* * *
‘Fred’s looking good today. The girls too. And all the chicks. Basically, I’m a farming genius.’ James settled in on the tree stump he often sat on when he was talking to Cassie about the animals.
‘Be honest. Fred’s stopped missing me, hasn’t he?’
‘Yep. He’s shockingly fickle.’ It was true. There was no need for James to call Cassie every afternoon any more, but it was what they did now, every day, even if it was just a few words. They’d been doing it for several weeks. He liked their chats, and he was pretty sure she did too. They’d fallen into a habit of taking it in turns to call each other and neither of them ever made an excuse; and he suspected that Cassie made sure she was free for the call every day, like he did. ‘So what’ve you been doing today? Did you get your draft to Jennifer?’
‘I did, thank goodness.’
‘How’s the plan going for the next one?’ So restrained on his part. Hereallywanted to know what books she wrote. Why didn’t she want to tell anyone her pen name? Did she really write extreme erotica, not kids’ books? Had she written something so famous that people would be beating down her door if they knew who she was?
Cassie laughed. ‘You really want to know my pen name, don’t you?’
‘Well, obviously yes.’
‘Okay. Promise you’ll never tell anyone.’
‘Absolutely.’
‘It’s going to mean nothing to you. Milly Moore.’ Thatdidmean nothing to him. So disappointing. For a moment he’d genuinely been expecting to hear her say a name as famous as Enid Blyton or J.K. Rowling.
‘Cool,’ he said. ‘Very interesting.’
‘Yep, I knew you’d never have heard of me. You might have heard of a couple of my characters.’
‘Probably,’ he said. Of course he wouldn’t have. Not having been a big reader as a child he hadn’t heard of any characters other than Harry Potter, Stig of the Dump and… that was about it. He couldn’t think of any others off the top of his head.
‘The MacDuff Twins.’
No way.
‘Noway. What, the ones in the TV series? Which are on US TV as well as UK TV? That all adults including even me have heard of. Wait, they’re frombooks?’
Good God. She had to have made an absolute fortune from those if her agent was remotely competent.
‘Yep. And that’s why I don’t tell anyone my pen name, because I don’t want people putting two and two together and beating down my door. Though, actually, I didn’t tell anyone to start off with because I didn’t want my ex to be able to get in touch with me, and then when we did the TV deal, it turned out to have been a very good thing.’
‘Wow.’
Cassie laughed. ‘I enjoyed that. You weretotallyexpecting not to have heard of my characters, weren’t you?’
‘I was. I was wondering whether or not I was going to fake recognition, to be polite.’ He really wanted to ask more about the ex, but baby steps with the revelations.
‘Confessions for a rainy day,’ Cassie said.
‘It isn’t rainy here. We have blue skies and a bright sun. I’m wearing shorts and sunglasses.’
‘Lucky. So what have you been up to?’
‘Work. Went for a swim. I’m playing poker with the guys and Laura this evening. She’ll fleece us.’ He squashed a sudden urge, from nowhere, to talk to Cassie about Ella. ‘And I’m going to eat another of your freezer meals. I’m thinking another portion of the hashweh. That’s seriously delicious.’
They talked for ages, about nothing, until James realised that he was going to be late for poker if he didn’t go.
* * *
‘Thank you, all of you. I’m genuinely choking up a little.’ Incredible, against all his initial expectations and impressions, that he’d be sad to be leaving the island the day after tomorrow. ‘This is a great place and you’re great people, and six months ago I really wouldn’t have believed that I’d have felt so attached to being here. I’ll be back.’ James finished his best Arnie-as-Terminator impression amid cheers and whistles, and leaped down from the table he’d been standing on.
‘Another beer?’ Dina asked.
