He heard noise in the house. He looked up. The sky was bright enough to see by now. Joyce must have arrived. She wouldn’t interrupt him, though.
He stared at the page, trying to decide if he was done or not. No, not quite. He added a few final thoughts.
Whatever happens today, I hope it’s good. I hope everyone enjoys themselves, and we have a safe, fun time. I hope letting Willa share pictures online isn’t a bad decision. I hope if Kyle sees them, it spurs him to get in touch with me. To understand that life goes on and we’re all the family we have left.
But most of all, I hope that if Jeanie’s looking down on us, that she knows how loved and missed she is.
He read the last line again, then set the pen aside and closed the journal. She was so missed. Not a day went by that he didn’t ache to have her at his side again.
After a moment, he picked up his things, coffee cup included, and went back inside. “Morning, Joyce.”
She looked over and smiled. “Morning. Big day today, hmm?”
“Yes. Did you change your mind about coming?”
“Oh, no. I have a whole list of things to get done. Starting with your breakfast. What would you like?”
“Something easy.” He refilled his coffee cup.
“Scrambled eggs and toast? There’s a couple sausage links left, I think.” She moved past him and opened the fridge. “Yes, two links. How’s that?”
“Perfect. I think I’ll do a little work until it’s ready.”
“Won’t take long.”
“All right. I’ll probably head to the boat after that. I want to be there ahead of time and make sure everything’s ready to go.”
“I’ll get the coolers packed as soon as I’m done here.”
“Thank you.” He went into his office and sat at his desk, tucking the journal away in the top drawer. He fired up his laptop and went straight to email.
The list of new emails was staggering. Some fan mail that had been forwarded by the team that handled that. Select emails were sent on to him, if the team thought it was something he should see. There were also two interview requests, some random junk mail that he sent to spam, and a note from his agent, Lucinda.
He opened that one first.
Good morning, Mitch!
Hope this finds you well. I have fantastic news. We’ve had a serious offer from an A-List producer in regards to an older story of yours,The Light Within. He’s talking big-budget movie and has dropped the names of Sullivan Tripp and Julia Montrose to star. I’ve already made it clear that you’d need a percentage of the gross and would require creative consultancy. It’s a big ask but your star shines bright. Let me know what you think, and I’ll get the preliminary deal over to you asap. Very exciting. Netflix has made you a hot property. The way they’re talking, this could potentially be a new franchise.
Best,
Lucinda
He reread the email to be sure he’d understood it.The Light Withinwas an old book. One most people had forgotten, if they’d even read it. Despite the low readership, it was a story he’d always been proud of. It was a sci-fi take on choices and consequences with a lot of beautiful imagery and layeredmeaning. He could see it as a movie, but it would take some fleshing out. Of course, movies did that very well.
A couple of dramatic sequences set to the perfect cinematic score and there was an extra twenty minutes.
Lucinda was right, too. He’d want a good deal, that was a given. He wasn’t going to be greedy, he had more than enough money, but the ability to have some creative control would be wonderful.
Or would it?
He’d have to be on the set for some of that, he imagined. Did he really want to live that life? To leave his safe haven and venture out into the world of…people?
His lip curled, an unbidden reaction to the very idea. But this was all talk right now. Maybe the deal was a stinker. Maybe Lucinda was just doing her best to be optimistic. He’d know when he read the fine print.
The two stars she’d mentioned, Sullivan Tripp and Julia Montrose, didn’t mean a lot to him, the names only vaguely familiar. Times like this Kyle would have been handy. No doubt he’d know.
Or Harper. She’d know.
