Chapter One
Once upon a time in Florida
* * *
“Roz, sweetheart, the beauty of writing fiction is that you can make up anything you want,” Alden told her. He took a sip of his coffee as they walked along Comet Cove’s busy Main Street toward Big Bang Books. “It’s pure imagination. Novels exist at a higher level than our scribbling for the newspaper.”
Roz shot him a skeptical look, but it turned into a smile. How did she end up with a guy this good-looking? Muscular but not one of those big doofuses who lived at the gym, he was even more attractive when he was relaxed like he was now, in jeans and a button-up blue shirt, sleeves rolled up, on the way to see his favorite author.
She was skeptical about Alden’s claim about the superiority of fiction. She was skeptical about the book signing they were about to attend. And she wasn’t sure about him calling her sweetheart, either. Having a serious boyfriend—man friend?—was pretty new to her. So was just about everything in her life, since The Beacon gobbled up her family’s newspaper and the staffs merged.
And she and Alden had merged, too. Though it wasn’t exactly a perfect union yet.
“What are you smiling at?” he asked, his gray eyes narrowing.
Roz tasted her mocha, sweet and hot from Bean Me Up, and quoted him. “Our scribbling for the newspaper? Are you saying what you wrote for the tabloids wasn’t fiction?”
“Now that’s a low blow. I reported the facts—in a colorful way. Besides, I’m a reformed character, and that was a long time ago.” He shot her a grin and ran a hand through his thick, short-cropped hair.
“Not all that long ago,” she said, enjoying his humor. And his hair. Hers had more reddish tones than his dark brown. “And have you made any progress on your novel?”
“I’m still working on the outline,” he confessed.
“I think you’re afraid to start it.”
“Not fair! I’m busy, that’s all. I’ve got this crazy job covering all the celebrities hanging out in Comet Cove. If only I had help from our new managing editor-slash-star reporter, maybe I’d have more time for fiction.”
“Ha! I’m busy too, you know. This place is growing. There’s lots to write about.”
“Because with growth comes growing pains.”
“Too true,” Roz agreed. “It’s nothing like it was when I was a kid.”
She cast a look around the cute downtown, filled with colorful small businesses, the sidewalk dappled with shadows from palms and oak trees. It was April and cool for Florida, but she could feel summer waiting in the dressing room, trying on bathing suits. It was the end of what most Floridians called The Season, the busy time when snowbirds came to stay, but on both sides of the street, almost every diagonal parking space was full.
This place was thriving thanks to all the people moving in, but how long would it have that sleepy small-town charm she’d grown up with? When she’d gone off to college and later even farther away to work at a Baltimore paper, Comet Cove had been so sleepy it was practically falling into a coma. Then a few famous people found it, and somehow its appeal exploded like a supernova. She was always tripping over celebrities in unexpected places.
And now they were going to see one of them at Big Bang Books.
“So have you read a lot of Enolia Honeywood’s novels?” she asked Alden. “I didn’t think sexy beach thrillers were your kind of thing.”
“Why not? I’m sexy and thrilling, aren’t I?”
She laughed, though he really was. Even if she was freaking out a little bit about being in a relationship after their whirlwind romance, which happened to coincide with reporting on a big story they’d barely survived.
Alden chuckled, too. “Seriously, she’s the best. A master of the craft. Her twists get me every time. I’d love to write half that well.”
“Or make half as much as she does,” Roz said wryly.
“I won’t deny it. But I guess I should write my novel first.”
“I’m a little surprised she’s making this appearance,” she said. “There’s a much bigger bookstore in Vero Beach she could’ve gone to.”
“You’re right. She usually picks big cities for her appearances these days. I think the only reason she’s here is because she just bought a house on the beach on the north side.”
Everything in Comet Cove was northside or southside, depending on which side of the inlet it was on. The inlet was the waterway that cut through the barrier island from the Indian River Lagoon to the Atlantic, making this a popular place for boaters and anglers as well as the glitterati.
They’d almost reached Big Bang Books, where fans of Enolia Honeywood streamed inside. The storefront was on theme, painted with planets, stars and flying books. Big picture windows flanked the blue door, which was spangled with silver stars.
