The Meeting: An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

The Meeting

            “Settle down!” Jared  snapped, eyes narrowing with displeasure as the bickering continued. He opened his mouth to tell the annoying bastards to shut the hell up when his normally sweet daughter-in-law stepped in.

            “Quiet!” Haley shouted, shocking everyone in the overcrowded living room into silence. When she was sure that she had their attention, she nodded, looking quite pleased with herself as she gestured for everyone to have a seat.

            A few of them grumbled and bitched, but they did sit. Well, the ones that could find a seat did. The rest of them, the majority of the men who’d refused a seat so that the women could be comfortable, leaned back against the wall or doors as they scowled in Jared’s direction, still looking annoyed about the summons they’d received for this meeting.

            “Where the hell is R.L.?” Christofer, a newcomer to their group, demanded harshly, pointedly looking away from the small, furious looking, woman that by the looks of it, wanted to tear him limb from limb.

            “I’d like to know that as well since she left me in a really fucked up situation,” the woman, he thought her name was Cloe, said, her eyes practically narrowing to slits as she continued to glare at Christofer.

            Trevor let out a disbelieving snort as he shook his head in disgust. “Get in line, sweetheart. You’re not the only one that she left in a fucked up situation. I’m about to get my ass handed to me at Fenway.”

            “At least she didn’t leave you getting your ass chewed out by your boss,” Jodi, the young woman who rented from Trevor, said, sounding irritated even as she pointedly looked anywhere in the room but at Danny, his nephew who appeared not to care or notice, but Jared knew his nephew well enough to know that he was watching her every move.

            Interesting….

            But, something that was going to have to wait for another time. Right now he needed to calm everyone down and get them to focus before they did something stupid that would make more problems for R.L. Not that she’d asked for his help. She hadn’t. She was too damn stubborn to ask for help and now it was catching up with her.

            With a heavy sigh and a prayer that his wife was almost done making brownies, he explained the situation to the characters that made up the R.L. Mathewson world with the tact that Bradfords were known for.

            “R.L. is an idiot,” he said, getting right to the point.

            “What the hell are you talking about?” Eric asked with a frown, absently reaching out to put a staying hand on his wife’s shoulder and most likely stopping her from kicking his ass, he thought with a grin.

            God, he loved the women that R.L. created, but that didn’t take away from the fact that the woman was in fact, an idiot.

            “She’s fucked up,” he added, hoping that it would be enough to explain things. Judging by the confused expressions thrown his way it wasn’t so he opened his mouth to further explain when Jason, with a muttered curse, took over.

            “What I think he’s trying to say,” his son began, ignoring the glare that he was sending his way, “is that she’s taken on too damn much, putting all of her attention on her kids, books, the readers, the Chronicles, organizing The Great Escape Author Event and starting Blanket House and none on herself.”

            “I knew that she was taking on too much,” Ephraim bit out from across the room, his eyes turning the eerie red that kind of freaked him out.

            “I don’t think it’s that,” Nick said, shaking his head as he folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the wall. “I think she needs to learn how to prioritize.”

            “She needs to take care of her health,” Zoe added with a sigh, rubbing her hands down her face, her frustration clear.

            “I thought that’s what she’s been doing,” Chris said, looking confused as he shot a questioning look to his father who could only shrug.

            “Nope,” Trevor said, letting the word pop out of his mouth, sounding pissed and for good reason.

            “What has she been doing?” Madison asked with a concerned frown as she stood up and moved so that she could stand by her mate.

            “Letting her problems kick her ass,” Jason said, glancing around the room and not looking any happier about it than Jared was.

            “As I said,” Jared felt the inclined to add, “she’s being an idiot.”

            “Well,” Jamie said, frowning adorably, “shouldn’t someone tell her?”

            Jared couldn’t help but chuckle. “Someone already did.”

            “Who?” Caine demanded, not bothering to pause in glaring at the Pytes in the room.

            “LaTrese,” Jared said with a grin.

            “Who the hell is that?” Shayne, the man who always seemed to be glaring at well, everything, asked.

            “She’s R.L.’s friend as well as her business partner. She’s the main force behind The Great Escape Author Event and one of the Directors for Blanket House. She also acts as R.L.’s manager, kicking her ass and getting her to focus. She’s actually pretty cool,” Jason explained.

            “And she clearly wants me,” Trevor felt the need to point out, which of course earned him several eye rolls and a few muttered, “Arrogant bastard.”

            “Well, what did she do?” Rory asked, shifting uncomfortably on Connor’s lap as she tried to find a position that would accommodate her large belly where another Bradford, and yes, Jared considered all the James offspring Bradfords, grew.

            “Not much,” Jason said with a shrug, “well, nothing on purpose, but she made R.L. see that she was being an idiot and needed to get off her ass and take care of business.”

            “So, what about the Chronicles?” Trevor asked, trying not to look too anxious about being stuck in Fenway.

            “She’s going to get back on schedule with them starting on March 2^nd. She’ll start back with getting your ass out of Fenway and write the Chronicle that she owes the original Team Bradford,” Jason said, not looking too pleased with the details of his elopement and the disaster of a wedding night being shared.

            “And our books?” Christofer asked, gesturing lazily towards Danny, who stood in the corner, looking bored.

            “She’s still working on them. She just needs a few weeks to get everything handled and develop a schedule that will cover everything.”

            “What about the readers?” Marty asked from the comfort of her husband’s arms.

            “Jenn, her other business partner and friend, is handling that. She’s going to try and answer readers questions on FB and continue doing the giveaways on the Pyte/Sentinel and Team Bradford pages.” Jason further explained.

            “And the Bradford Family Cookbook?” Izzy asked.

            “Lauren, another business partner, is handling that so readers can send their recipes for review to the email without worry.”

            “So basically she’s trying to get her act together and this time she’s accepting help,” Nick surmised with an approving nod.

            “Exactly,” Jason said, looking relieved.

            “So, what does she need us to do?” Jodi asked, still pointedly looking away from Danny.

            “Give her a few weeks to figure everything out,” Jason suggested with a shrug.

            “As long as she gets me out of Fenway,” Trevor said with a heavy sigh as he held out his hand towards his wife.

            “She will,” Jason promised with a knowing smirk.

            “Smug bastard,” Trevor muttered, leading his wife towards the kitchen.

            “Touch my brownies and you’re a dead man,” Jared calmly explained as he made a show of inspecting his nails.

            “Cheap bastard,” Trevor muttered, changing directions and heading for the front door right behind the rest of the group.

            “Think she’ll manage to pull it off?” Jason asked, pausing by his side.

            Jared couldn’t help but chuckle as he got to his feet. “Yeah, I think she’s finally gonna get it right.”

Author’s note:

I thought it would be more interesting if I gave you an update through my favorite characters.

My main problem is organization and making time for everything, including me. Got a wake up call when I landed my butt in the hospital so now I am looking to make some changes, make improvements. It will take a few weeks to get things going, but I think we should see improvements on how the books and Chronicles are handled very soon.

Thank you for standing by me and for being patient while I figure things out 🙂

-R.L.