“Yes, Nora, this onewillbe completed. And if I can get a couple of glitches figured out, it will probably only be three or four weeks. Of course, there will be edits and—”
“Oh, my God, Billy! That is such great news.” Nora had been a great agent for me, leading me through the process of first time publication with tough love, but patience. To now hear what sounded like tears in her voice…it made me feel both joyous and shitty that it had taken five years to get to this point.
Let the rest of the bullshit go.I’d said to Jane Winters. That’s all behind me. It was all…pre-Syd.
I was vaguely paying attention as Nora went on and on about her game plan for the book. I made the necessary noises, but my mind wandered to Syd.
I had thought that Bribury was what I needed to kick-start my writing, at the very least to get out of NYC and the various distractions the city held for me.
But I’d been at Bribury for a semester and had never even come close to typing “Chapter Two.”
It was only after working with Syd, talking with Syd, making love to Syd, that things became…unclogged, and I was able to let my thoughts flow freely on the page.
As if I’d conjured her up, there was a knock on the door and she stuck her head in. Seeing I was on the phone, she started to back out of the semi-open door, but I motioned her in. She waved to me and then proceeded to take off her coat, boots, hat and mittens.
“Okay, Nora, that all sounds good. Hold off on anything concrete, though, okay?” I said, not really having heard all she’d said. Certainly nothing since Syd had taken off her coat and I saw she was wearing those skin-tight, stretchy legging things that all the Bribury girls were wearing. Syd had on a long sweater hiding all the best parts, but I knew very well what I would find underneath that bulky, black wool. And I’d soon be refreshing my memory.
“Okay, sure,” Nora said, drawing my mind back to the conversation. But my eyes stayed on Syd as she took a pile of papers from the credenza and headed over to the couch with her backpack. “But, Billy?” Nora said.
“Yes?”
“How about I have some casual lunches and just let it…slip that you’re close to being done. Just to, you know, get a buzz started. Would that be okay with you?”
“How long can we sustain a buzz?”
“For you? At least six months.”
“I won’t need six months. Unless you read it and think it needs four months of work.”
I could tell she was wondering which way to go. Be prudent and possibly deflate me, or… “There won’t be four months’ worth of work, Billy. I’m sure it will be great.”
Nora wasn’t one of the top literary agents for nothin’.
“Okay, then. Just a casual slip. Don’t let them think we’re shopping yet. And make sure Adina is one of the people who hears the news.”
Adina Saunders had been my editor withFollyand had really smoothed out my first-time edges and helped shape the book. Because of the deal we’d held out for, we didn’thaveto bring it to her first, but I wanted to give her that courtesy. I’d take the best deal for me and forDown in Flames(assuming I was offered any deal), but I wanted to give Adina a chance to match it so we could work together again.
“Got it. As it so happens, I’m having lunch with her next week.”
“Great. Then hold off on any other leaks until you have lunch with her. Let her be the first to hear it.”
“Will do. Are you sure you don’t want me to take a look at what you’ve got so far?”
I swallowed, thinking. It just didn’t feel right. “Nah, I’m good right now. I just want to finish it.”
“Super. Okay, I—Oh, Christ, I almost forgot the reason I called you.”
“What’s that?”
“Well, I don’t think it’s anything to worry about, but we’ve been getting mail again from an overzealous reader. Another Folly Dolly.”
“Kari Aldrich again?” I said, naming my most persistent fan/stalker. I noticed Syd’s head move when I mentioned another woman’s name, but she didn’t look up from her work.
No need, she had nothing to worry about. Crazy fan girls (who got absolutely no attention from me) aside, these days I wasn’t looking at anyone but Syd.
“No, a new one. I just wanted to give you a heads-up. Her name is Sarah Tudreau. The usual kind of letters…‘she feels she knows you’ and ‘she knows you’re her soul mate.’ You know the drill.”
I sighed. “Anything I need to do?”
