“She makes a big meal so she can freeze the leftovers in portions for two, not so our sons can eat.” Mike snorted. “You can afford to buy your own lasagna.”
That was one of the problems with one’s father being one’s accountant—he always knew how much money you had. But Mike had been Uncle Joe’s financial guy since Danny was a kid, and having somebody who knew how publishing accounting worked was more important than keeping his dad’s nose out of his business.
“Nobody makes it like Mom, though.”
“Did I hear my name?” Lisa walked into the living room, and Danny met her halfway to give her a kiss on the cheek. “I was just getting ready to serve, so your timing is perfect.”
Danny got their drinks while his mom put slabs of lasagna on three plates. It had been a while since he had it, so he was halfway through his meal before he remembered why he was there.
“I actually stopped by because I’m heading back up to the campground for a while, and I wanted to see you. And also ask you to check in on the place like once a week or so.”
His mother’s eyebrow arched. “Once a week or so? How long are you going to be gone?”
“I don’t know. Maybe until May? June? I’m not really sure.”
“Why is that?” his dad asked.
Danny’s mind blanked. Considering telling stories was his entire life, he probably should have taken the time to check for plot holes in this one before he told it.
“I, uh, might set my next book up there,” he said. Since he hadn’t even thought about his next book yet, it wasn’ttotallya lie. It could happen. “It’ll give me a chance to immerse myself in the setting.”
Lisa laughed, shaking her head. “You are such a bad liar. I think out of all four boys, you’re the worst at it, which is hilarious considering you’re a fiction writer.”
He would have been offended if she wasn’t right.
“We’re just messing with you, son,” his dad said. “We know you’re going to cover for Brian because Siobhan’s expecting.”
Danny held up his hands. “One, that’s not funny. And, two, who told you?”
Lisa scoffed. “Brian and Siobhan told us. By the time they got through the people they had to tell in order to make it work, you, Rob and Joey knew, which just left us out of the loop and that didn’t feel right to them.”
“They also know you’re a bad liar,” his dad added. “And they wanted us to hear it from them, not accidentally from you.”
He chuckled. “I’m just glad you know because I never would have heard the end of it if I let it slip.”
“You’re okay with going up there?” Mike asked, getting up to refill their water glasses. “When you agreed to go in with them, it was with the understanding you’d be a silent partner and mostly left out of it. Would you have gone through with it if you’d known Joey and Brian would both find wives and have babies so soon?”
“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “But to be fair, I don’t thinktheywould have gone through with it if they’d known. But this is where we are, and Brian needs to be with Siobhan right now.”
“I just feel so bad,” Lisa said. “You struggled so hard finishing your book, and now this.”
“I’ll have to go through the editing process on the one I turned in, but this is the phase for the next one when I spend a lot of time thinking about the story while doing mindless work. It won’t mess up my schedule too much.”
“We’ll check on your place while you’re away,” his dad said. “Anything we can do to make it easier.”
Later that night, while sorting through his office and making a list of what he’d need to take with him, he caught himself looking at the time every few minutes.
About ten minutes after eight o’clock, he grabbed his phone and pulled up his text message thread with Kenzie so he could send her a new message.
Hey, so sometime in the next few days, I’ll be heading back to stay at the campground for a while.
He must have gotten the timing right—after closing but before she started driving—because the response came back immediately.
Uh-oh.
He hadn’t expected that. Luckily, a follow-up message came through before he had to think of a response.
Did your editor send a lot of notes?
