The author and her heroine seemed to have become intertwined on the page, and not in a good way. Georgia only sprang off the page when she harked back to the love of her life.
‘I was a fool to try to change you,’ Georgia said. She tossed her hair and her copper curls bounced around her face. She tried to disguise the pain and longing in her eyes, at seeing the only man she’d ever truly loved again.It was a moment she’d replayed in her head many times over. She often felt she couldn’t live without him.
He reached out for her hand. ‘I can offer you my mind but never my heart,’ he said.
Every molecule of Georgia’s body cried out for him to kiss her. ‘Please,’ she said. ‘If we try hard enough, I know we can make it work…’
Liv heaved a sigh at the melodrama. She usually loved the old-school feel of Essie’s books, but the author seemed to be going through the motions with this one. Readers everywhere, like her mum and herself, deserved more for Georgia’s final adventure and the end of the series.
Essie might claim to base her characters on people in her life, but Liv couldn’t imagine Anthony as inspiration for a dashing hero. He seemed more the steady, studious type. So, who had provided the inspiration for Georgia’s nameless and faceless love?
Liv mused upon the heroes in Essie’s novels and made a list of them in her notebook.There were several contenders for Georgia’s greatest love that appeared throughout the series.So, why didn’t Essie name him in Book Twenty?
The author appeared to have the same quandary. She’d written in a margin.
Who is the love of Georgia’s life?
What does she do next?
How should her story end?
Liv usually turned the last page of Essie’s books feeling full of glee. Today she crashed back in her chair, frustrated and confused. She’d almost filled her notebook with observations and comments,and her mouth twisted. Who was she to question Essie’s work?
Perhaps she’d got it wrong. After all, she’d felt emotionally rocky since Essie’s death. But when Liv read through all her notes, the evidence was clear. As well as the missing ending, the entire manuscript needed reshaping.
As she dolefully stacked the pages back together, she caught sight of a doodle of a small blue heart on the back of a page. Essie had written next to it…
I wish I could be more like Georgia again.
Liv pressed her hand to her chest. The nine words packed more emotion and longing than anything she’d read in the manuscript. They sounded heartfelt and so unlike the thorny version of Essie she knew. Georgia Rory had lost her way, and Liv pictured Essie reading her own manuscript while swigging gin. What, or who, had been on her mind? And how could Liv conjure up a happy ending for Georgia, when Essie appeared to have given up on her heroine, and her own life?
Stretching her legs and taking a break, Liv meandered into the award room and looked to the photographs on the shelves for inspiration for Georgia’s hero. She thought how Essie’s two ex-husbands were like chalk and cheese.
Ted Mason was a behemoth in the publishing world, the CEO of Lioncorp, a top global publishing house. He looked like a distinguished grandfather, with his flock of paper-white hair and a custom-tailored suit. Liv supposed there were many raised eyebrows when the divorced father of three walked down the aisle with Essie, his young protégée.
Hank Milligan was much younger with smouldering good looks, a slick smile, and tanned pecs beneath his denim shirt. He wore chunky gold chains around his neck and wrists. Known as the bad boy of crime fiction for his serial killer novels, he didn’t seem like the perfect match for Essie either.
Liv also examined any men standing next to Essie in her photos, looking for a sparkle in their eyes, a knowing smile or a hand around her waist.
She noted how Anthony didn’t appear in any of the shots. If the solicitor had been close to Essie, Liv wondered why he was absent.
She picked up a photo of Hank and swept away a speck of dust off the glass with her finger. The glass shifted, moving the photo with it. It revealed another shot underneath. Wondering what it was, Liv unfastened the clips and opened the back of the frame.
The hidden photo was of a handsome blond man with longish hair and a beard. His arm was wrapped protectively around Essie’s shoulder. Tattoos peeked out from the cuffs of his shirt like blue lace. There was a large rose inked on the back of his hand. With his Viking-like looks, Liv could imagine Essie falling into his arms, and she questioned why he’d been relegated to the back of the photo frame.
She wondered if any of these men sent the big bouquets of white roses to Essie.
Finally, her eyes settled on her favourite photo of Essie at the Constellation ceremony. The author’s tangerine lips beamed as she held her crystal star aloft. She looked so vivid, strong and alive.
Liv again wondered what went so wrong after that night. Did any of Essie’s men know why she disappeared?
She sighed as she imagined herself wearing a fancy silk dress, too. She and Jake hadn’t been to a wedding reception or proper party for years. Paperpress hosted its annual staff awards to recognize the contribution of its small team of employees. She got to dress up a little and style her hair for a night, but it wasn’t as glamorous as the events Essie used to attend. Liv couldn’t help feeling a touch envious.
When she’d met Jake for the first time, twenty-three years ago, she had been wet and bedraggled. Rain bounced off the pavements on the dark gloomy evening.
The Picturehouse was a local family-run cinema.84 Charing Cross Roadwas a film Liv wanted to see, about an American lady heading to London to visit a bookshop specializing in out-of-print books.
The cinema was quiet, and she meandered around the foyer looking at the film posters alongside one other person, a man with curly hair. They approached the popcorn stand at the same time and there was only enough left for one person.
