across from Faye. Martin took the chair beside her. Despite enjoying the company of Dave, they needed her all to themselves today. They ordered as soon as the waiter appeared. They couldn’t wait to catch up and pick her brains. They would just have to endure being scolded about their lack of fitness activities first.
“How’s the gym treating you?” she said pointedly, knowing that the gym they built in the basement of their firm was frequented a lot more by their employees.
“I got in a few laps,” Martin boasted while Jay avoided the question altogether.
“Today?” asked Faye.
Martin instantly looked sheepish. “This month,” he admitted.
Faye shook her head in disapproval. Good thing they were as fit and healthy as men could get at thirty-six, a boon of all the humanitarian work they did and supervised on-site both in the USA and around the world.
“I should have a word with Keira. She’s been cutting you too much slack recently.” Keira was their super-efficient office manager as well as the second health police they were exposed to. She got along with Faye fabulously.
“Well, she’s a bit too busy to tease us at the moment,” Martin said, and Faye nodded. There was an urgent topic they were all dying to discuss: Martin’s departure from the firm. So they ordered as soon as the waiter appeared.
Not that Martin was quitting in the traditional sense. He would remain as the CFO and would contribute to as many projects as possible. However, he was stepping down from his office, cutting the hours and would be working mostly from home. This substantial change was due to his fiancée Sally’s loving request. Well, ultimatum really. She wouldn’t marry him otherwise.
The problem was, their titles as CEO and CFO didn’t do much more than show Jay was the management whiz, and Martin was the financial expert. They were the two brains behind all operations. So when Martin had first informed Faye about his decision, she’d joked he’d have to go into witness protection. She would lose it if she were in Jay’s shoes. She was also worried this would irrevocably harm the friendship between her two favorite men.
Luckily, they already had the perfect substitute in mind. Faye had met her on several occasions and witnessed the outcome of her efforts. “I agree about Zoe being the best choice. And she is obviously more fun than you two.”
“There is a very long list of reasons why she’s meant for the job,” Jay concurred.
“She’ll willingly rip your butts from your chairs. Well, at least you Jay. It’s Sally’s duty now to inject life into this one.” Martin and Jay shared a look. Faye was only half-teasing. It was lucky their job required socializing. Any other profession, and both men would have become hermits.
Martin smiled as he thought about Sally. He loved everything about his fiancée, and she would make sure he didn’t slip into his old workaholic ways. But then again, being a workaholic humanitarian was a rightfully acclaimed trait.
“Don’t worry, Faye. I’ll grant Zoe full control of all things social. Oh, and yes, I’ll listen to her when she tells me to move it.” Jay grinned.
“Pleased to hear that, but you haven’t talked to her yet,” Faye pointed out.
“No, but I’m positive she will accept,” Martin said. Well, he was ninety percent positive. The rest was wishful thinking. If she said no, he’d have to stay on. Recruiting the right person was not solely about not letting Jay down. There was no way Jay or Martin would bestow Martin’s office on someone who didn’t inherently understand or value their company.
“She’ll say yes,” assured Jay. Then he added with an ominous grin, “I’ll have to kill Martin otherwise. Or shun him for the next three decades.” They all laughed.
“He means it, you know,” Faye added as she took a delicate sip of her drink.
“I know,” Martin said a little anxiously. “I don’t blame him.”
“I might even have to punish you myself,” Faye said.
Martin sighed. “I’m aware I’m facing double rejection here.”
Given that they had practically lived and breathed PR since their teens (Jay’s passion had started even earlier), nobody could foresee Martin would even consider going part-time. Jay smiled. Faye had every right to be mad if Martin failed to persuade Zoe. And yes, there really was only one right candidate for the job as far as they were concerned.
“She has always wanted to come back to the company,” Jay reasoned. “And she is being offered the ultimate position.”
“That’s a pretty big leap from internship,” Faye said.
It was. But Zoe deserved the credit they gave her. Though she was only their intern five years ago, she had quickly become Faye’s third favorite student. More importantly, both Jay and Martin counted her as a friend.
One of the crucial factors behind their success was employing individuals who thought like them: people who put each other over profit, rapport over ambition, casual over formal. One didn’t resign from Clark and Foster. Some switched to part-time, but no one truly left. So far only Angie Clark, Jay’s younger sister, had been fired, but she had asked for it. She wasn’t meant for regular office hours or writing press releases.
“When are you meeting Zoe?” Faye asked.
“I’m going to her book signing tomorrow morning,” Jay said.
“It’s her boyfriend’s book signing,” Martin corrected.
Jay raised his eyebrows, reaching for his drink. “Well, she got him published, and she made him a bestseller, and she organized the signing. That makes it her book signing equally, if not more.”
“He has a point,” Faye said to Martin. “She got his career off the ground. He had the material, but it’s no use if no one knows about it, is it?”
Jay could always count on Faye for common sense. People tended to overlook the marketing aspect of products. No matter what people thought about Colin, without the right marketing, he wouldn’t have a career, period. If Zoe hadn’t worked day and night to get Colin launched, he’d be just another fish in an ocean filled with millions of competitors.
“Fine. Zoe’s book signing.” Martin knew better than to disagree with Jay on any Zoe-related matter. They didn’t disagree a lot, but Zoe and Jay had always been closer than Martin and Zoe. They connected better. He would go as far as to say they completed each other, but that would piss Jay off. And he didn’t want to give Faye any ideas. So he kept it to himself.
“So go get her, tiger,” Faye said, and they all laughed.
Jay was planning on doing just that. It was either Zoe or Martin was staying on. Jay liked Sally. She was a lovely person, and she made Martin happy. But Jay hadn’t labored, sweated, and bled to build a unique company from scratch and carry it to the top for it to be ruined by her idea of a happy family.
But he wasn’t anxious at all. Just like Faye was his role model, he was Zoe’s. He had a feeling she would jump at the offer.
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Stay tuned for Chapter 2! Tomorrow, I’ll be sharing it on the blog as well!
