Following Bliss (The Quest series) (3 page)

“It’s okay. I’m
amping it up just a little for you,” Daniel winked.

He didn’t know
what had gotten into him, but being around Shelby made him feel like a million
bucks.

As they walked
out of the conference room and toward the ballroom where the literary agents
were, Daniel and Shelby kept looking at each other and smiling. When they arrived
at the ballroom door where the agents were being sequestered, Daniel turned to
her and Shelby heard a voice within her whisper, “
This guy.”

She was so taken
aback by this whisper that she burst into laughter yet again and leaned into
Daniel, giving him a big hug.

As they pulled
back, Daniel looked into her eyes and said, “I have to see you again. You
game?”

“Absolutely.”

Shelby handed
him her card and wished him luck. Daniel smiled to himself as she walked away,
thinking,
With you coming into my life, luck is the last thing I need.

And just like
that, he walked into the ballroom, manuscript in hand to meet Ms. Kaley
Hamilton.

Chapter 2

Daniel was
buzzing from his exchange with Shelby, so much so that it hardly occurred to
him to be nervous about pitching his book to Kaley Hamilton. As he walked over
to the table, he was radiating—his smile beaming from his face in a manner he
could not contain. Kaley Hamilton took notice right away.

“I have no idea
what your book is about, but I sure do love the positive energy emanating from
you!”

She stood up,
extending her hand. Daniel returned her handshake, noting how strong she was. In
fact, he was pretty sure she might crush his hand. This was surprising as
Kaley’s petite 5’1” frame and brunette, slightly newscaster-ish-bob hairstyle could
possibly indicate a slight, demure woman. But, Kaley was a woman who meant
business—Daniel could feel it right away. Dressed to the nines in a charcoal gray
Ann Taylor suit, complete with a chunky gold-and-black bracelet and a matching
necklace, there was no way anyone could mistake Kaley Hamilton for anything
other than smart and on top of her game. And her handshake? Well, it cleared
things up in case there was any question. When it came to the literary arts,
Ms. Hamilton was certainly in charge and in control.  

“Thank you so
much for taking the time to hear more about my book, Ms. Hamilton,” Daniel said
calmly, as he retracted his hand from her grip.

“Oh, please—call
me Kaley.” Kaley sat back down into her chair, crossing her legs and leaning
one arm over the back of the chair, making sure Daniel had the opportunity to
notice her rather short, mid-thigh length skirt. Kaley smiled pleasingly at
Daniel as she said, “Now tell me, what kind of book are
you
going to
share with the world?”

Daniel went on
to articulately and confidently outline to Ms. Hamilton—er, Kaley—the scope of
his novel, its relevance to readers, and the best ways to reach his market. He
felt like he was on top of the world. Never, in all of his faux practice
sessions, had he spoken so eloquently about what his message was and what he
wanted the world to know through his books. Kaley sat captivated, nodding in
approval and smiling at him as he spoke. When he finished, he took a deep
breath and paused. Kaley interjected.

“Well Daniel,
that is quite the presentation. As I’m sure you may know, Western historical
fiction has been on the decline for some time now, and it’s not something
publishers are generally jumping up and down for. But, I’ve got to tell you, I
like your energy and if that’s shining through in your novel, then we just
might have a winner.”

Daniel felt a
lump form in his throat, hoping his novel was as fantastic as he had made it sound.
If only I had met Shelby last week
—
if this energy was embedded in the
manuscript, I wouldn’t be able to go wrong.

“I’ll tell you
what,” Kaley continued. “I want to take the next few days to read over your
manuscript and see how it feels to me. Then, I’ll email you and we can discuss
next steps. If you don’t hear from me by Wednesday, feel free to reach out to
me directly.” She handed him her card. “My assistant, Sarah, usually responds
to this email address, but I’ll let her know to forward yours to me. Sound
good?”

Daniel could
hardly believe his ears . Kaley Hamilton was going to make sure his emails made
it directly to her? He said a silent thank you to the Universe for this
incredible turn of events. It was as if someone else was orchestrating things
for him. From the moment he made the decision to go for it and make the pitch
to Kaley with a completed manuscript, everything fell into place—being able to
complete his novel fully in a week’s time (even as a rough draft, this was a
big accomplishment for him), meeting up with Gregory right at the perfect moment
to be assured Kaley wasn’t some rabid agent, walking into the lecture hall and
instantly seeing Shelby, having such a powerful connection with her that he
forgot to be nervous to meet Kaley, and that allowed him to deliver the best
pitch of his life. Daniel felt blessed. He didn’t know how his luck had so
suddenly changed, but he wasn’t complaining.

“Kaley, that
sounds perfect. I’m confident you’re going to love this story as much as I do,
and as much as readers will.”

Who was this guy
that made sweeping gestures to attractive women he had only recently met and
claimed complete confidence in his writing? He wasn’t sure, but he was loving
this new version of himself— that had apparently been birthed when he met Shelby.

Kaley stood up,
extending her hand once again. “Thank you, Daniel. It was a pleasure. And
whatever it is that you’re doing to radiate this kind of energy, please keep it
up. The world needs more of it.”

Daniel smiled,
shook her hand—noticing this time that it was a lot less crushing and said,
“You’ve got it, Kaley. I look forward to speaking with you next week.”

And while Daniel
couldn’t fully comprehend how beautifully things were unfolding, he felt a
sense of calm and ease, along with a knowing that all was exactly as it was
meant to be.

# # #

Shelby walked
away from Daniel in a state of ecstasy. She couldn’t believe the amount of electricity
she felt in her body while they were talking. It was as if some type of
electrical current system was zigzagging throughout her entire body. It was so
intense, focusing on the content of their conversation was nearly impossible. And
he wanted to see her again! Shelby felt giddy at the possibility of getting to
know Daniel better. Now, the trick was not to sit around and stew about when he
would call and what would happen next. She knew that by worrying about the
details, she would be energetically pushing away what she wanted.

Laney had turned
her onto that insight—and Shelby had experienced it time and time again.
Whenever she needed something to happen, it didn’t seem to happen
or
it
took forever to come to fruition. When she didn’t care much or was able to
trust it would work out the way it was meant to, things seemed to happen right
away. A fact was a fact and Shelby knew it—people/places/things flowed into her
experience more rapidly when she detached from needing it to happen.

But, even so,
she made sure her phone volume was on high—at all times.

That night her friend
Kathryn called—they had met several months ago at a healing circle facilitated
by healer and intuitive Derrick Milestone. Laney had insisted that Shelby check
it out, reminding her that if she wanted to run her jewelry business full-time
and eventually meet the love of her life, she was going to have to do some
healing work.

“Listen Shelb, I
love you. But sitting around making pros-and-cons lists and mentally trying to
willpower your new life into fruition is not going to work,” Laney had said,
sounding almost like their mother, who was known for her killer ability to
scold just about anyone.

“It’s not?”
Shelby had stared over at her blankly as the two speed-walked their way from
OMSI to Sellwood and back on the Springwater Corridor.

Laney squealed.
“And who’s the older sister here? You can’t force things to happen. You need to
clear whatever blocks are keeping you from having what you want. Willpower is
soooo 2008, by the way. It’s 2013, get with the program,” with that Laney had
sprinted up ahead of Shelby, leaving her with the distinct feeling that Laney—although
her younger sis—was far wiser than Shelby at times.

Shelby had spent
her life strong-arming her way through. She literally will-powered her way
through workouts, job interviews, dating—even grocery shopping. What if she
relaxed a bit and let the Universe take the wheel? She decided that it was time
to give some of Laney’s woo-woo-ness a try.

Before she knew
it, she was sitting in the metaphysical bookstore Healing Waters & Sacred
Spaces receiving energy healing work from Derrick. Sitting next to her was Kathryn,
a lovely woman with curly brown locks, an infectious smile and sparkling blue
eyes. The two started chatting during a break, bonding over their mutual love
of macaroons and consignment shopping.

Kathryn had
recently come together with her true love, Scott, and Shelby loved her
conversations with Kathryn about love and all of the possibilities of the
Universe. Up until Kathryn, Shelby had only Laney to talk to about mystical occurrences
in her life. Now, that’s all she and Kathryn did, preferably while eating macaroons,
of course. Shelby had to give massive props to Laney for telling her about
Derrick’s healing circle. Although a newbie to the new thought community, she
was enjoying playing with the concept of the Law of Attraction and working more
deliberately with non-physical energy.

And so, as soon
as she heard Kathryn’s voice on the other end of the line the evening after the
writer’s conference, she blurted out, “Kathryn, you’ll never believe what
happened today. I think I met the guy. In fact, when I met him, I heard a voice
that said, “This is the guy.” I have never had
that
happen!”

“OMG Shelby,
this is soooo exciting. Do you think he felt it too?” Kathryn inquired with
almost the same level of intensity Shelby was feeling.

“I’m pretty
sure, he was beaming the entire time we spoke and said he had to see me again. So…I’m
taking that as a sign that we’re on the right track.”

“Love it! And I
love that you are so open to what’s happening. I wish I would have been more
open with Scott. As you know, when I met him, he felt it right away, but I was
too busy chasing some dude around that had the same name and occupation that a
psychic had given me several months back. God, I was so unbelievably lame back
then,” Kathryn laughed.

Kathryn had
shared with Shelby that she had spent a lot of time questing for her true love,
but was subconsciously sabotaging and pushing it away. Shelby had been very
lucky in love throughout her life, always attracting wonderful men, but never
feeling the spark that made her want to commit. And while she wanted children,
she was only 29 years old and didn’t feel any need to force things. She had
always felt like that part of her life would work itself out. She had never
struggled to have a relationship and Laney assured her this was based on her
strong belief system that it would be effortless, and so it was. Apparently,
what one believes always manifests into their physical reality.  Laney made
sure to repeat this message to Shelby whenever she had the chance.

“This is how the
Universe works Shelby, get on board, apply the same principles you do with men
and relationships to your career and you’ll have the same blessings!” Laney had
often reminded her.

Somehow, when it
came to the Universe, Laney always had the answers. And as hard as it was
sometimes to admit, from what Shelby was learning, Laney was right. She always
assumed she would meet the perfect guy for her when the time was right and, as
a byproduct, they would get married and have babies. But, it certainly wasn’t
something she worried about. Her career, on the other hand, was something she
was always trying to “figure out.” And no matter what she did, it seemed like
she always ended up in the same place—at a job she hated while subsequently spending
most of her time busying herself with meaningless tasks and dreaming about leaving.

Hearing Kathryn
and Scott’s true love story caused Shelby to think about more about the kind of
life
she wanted—not merely focusing on her career or feeling passive
about love. From what she was learning, if she wanted the life of her dreams,
she needed to be intentional about her desires.
All her desires
. Segmenting
life into blocks of focus wasn’t necessarily the best way to manifest.
Everything worked together as a whole. And the more she got to know Kathryn,
the more she realized that a true love partnership had the ability to allow one
to grow in ways you couldn’t grow on your own. That by deeply loving, the other
parts of one’s life also expanded and grew. As an example, Kathryn had not been
interested in having children before meeting Scott, but through the depth of
their connection, she realized there was deep healing work that needed to be
done around this area of her life. She had embarked on a healing journey, and
now she and Scott were talking about the possibility of having children—after
their commitment ceremony, that was. They were also finding ways to create a
unique partnership that didn’t fall into the usual paradigms of relationship in
the Western world.

To Shelby, it
was a sign that anything was possible where love and life was concerned—no
matter if you were questing for it or waiting to receive it. Now, in light of
meeting Daniel, her intentionality for what she wanted in a romantic
relationship was becoming more clear. Just meeting him made her want more…of
him.

“But look how
everything turned out Kathryn? You and Scott are planning your commitment
ceremony and talking about having children—something you never thought you’d
do. And for me, ever since that healing circle we went to several months ago, I
feel lighter and I have more confidence that everything is always working out
for me. I even bounce back from being triggered by my boss more quickly than
before. It used to take me days of seething at Dillion before I felt back to
normal. But, through my healing work and our friendship, everything is
changing. And now Daniel. He was so very sweet, animated and really present, which
I love. I gave him my card and now I’m doing everything I can to not stare at
my phone until it rings.”

They both
laughed.

“Well, you know
how the Universe works, so the second you stop looking at the phone and go do
something else—he’ll call,” Kathryn reminded her.

“I know, I know.
I’ve got to do something to distract myself.”

“By the way,
Scott and I are having a few friends over for dinner Friday night—you
interested?”