Bella covers her mouth, her eyes wide.
Shit.Find and replace does not replace typos.
“I was just curious. Is Mickey really Miles Casey, and are you Sorcha?”
Gabby is an excellent mystery writer and clearly an excellent detective as well.
I sigh. “Is it really that obvious?”
Bella is shaking her head, but Gabby says, “Yes.”
Kate pipes up, “I swear I didn’t say anything!”
“I didn’t know,” Bella insists as she pours more wine into her glass. “But I’m also not on social media. Good Lord, Skye! Are you really dating Miles Casey?”
The whole thing comes spilling out. I tell them all about our romance, sparing the spicy details. Why, I’m not sure, since they’ve already read about most of them, all exaggerated, I assure them.
Truly,most of them are shockingly accurate…
Gabby is sitting with her drink to her lips, her expression very thoughtful.
Bella is absolutely thrilled.
I pick up my whiskey and take a sip, focusing on the cool glass under my palm and the caramel notes on my tongue, trying not to guess what they might be thinking. I’ve known these women long enough to know sometimes they all need a minute to process before speaking.
Staring at my glass, the fire dancing behind it as I wait, I end up just staring at my own reflection. It startles me how much I look like my mother in the shiny surface.
Kate clears her throat, pulling me back to the present. “Has Miles read it?”
My stomach churns. I set my wine down, the taste of it heavy on my tongue. Has Miles read it? No. Absolutely not. Hopefully, he never will. But if Bella and Gabby could figure out it was Miles, and Elsie could tell, will it be obvious to everyone? No. They all just know me—well, Elsie doesn’t really. Shit.
“Skye?” Gabby says.
“No. He hasn’t read it. What if I changed his name to Ben?”
Bella is nodding, but Gabby is shaking her head. “You paint such a vivid picture of him. You describe his face, his body. He’s an actor. He was in a teeny bopper football movie. You would need to change more than his name.”
My heart sinks into my slippers. Am I going to have to scrap this whole manuscript? I’ve put so many of my other books to bed. Set them aside after revising going in circles, or a stiff rejection. On to the next shiny new project. But this book is so close to my heart. I can feel the heft of the words on the page. They are like a calming weighted blanket to me. I can’t lock this one away. I can’t.
Bella sits up, sloshing her wine a little on the floor as she does. “Just ask for his permission. I’m sure he will agree. It’ll be grand.”
Kate is nodding. “You said he invited you on location, right?”
I nod.
“A drop-dead sexy man has invited youon location? What are you still doing chatting with us? You can take some pages and talk to himabout it when you aren’t otherwise engaged.” Bella winks in an exaggerated manner.
The timer dings from Gabby’s phone. Always the timekeeper. Gabby and Bella take off first, leaving Kate and me to finish our whiskeys.
“What is stopping you? Why not join Miles on set?”
“What if he changed his mind?”
“He didn’t.”
I roll my glass in my hands, not able to meet her eyes. “What if he breaks my heart?”
Kate gently touches my chin, our eyes meeting. “At least it will be getting some good use.”
