The Living Room Read Online Free

with all the employees when we got back to the shop. Beginning in January, we have to pay one hundred percent of our dependent health coverage. The company is only going to provide benefits for employees.”
    “How much will that cost us?”
    “About five hundred dollars a month to insure you and the kids.”
    Amy didn’t know what to say. The publisher would pay a small advance for The Everlasting Arms , but she and Jeff had planned on using that money to pay year-end bills and buy Christmas gifts.
    “Most companies quit underwriting family coverage years ago,” Jeff continued. “I know Mr. Crouch didn’t want to make a change, but he doesn’t have a choice. The costs are going through the roof. He spoke to the foremen afterward and told us he was going to authorize as much overtime as the projects can support. That will help a little bit.”
    Amy stepped forward and put her arms around Jeff’s neck.
    “You work so hard,” she said. “And I appreciate it. I’m trying to do my part, too.”
    Amy waited for Jeff to speak, but he didn’t. If their dilemma had taken place in one of her books, they would have engaged in a heartfelt discussion about their unwavering love for each other and trust in God’s faithfulness. But life doesn’t always imitate art.
    “I’d better get back to supper,” she said, turning away.
    “Yeah, I’m hungry. We were behind schedule today, and I only had fifteen minutes for lunch. Where’s Ian?”
    “I’m not sure. He’s been in and out of the house all afternoon. Bobby was here for a couple of hours.”
    “I’ll check the backyard,” Jeff said.
    He left Amy alone in the kitchen. Interacting with Ian was the onlyuncomplicated relationship in Jeff’s life, and Amy knew it was both a joy and an escape for him. As she cut up tomatoes and cucumbers for a salad, she concentrated on the sharp knife. Jeff respected her dream to be a novelist and almost never complained about her time away from the family in the writing room, but above all else he was practical. He viewed her writing as a home-based job that needed to show a profit.
    The incredible excitement she’d felt when Bernie called and told her a publishing company wanted to offer her a two-book contract had validated the lonely hours she’d devoted to creating a spec novel. Working full-time at the law firm, running a household, and trying to be a godly wife and mother while writing a book had been tough. Amy had turned down so many requests to volunteer at the church that the head of the women’s council rarely talked to her.
    She’d been surprised by the small size of the advance Bernie negotiated but accepted it as part of getting her foot in the door. Thousands of writers never even got an offer from a bona fide company. Then reality hit harder when Amy was told the initial print run would be thirty-five hundred copies. Where was Dave Coley’s faith in her ability? Bernie stepped in and assured her that publishing companies kept their inventories low because books could be printed rapidly as demand increased. Also, the number of physical books shipped to brick-and-mortar bookstores was shrinking. With the explosive growth of the e-book market, a sale was only a mouse click away.
    As she worked on The Everlasting Arms , Amy tried to keep her simmering frustration with the business aspects of writing from affecting the creative process. However, a seven-hundred-dollar royalty check and the disappointment in Jeff’s face couldn’t be ignored. She put down the knife and rested her hands on the kitchen counter.
    “What am I doing?” she asked herself.
    “Cutting up stuff for a salad,” Megan responded in a puzzled voice.
    Amy glanced over her shoulder. “And talking to myself. How was school?”
    “Okay.” Megan came into the kitchen and sat at the round tablewhere the family ate most of their meals. “Mrs. Baumgartner is moving to Jacksonville. It has something to do with her husband getting a new