It was a rare occasion—Ben’s birthday—so Jolene made a point of taking birthday photos of him, and even took some of Raymond and Ben together.
The photos from last time had already been developed. Jolene picked out the ones of Emma and herself, and had Ben put all of his into the photo album himself.
Ben’s parents had clearly loved him very much—there were photos from every year since he was born. There’d been a six-month gap, but now the photos were finally starting up again.
A five-year-old didn’t really understand what all this meant, but seeing pictures of himself as a baby made him think photography was pretty fun.
It’s just that Mr. Raymond really seemed to dislike having his picture taken—his expression never changed in front of the camera.
“Could you smile a little, Mr. Raymond?” Jolene asked, holding up the camera and looking at the man in front of her.
Mr. Raymond sat on the sofa, one brother on each side. They looked quite alike, but they didn’t seem very close.
Ben, on the other hand, was smiling happily, with two little dimples showing—while his brother’s smile looked a bit forced.
“How about you put Ben on your lap?” Jolene suggested.
Ben looked up at his brother with hopeful eyes.
Raymond was easygoing about it. Ben climbed onto his brother’s lap on his own, but it still looked awkward. Jolene gave up and just took a commemorative birthday shot of the two brothers as they were.
Still, it was understandable—Raymond had only brought his brother over six months ago. He’d never raised a child before, and probably wasn’t used to having another person in his life.
Since it was Ben’s birthday, Jolene let him pick his favorite books that night and even let him choose three.
Ben was thrilled. He even claimed the spot next to Jolene, making her read to him.
But kids were kids. He picked out his books and stayed up later than usual—and before long, Jolene noticed the little boy’s breathing beside her had slowed.
He’d actually fallen asleep…
Jolene had no choice but to get up, put her finger to her lips to signal Emma to be quiet, and bent down to pick the boy up, intending to carry him to his own room.
But Jolene had clearly overestimated her strength. The original owner’s arms weren’t strong—years of heavy drinking had taken their toll, and she hadn’t fully recovered yet. Plus, Ben was taller and heavier than the average five-year-old—he had some weight to him.
So Jolene and Emma just stared at each other, because Jolene simply couldn’t lift him.
Without hesitating—she wasn’t about to wake Ben up—she went and knocked on Mr. Raymond’s door.
She’d noticed several times that Raymond stayed up very late, always going to bed in the middle of the night.
“Knock, knock, knock—” Jolene rapped on the door on the right side of the second floor.
The door opened. Mr. Raymond was holding a dry towel, wiping his hair, and looked at her with a questioning expression.
“Ben fell asleep in my room. Could you maybe carry him over? I,” Jolene felt a little embarrassed—after all, she was the nanny and couldn’t even lift a child. She paused before explaining, “I can’t lift him.”
But after two weeks of getting along with Mr. Raymond, Jolene knew he was pretty easygoing, so she just told him the truth.
Raymond turned back, put the dry towel down, and casually ran a hand through his hair without showing any impatience. He followed Jolene to her room.
Emma lay on the bed, staring blankly as her mom brought Mr. Raymond in. Her eyes widened and she said softly, “Hello, sir.”
Raymond gave Emma a small smile, then spotted his little brother sleeping soundly. He bent down to pick him up but paused briefly—probably wondering how to hold a child properly. Horizontally or vertically?
“Ahem, you’ve been a volunteer before, right? How do you carry people when you’re rescuing disaster victims?” Jolene was genuinely puzzled. Wasn’t he supposed to work for a nonprofit?
The next second, Raymond hoisted Ben up and slung him over his shoulder.
Jolene: “…”
Well, that worked too. He really didn’t seem to know how to handle kids—maybe all the people he’d rescued were adults…
Surprisingly, even in such an uncomfortable position, Ben didn’t wake up. He slept soundly—must have been worn out from all the fun.
Two more days passed, and Jolene finally received letters from the remaining three publishers—all standard-form rejections, almost identical in wording to the others. Clearly, none of them had any interest in her subject matter.
Jolene looked at the manuscript she’d already written up to the point where the female lead began her rise, and felt a wave of discouragement. It looked like Random House was her only option—unless she wanted to submit to even smaller publishers and start another round of waiting.
But if even these major publishers had rejected her, smaller ones probably wouldn’t dare take the risk either—publishing houses weren’t nonprofits; they needed to make money.
Having made up her mind, Jolene called editor Brian back and said she agreed to the publication terms.
“Great, I’ll mail you the contract right away. You might want to have a lawyer review it. As we discussed, the royalty rate and print rights will belong to Random House…” Brian said directly.
“Will I receive a sample copy?” Jolene couldn’t help asking.
“Very soon—probably within a week of signing, you’ll get your first sample copy. It’ll be a paperback edition, so the turnaround is faster,” Brian replied briefly.
“Will there be any recommended reading lists or promotional channels?” Jolene suddenly thought of it—web novels had to apply for promotional lists; otherwise, how would readers find the book?
In her past life, Jolene had also sold rights and had special signings, but those were based on an established online readership. For a book published directly like this, with so many titles coming out every day, how would readers even know about it?
“We’ll have a new-book promotional period. Of course, for well-known authors, we’ll try to get them featured on Oprah’s Book Club or get recommendations from media like The New York Times. We also do in-person signings. But as I mentioned before—for a popular novel like yours, I’m the only one at the house who sees its potential. So after the new-book period, if sales aren’t great, I’ll try markdown promotions or leverage that September movie to attract stay-at-home moms…” Brian said quite sincerely.
Jolene was counting on that September movie release too—especially since its lead actress had a special status. The film could give her book some cross-promotional exposure, since this kind of subject matter was really rare right now.
Realizing that Brian genuinely understood why she’d written this book, Jolene dropped any lingering thoughts of submitting elsewhere. “Alright, let’s go with that. Please mail me the contract.”
Brian was satisfied—after all, he’d pushed hard for this book and was betting on it.
With the deal set, Jolene didn’t waste any time. While waiting for the contract, she dove into writing the second half of the book.
Now that publication was confirmed and she had her outline, the writing came much faster.
On Saturday, Jolene had promised to take Ben and Emma out to fly the kite—Ben’s birthday gift.
It was a simple, humble present, but Ben loved it—mainly because the kite was one of a kind, with a tall, handsome version of himself painted on it.
Originally, Jolene had planned to take the kids to try flying the kite at the neighborhood park.
But Raymond offered to drive everyone to Kite Hill instead.
It was about 10 miles away, a half-hour drive along Stanley Boulevard. Jolene didn’t have a car of her own, so she usually could only take the kids to nearby spots. Given the chance, she’d definitely prefer a more scenic location.
Raymond’s car was a silver Chevrolet SUV—roomy and spacious.
Since they were heading out, Jolene figured she’d pack plenty of snacks and water, so they could stay out longer and maybe even have a picnic on Kite Hill.
But she wasn’t sure if the house had a picnic blanket, so she asked Raymond.
Raymond hadn’t thought about a picnic at all. He shook his head. “We can buy one at a store along the way.”
“If not, we can just find a clean rock to sit on,” Jolene said casually. In her past life, she’d always just sat on the ground with friends—there were always big rocks or benches by the river, very convenient.
But snacks and drinks were a must. She’d learned by now—kids get hungry insanely fast, and they’d start demanding food in no time.
No wonder Ben had spotted a business opportunity selling food at the swim school.
Once they were ready, Raymond drove. The kids couldn’t sit in the front, so they both sat in the back with Jolene, where two child seats had been installed.
Originally, there’d only been one car seat. The other had been borrowed from a colleague at the last minute by Raymond.
Jolene was once again amazed by his thoughtfulness—she hadn’t even remembered they’d need car seats, and had planned on just holding Emma in her lap.
They passed a large Target store along the way, and Raymond pulled over.
Jolene had no choice but to get out with both kids and follow him inside. The man walked ahead without a word.
Jolene was about to ask what he was buying—
Then it hit her. Before they left, he’d said they could buy a picnic blanket at a store along the way. He was actually going to buy one!
The kids had no idea what Raymond was doing either—until the man stopped at the entrance and turned back to look at them.
“I’ll go find a picnic blanket and a car seat. You guys can go look for any snacks or drinks we might need,” Raymond said with a smile.
“Oh, okay,” Jolene nodded.
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