Jessa’s eyes widened as Rainy approached.
“Good cosplay,” Jessa said as she wiped her face with a wad of tissues.
“It’s not a costume,” Rainy said. “This is how I dress.”
“You dress just like Rainy March?”
“IamRainy March.”
Jessa turned to her, took a step back, and nearly tripped, but Rainy caught her by the arm and righted her.
“Finish the story,” Rainy said. The words came out a little harsher than she’d intended, so she quickly added, “Please?”
Jessa looked at Rainy’s hand on her arm, then her face. She pulled away, her mouth open.
“Itisyou. How?”
Rainy grimaced. “Can we skip all the explaining? It’s magic. The end.”
“At least tell me why you’re here before I pass out.”
“Maxine sent me. She wants you to finish the book.The March Hare Mystery.And don’t pass out. I need you to get me back to Duke.”
“You know about the book?”
“Know it? I lived it. And I’d like to know the ending, but I won’t until you write it.”
“I…can’t.”
“Can’t? Or won’t?”
“Both?” Jessa offered, wincing.
“Not good enough. Get to writing, please. Maybe I have some paper on me.” Rainy dug around in her pockets. “No paper. Darn. You have a phone. Start writing on your phone.”
“That’s not how it works,” Jessa said.
“Writing doesn’t work by…writing?”
“Okay, fine, it does,” Jessa admitted. “But you don’t understand. I loved your books. I loved Maxine. I’ve been reading them since I was fifteen years old. I’ve read every story at least three times.”
“Great. You sound supremely qualified to finish the book.”
Jessa shook her head, turned her gaze back to the ocean. “I think I’m hallucinating, but I’m going to go with it for the time being.”
Rainy nodded. “That’s the spirit. Now tell me why you can’t finish my book.”
“When I was fifteen, sixteen…I wanted to be you. When I was eighteen, nineteen, twenty…I wanted to be Maxine.”
“You wanted to be a writer.”
“No, I wanted to be Maxine Blake. I wanted to be the author ofyourbooks.”
“Now’s your chance. Really, Jessa, I’m not seeing the problem here.”
“I can’t,” she said again. “Don’t you get it? Maxine is my hero, my idol. How could I begin to fill shoes that big?”
“Oh, please, she wore a size seven. Your feet are at least nines.”
