I waited a minute, letting her get a substantial lead on me before walking back to my place. When I got in, I checked my phone, and Jane had sent me a text: “Saw Dani at restaurant with that guy from the cookie exchange holding hands.”
And there it was.
Instead of heading up to the office, I flopped down on the couch and turned on the TV, attempting to drown out the scenes of Fred and Dani together in my head.
…
Dani
“I saw Fred at yoga this morning,” Una said as she draped a garland around the prongs of the dining room chandelier. “He said he had a great time at dinner.”
“It was fun.” I stepped back and assessed my own handiwork. I’d removed all of the regular china and crystal from the hutch and replaced it with Christmas plates, bowls, and champagne flutes I’d found in my parents’ house and the basement here. “We had a nice friendly meal together.”
Una hung a red ball from the sparkly garland she’d just arranged. “Fred said something about it being one of the best nights he’d had in a while.”
“That might be overstating things,” I said. Though maybe not. Fred was a very enthusiastic guy. He’d practically moaned over his pegan-approved salad of basically greens, olive oil, and vinegar. I shut the doors on the hutch and moved over to the bare fir tree we’d set up in front of the bay window.
“Well,” Kelsie said from the far corner of the room where she was fiddling around with her phone and a speaker, “while you were out with Fred, I ran into Matt on the road.”
“You what?” I ran over and shut the dining room door. Jane was in her office, just across the hall, and Matt was upstairs working on his book. We weren’t exactly in private corners right now.
Una looked from me to Kelsie. “What’s going on?”
Kelsie pulled out a dining room chair and sat at the table, so, basically the opposite of helping Una and me decorate. “I was out walking Ralph. He got loose and ran right up to Matt.”
“That bad dog.”
Kelsie held up her hand to stop me. “He’s the goodest boy on the planet.” She looked right at me. “But this isn’t about Ralph. This is about how when I told Matt about you and Fred going out to dinner together, he looked like a sad puppy.” She made a big show of frowning.
To avoid processing the regretful notion that I’d hurt Matt, I plugged in a string of lights to test them. All good.
“What do you have to say about that, Mom?”
Una dragged the box of garland over to the tree. “Why would she have anything to say? She doesn’t like Matt.”
Kelsie raised her eyebrows. “Mom?”
Una brought a hand to her mouth. “She does like Matt?”
“Welcome to the party, Auntie Una.”
I moved around to the back of the tree to hide my blush. “I don’t like Matt,” I said. “I mean, he’s nice and a good boss and everything, and maybe if circumstances were different, and he weren’t moving back to Indiana right after the first of the year—”
“Mom, you basically just admitted that you’re into him.”
Sometimes I truly missed the days when my daughter didn’t think she was smarter than me. So, like, when she was one. Before she could talk.
“He told me he cares for you,” Kelsie said.
“Dani,” Una said, eyes wide.
Kelsie was prone to exaggeration, and this was no doubt one of those times. Heck, just yesterday she’d been swanning around the house joking about Fred becoming her new stepfather. Matt and I had talked about our situation. We both knew the score. He was leaving, and I was just starting to embark on my new journey as a single person.
“Kelsie, this is much more complicated than boy likes girl,” I said. “Matt’s not available, not really. And I was in a marriage for twenty years. I’m still trying to figure out who I am on my own.”
“She has a point, Kelsie,” Una said. “I always tell my clients to take as much time as they need when it comes to wading into new waters.”
“She’s being chicken,” Kelsie said. “That’s what it is. A hot, famous author likes her, and she’s scared.”
“Kelsie,” warned Una.
“It’s fine,” I said. “Kelsie sees things in black and white, which is not her fault.” I looked at my daughter. “It’s your age, hon. You think all you have to do is be honest about how you feel and everything will work out. That’s not how life works. There are other considerations.” Matt and I had been honest with each other from the beginning. We both knew the score. No matter how much we enjoyed each other’s company, we’d be saying good-bye when it was time for him to move out of Wackernagel and back to Indianapolis.
“What about Dad?” she asked.
I laughed. “What about Dad?”
“What if you two had been honest with each other when it counted?”
“Your dad and I had other problems beyond communication.”
“But that’s where it starts is all I’m saying.” Kelsie got up and wrapped her arms around me. “I just don’t want you to have any regrets. Matt’s a catch, Mom. And from what I can tell, he’s into you.”
I squeezed her back. “Thank you for looking out for me, but I’m fine. Really.”
…
Matt
December 20th, day of deadline
I…was…done!
I pressed save on the document and folded my hands behind my head. Staring at the computer screen, I focused on the little number in the bottom left hand corner: 143,256.
The Bastyan Saga was complete.
Or, well, the first draft of it was, anyway. There’d be plenty of high-level edits in my future, and then line edits, and copy edits. But I’d dwell on all of that later. For now, I had a complete manuscript—one that I was proud of, no less—to send to the show people and my editor.
It was Jane’s idea to write individual emails to the showrunners, to take the opportunity to write a further note of apology and appreciation to go along with the completed story. I had apologized after the Comic Con incident, but it couldn’t hurt to reiterate my regret for what happened.
I started with Dave.
Yeesh, I hated sending emails. Writing books was hard, but composing an email that struck just the right tone was damn near impossible.
“Hi, Dave,” I started. “Long time, no talk.” I erased that immediately. Thinly veiled snark was certainly not the right way to go about this. “I hope you’re doing well, and I’m looking forward to seeing you at the premiere party.” I scratched the back of my neck. Was I developing hives? Probably.