“Yes, please.” She snatches it up. “I’m not going to make it through this wedding unless I’m staggering drunk.” She takes a big gulp. “Mmm... yummy.”
Lydia returns shortly with another drink. “So, Lettie, how are you taking the news about your guy Liam?”
My chest tightens. Did something bad happen to Liam? Was there an accident on the hike?
“What news?” I ask. The liquid in my drink trembles as I try to keep my hands from shaking.
“The scandal,” Lydia begins. I breathe a sigh of relief and take a sip. Liam’s fine. Of course, he’s fine. I have an overactive imagination. “On BookTok,” she continues. “They say he’s the inspiration for the villain in this hot new book.”
I spit out my drink. Several drops hit Caroline’s creamy sweater. “Oh, Caroline! I’m so sorry!”
“What’s this about Liam?” Caroline asks, waving me off.
“It’s this book,” Lydia pulls out her Kindle app on her phone and shows us the cover of my book. I feel sick to my stomach.
I put on my most haughty tone; Dr. Debourgh couldn’t attack this book more than I am about to.
“Isn’t that fiction? It’s just a silly romance?”
“No! I’ve read it!” One of Jane’s college friends chimes in. “This book has layers. It’s empowering. She dates this guy, and he he’s so hot and has an avocado empire. But he’s no good for her, and she finally sees through him.”
“Wait for this... ” Lydia says with glee. “This dude has crooked teeth. Who does that remind us of?”
“Lots of guys have crooked teeth,” I say and take a gulp of my drink—I need it.
“How many multi-millionaires?” Lydia persists.
“Darcy is definitely a billionaire,” Caroline says matter-of-factly. “Not only does he own Pemberley Almonds, but his mom comes from old-money.” At one time, this little tidbit and the fact that Caroline knows so much about the Darcy family finances would have interested me, but not right now. I’m in shock. I had no idea anyone had linked my book to Liam. I spent the last few days in a revision trance.And I don’t have an agent or anyone keeping tabs on how my books are being talked about on social media.
“But I don’t see how this fictional character is Liam.” I maintain.
“In addition to being hot, he rowed in college,” says Lydia.
My chest is so tight with anxiety, I can hardly breathe. I can’t believe this is happening. Yes, I made Liam the villain in my book. But to be fair, self-published books rarely make it into the news. I never expected my book to do so well. My first two books did okay, kind of. But they didn’t sell so much that I saw any harm in casting Liam as the villain. I had a whole lot of messy feelings that I needed to get out of my system when I revised my villain to be a little more Liam-like. Plus, I’ve never met a man who belonged in a romance novel more. He’s effortlessly handsome, rich, with a semi-tragic backstory.
Once we started emailing, I became increasingly uncomfortable with all the ways Ivan Pennington of my book is similar to Liam. I knew I had to revise. But I was so busy writing my next book and, yes, emailing Liam that I kept putting it off. But I knew it had to be done before I saw him again. I began yesterday afternoon and worked all night. I basically undid my revenge revision. I turned Ivan Pennington back into your generic villain. He is no longer an avocado farmer. He never rowed in college. I straightened his teeth. I finished my edits early this morning and submitted them to Amazon. The changes should go live within 72 hours. I did this so my conscience would be clear when I saw him again. I know that I might lose sales because of the changes, but I don’t care. I never expected this—that someone would link my book to Liam. I don’t know what I’m going to do. All day, I’ve been counting down the minutes until I see him and suddenly, I’m not quite so eager.
***
Apparently, staining her mohair sweater with winewas not enough to scare Caroline away. Say what you want about the girl, but she’s persistent. She’s also a little cheerier after one more mug of mulled wine. Still, she’s clingy. She stays by my side all through our trip to the spa. Although it’s a gorgeous spa, I can’t fully relax. My overactive imagination is thinking of all the ways Liam could be injured and, of course, about the stupid book. I breathe a sigh of relief when I get a string of texts from him around sunset.
Liam
Hey, just finished the hike
We’re stopping at a steakhouse before heading your way
Can’t wait to see you!
Lettie
Same! Drive safe!
I leave my phone with my towel. Now, I can fully enjoy sitting in the hot tub and watching the steam rise from the water as fluffy flakes spiral down from the darkening sky. Jane shivers even though she’s sitting in the large granite hot tub.
“Everything okay,” I ask.
“Oh! I’m being silly,” she says. “I’m worried about Charlie. This hike they were doing sounded dangerous.”
