“Can they take it back?”
“Not unless you do something remarkably stupid… plagiarism or something.” Emily scoffed at the thought. “I know you wrote this, though.”
“I did.” Toni tossed a pillow back onto the sofa. Oscar Wilde knocked them down almost every day. “What if I can’t write another book? What if—”
“Can we pause to be happy?” Emily sounded gentle.
Toni closed her eyes, gripping another throw pillow and clutching it to her chest. “Right. Yes… this is fine, right? It’s all fine.” Panic rose up.
I’ll screw this up.
“It’sgood,Toni. It’s really, really good.” Emily spoke in that soft tone that eased the panic of most wild things.
And for a weird flicker of a moment, Toni wished there were someone in her life to tell. The only two people she could tell were her best friend, who was on the phone, and her cat. All told, hers was a pretty lonely life.
Chapter 7Addie
Addie was staring at her inbox, scrolling through spam and other email that might as well have been spam when Eric popped his head in to her room. “Anything?”
And Addie pretended to misunderstand. “There’s an audiobook one that could be something.”
“Adelaine.” Eric tried to sound paternal, but mostly his version of paternal sounded like the dad who was about to deliver a dad joke.
“No. Toni didn’t reply.…” Addie closed her laptop. “I’m crushing on her, and she isn’t even trying!”
“She might be. Maybe she looked but is afraid to follow you. Maybe she doesn’t have an account so how would she follow you? You said she wasn’t on social media.” Eric came in and pulled her into a hug. “Come on. I’ll run lines with you.”
Addie grabbed the script. “Better than moping.”
By the next day, Addie still had had no contact from Toni. She drafted an email or three, decided that she probably shouldn’t send them every time.
She never even told me her full name. Her email didn’t include her name either.
The ball was entirely in Toni’s court, and Addie hated how powerless it made her feel. She was obsessing over Toni, who had returned to her perfect, orderly life, probably not even thinking about their interlude in the garden.
If it’s meant to be…
But for all that Addie believed in trusting the universe, she was not sure blind trust was enough this time. She set up search alerts for a series of keywords. If the universe didn’t deliver, Addie would find a conference and register.
Task complete, she closed her laptop, gathered the script, and slipped into character. She was going to get the role inMinaand be amazing. That she could… not necessarily control but definitely influence.
From:History Toni
To:Addie
I flew back to my home in the States. I’m sorry if I made you panic. It was a rough night, and meeting you was a high point. Did your play work out?
Toni
From:Adelaine
To:History Toni
I think I have the role. I’m exhausted, but hopeful.
Addie
From:History Toni
