He instinctively wanted to say no. But this was his new community, along with his children’s. They needed to live with these people andtheirchildren. He didn’t want to potentially risk alienating a group called the Wood Briar Sea Witches. Something told him that would not be a very wise move on his part.
“I can definitely check my calendar,” he said, hoping an evasivemaybewould suffice for now.
“We try to meet the third Tuesday of the month,” Mei Lin said eagerly. “We’re free anytime. You could come this month, if you want. I know most of us have read your books.”
So much for that idea. They were determined to pin him down, apparently.
“I’ll have to see. I’m on a book deadline and don’t have a lot of free time.”
She seemed undeterred by his evasiveness. “Great. I’ll reach out. What kind of contact do you prefer? Email, text, carrier pigeon?”
“Email is fine. You can find my email through my website.”
Nina looked suspiciously at him. “We need the personal one, so we can be sure it will reach you. You must have a different one than the contact info on your website.”
“That one will reach me, I promise.”
Mei Lin rolled her eyes. “You seriously can’t read every single letter from readers that shows up in your inbox.”
“I do.”
He didn’t tell her he loved connecting with his readers. He did have the occasional angry reader, annoyed by something he had written or quick to point out a mistake, but he mostly enjoyed them.
Hearing how his words touched someone or made them laugh or motivated them to make a change helped the long hours spent over his keyboard feel not quite so solitary.
“We’ll email you, then. I really hope you can make your schedule fit.”
“I’ll do my best.”
After checking on his kids, who seemed to be having a great time now playing cornhole with several other children their age, he returned to the kitchen. He wasn’t sure what drew him there. He could have easily struck up a conversation with one of the groups of people who gave him friendly greetings.
Still, something about Rosie called to him.
In the kitchen, he found her preparing another tray, this one full of small pinwheel appetizers.
When he walked in, she lifted her head and gave him a bright smile.
“I totally forgot I made these a few weeks ago for the party and stowed them in the freezer. People are probably done eating but there’s no sense leaving them in my freezer. They’ll thaw in only a few minutes.”
“Ah.”
She narrowed her gaze suddenly. “Why are you back here? You should be out meeting people.”
He certainly could not tell Rosie Lucas that he was drawn to her like iron filings to a powerful magnet. “I came to see if you needed help with anything else.”
“Oh. Thank you.”
“And I have met plenty of people. I actually just bumped into a few of your friends out there.”
She looked up from arranging the pinwheels on the plate. “You’ll have to be more specific. For the most part, every person out there is my friend in some capacity.”
“A few of the Wood Briar Sea Witches. Mei Lin and Nina.”
Somehow, she managed to laugh and grimace at the same time. “Don’t tell me. They asked you to come speak to our book group.”
“They did.”
“You don’t have to do that if you don’t want to. Everyone will understand.”
