Chapter 79

Tessa’s POV

I laughed nervously, making Claire frown.

“I’m sorry,” I chuckled. “Joseph isn’t my boyfriend. He’s my professor and mentor. He’s just helping me out.”

Claire rose her brows.

“Oh, I’m sorry. From my understanding, you were living with him. I just assumed you were in a relationship.”

“I’m sorry for the confusion,” I said to her with as much sincerity as I could muster. “Like I said, he’s just helping me.”

“Well, he certainly knows how to pick out really nice apartments. He was in communication with me for most of the night and into the morning. I hardly slept,” she chuckled. “He was very adamant about finding you the perfect home. He took a lot of notes on those photos. If you take a look at the back of them, you’ll see his notes and requests.”

I frowned and dug through the photos.

She was right. He put a bunch of handwritten notes on the back of them.

He made notes such as:

Preferably an extra room for an office.

Laundry and dryer in the unit is a must.

Preferably a view of the city.

A kitchen with plenty of counter space.

No further than 5 minutes from the school.

Each apartment had a handwritten checklist with his requirements checked off except for a couple.

He also made financial notes too. He put a star next to the ones that were a bit pricier, but then after he spoke to the seller to talk the price down, he listed the new price beside it.

How did he know my financial situation and what I could afford?

I got a passive income from my blog, but it’s not much. Though, I’m anticipating that it will start rolling in even more money now that it’s being noticed. I also get an allowance from my father each week while I’m in school. Once I graduate after this semester, I’ll be expected to get a job, which hopefully will consist of writing.

All my financial aspects were written by Joseph with such detail that I couldn’t help but be amazed.

Why would he go through this much trouble for someone he didn’t care about? I thought when he asked me to move out, he was urgently trying to get rid of me and didn’t care where I ended up.

But his efforts in finding me the perfect apartment that fit all my needs proved that in some strange way, Joseph did care about me.

He acted so hot and cold toward me. Why would he put in so much effort otherwise? It was certainly confusing, but it made my heart feel a bit lighter than it felt previously.

Claire was watching me curiously before clearing her throat.

“So, shall I tell the Sellers they have a deal?” She finally asked.

I was brought back to reality and nodded.

“Yes,” I answered. “This is perfect. Thank you for all your hard work.”

She chuckled.

“It was all Professor Evergreen. I’m just here to show you what he picked out,” she said.

She pulled out some more paperwork from the folder I was holding, and we went over to the dining table to fill out the papers.

Once we were done, after about 20 minutes, Claire took me back to Joseph’s Villa.

“Everything should be all set by the morning, and you can move in immediately,” Claire explained. “Mr. Evergreen wanted to rush the process, so I’ll make sure everything is completed today.”

That sinking feeling returned to my stomach. He really wanted to get rid of me, so he rushed this process in advance.

I said goodbye to Claire before leaving her car and going into Joseph’s house. It was still early in the afternoon, so I knew he was probably still sleeping. This was probably a good thing, I had so much I wanted to say to him, but I needed time to organize my thoughts.

My phone began to ring in my pocket, and I scrambled to answer it before it made too much noise. I imagine the smallest noises wake Joseph because of his vampire hearing, and I forgot to silence my phone this morning.

“Hello?” I said into the phone. It was an unknown number.

“Yes, hello. Is this Tessa Campbell?” A woman asked on the other end of the phone.

“Yes, speaking.”

“Oh, hello Miss Campbell. My name is Kimberly Allen. A publisher for Fable Online Magazine. How are you doing this afternoon?”

I was in complete shock.

Reef magazine was a famous publication that everybody knew about. They specialized in long and short stories, for their online magazine. They covered a variety of topics, including fantasy. They also did poetry and news articles. There was something for everybody.

I remember having a comment on my blog a few days ago from a publisher saying they were going to contact me soon, but I had no idea she was from Fable magazine.

“I’m great. How are you doing?” I asked, trying my best to not sound as nervous as I suddenly felt.

“I’m doing great as well. I’m not sure if you saw my comment on your blog the other night but I absolutely love your stories. I saw some of your older posts as well when you did fantasy, and your storytelling is incredible. It’s almost like you lived through all of that,” she chuckled.

I forced a chuckle of my own.

“Your newer stuff is great too. I love how raw and personal you get with your audience. It’s like I’m reading things straight out of your journal. I had a friend of mine tagged me in one of your posts and I’m so glad that she did because I might have never discovered it. You don’t have much of an online presence.”

My face warmed at her words.

“I don’t yet,” I admitted. “But I’m hoping that will change soon. I’m still kind of new at this writing thing and learning what works and what doesn’t. I have a great mentor who teaches me certain things. He’s actually the reason I started writing longer posts.”

I chose not to tell her who my mentor was.

“Well, your mentor seems wise. I’m glad that you’ve had some help. I actually wanted to touch base with you and see how you’d feel about writing for our publication?”

My breathing got caught in my throat.

She wanted me to write for Fable magazine?! Did I hear her correctly??

When I didn’t respond, she continued.

“It’s not a paid position. At least not yet. That might change in the future. But for right now, it’ll get your name out there and drive a larger audience to your blog. We would require a new story a week on any topic that you choose. I’d prefer it to be fiction/fantasy, but it can be anything. You’d send them straight to me via my email and I will send you any corrections we make to your stories before we post them. Once you approve the story and it goes through our editing system, it’ll be posted within the week. You’ll get an email once It’s life on our sight.”

“Are you serious?” I asked, my voice coming out breathless. “You really want me to write for Fable magazine?”

“We think you have what it takes to take our online magazine to a new level,” Kimberly said. “We would be honored if you would at least think about it. I can send you our contract and you can look it over.”

“Yes,” I said quickly. “That would be great. Thank you so much.”

“I’ll send it to the email listed on your blog. Is that all right?”

“Yes, that’s perfect,” I answered.

“I’ll talk to you soon, Miss Campbell.”

“Tessa,” I corrected. “You can call me Tessa.”

“And you can call me Kim,” she said kindly.

We said our goodbyes and I hung up.

Did that just happen??

Am I actually going to write for Fable Magazine?!

“Who were you just talking to?”

I turned around to see Joseph leaning against the door.