“Apology accepted.” She arranged their place settings on the kitchen island while he pulled over two stools. “You’ll be pleased to know that I’ve decided not to write Olivia’s story after all.”
She’d texted Sissie last night, and while the woman was disappointed, she understood. Sissie asked her to send along any other ideas later, but she was going to option another script for this film.
Finn dished up the oatmeal. “You’re giving up?”
“I was prying too much into your family’s business,” she said. “It’s clearly not my story to tell, but I’m still curious about what happened. You want a cup of coffee?”
“Please. With a little milk or cream if you have it.”
The cat sauntered into the room like he’d been summoned. “You’ve met Boss Man?”
He glanced down at the black-and-white cat. “We’ve met, but I can’t say we’re friends.”
“Too much alike?”
“Right,” he said. “Except I prefer milk in my coffee instead of a bowl.”
She held out the mug. “You know cats aren’t really supposed to drink milk, right?”
“Thank you for the coffee and the education.” He drank half the cup. “How did you land a copy ofMoonflower Lake?”
“Betsy Keith found it.”
“She’s a book wizard.”
“The thing is...” Harper said slowly, still processing. “The ending’s all wrong.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“I was hooked by the mystery. The money that had been stolen and the woman—”
“Laurel.”
“Yes, Laurel. She thought she found someone who loved her but then that awful man took advantage of her at every turn. There was nosweet romance at the end. No happy feels. Justice, I suppose, but hardly in Via Belle’s typical style.”
Endings were supposed to tie up the pieces, the best stories leaving the reader or viewer satisfied with their resolution, but there was no real conclusion in Olivia’s last novel.
Or her life, for that matter.
“That book sold at least a million copies around the world.”
“I guess not everyone wants the happily ever after,” she said. “It just seems that something was missing.”
“It’s fiction.”
“I don’t know how it became Olivia’s bestselling novel,” she continued. “It’s like someone else wrote the last chapters.”
“Not everything ties up with a pretty bow.”
“It does in Via Belle’s world.”
He pointed his fork at her plate. “You should eat.”
And so she did, the perfect blend of cream, oats, cinnamon, and butter with the sweetest of berries. “This is incredible!”
“I’m glad you like it,” he said before serving them seconds. “Maybe Via’s world changed before she wrote the book.”
Harper lowered her fork. “What happened to her, Finn?”
