The party was winding down by the time they left. Benjie was passed out in the front seat of the car and slept all the way back to New York, and Phillip and Hailey and Jane sat in the back seat, talking about how much fun it had been. Merriwether and Bob had done a beautiful job putting it together, and the party had been just what everybody had needed. Bob had spared no expense to cheer up his staff.
The only mishap of the evening had been Allie and Benjie’s little escapade in the hammock, and Hailey hoped Jane would never find out.
They dropped Jane and Benjie off first when they got back to the city, and the doorman helped Jane get Benjie inside. Then Phillip took Hailey home, and smiled at her as they walked up the stairs to her apartment together.
“I think we started a new chapter tonight,” he said to her, then stopped her on the stairs and kissed her again. “I just wanted you to know that I meant it, and that wasn’t an accident on the dance floor. I didn’t get carried away by the party, or the margaritas.” He smiled at her as they walked the rest of the way to her apartment, and he kissed her again. She had finished his book and had given him notes on it that he was very pleased with, and he was waiting to hear from his editor. She was taking longer than usual. Hailey unlocked the door and he watched her go in with a longing look. They had opened a door that night, and inevitably there would be more to follow, at a later date when her children weren’t around. It was something to look forward to.
He looked back up at her window before he got back in the car, and she was standing there, watching him. She waved, he smiled and waved, got back in the car, and he was still smiling when he got home.
Chapter 10
Hailey had just dropped Will off for a playdate on Saturday. She had taken Bentley and Arianna with her. She stopped to buy groceries on the way back, and they each helped her by carrying a bag upstairs. She was about to unpack them, when Phillip called her and he sounded strange.
“Are you okay?” she asked him, and his answer surprised her. He had a tremor in his voice. He sounded deeply shaken.
“No, I’m not. Hannah’s daughter just called me from New Orleans. Her mother has been visiting her there for two weeks. Hannah was in the hospital and never told me. She’s had leukemia for a year, and didn’t want anyone to know. She was feeling worse so she went to be with her daughter, who’s a nurse. Hannah passed away last night. She’s been working more slowly lately, but I had no idea she was sick.” He sounded as if he was in shock. She’d been his editor for his entire career, and he always said she was like a mother to him. It was an immeasurable loss to him. “She was eighty-six years old, but she was so vital and energetic. I could just never imagine her dying.” Hailey could hear that he was crying, and she felt terrible for him. It was a double loss for him. He had lost his creative mentor and his dearest friend. And Hailey knew that editors were all-important to writers, especially great ones like Hannah. She had been the last of a dying breed. You never heard about great editors anymore. Now they were mostly young people with entry-level jobs, who knew little about the editing process and were more interested in the advance they paid an author than the quality of the work.
“Oh, Phillip, I’m so sorry. Do you want to come over?”
“I don’t know. I think I need to be alone for a little while to absorb this. Hannah wasn’t religious, and she left instructions that she didn’t want a service. There won’t even be a funeral. Her daughter is going to scatter her ashes. She’s going to take them to Venice when she has time. It was Hannah’s favorite place.” He sounded devastated.
Hailey called to check on him an hour later, and he didn’t answer the phone. He called her back that afternoon, after Hailey had dropped Arianna off at a friend’s. Bentley was catching up on homework in his room, and Hailey had time to talk. She tried to console Phillip, but she knew how hard this was for him. He felt like the bottom had fallen out of his world.
“I don’t even know if I can write without her. She helped me organize my ideas for every book. We talked them through for months before I’d start. The only other person I’ve ever shown my early drafts to is you.”
“It’s going to take time,” she tried to reassure him. “But eventually you’ll find someone you can work with. Maybe not in exactly the same way but, Phillip, the talent here is you. It’s within you. She didn’t write the books, you did.” She wanted to remind Phillip of that.
“It won’t be the same without her,” he said.
“No, it won’t, but you’ll remember everything she said to you and taught you, and working without her may open up a new dimension to your work.” Hailey knew how important the relationship with a long-term, creative editor was for any writer. She had total confidence that his work wouldn’t suffer, but she couldn’t convince him of it yet.
“I just can’t believe she’s gone.” His reaction reminded her of how she felt when her husband died, leaving her with two young children and a baby. He was only forty-three and it seemed completely unreal to her, but Hannah was exactly twice his age. Phillip had been in denial about the fact that she would die someday. That may have been why Hannah didn’t tell him she was sick. Or maybe she didn’t want to face it either.
“Bentley’s doing homework in his room, and the others are at friends’. Do you want to come over for a cup of tea or a glass of wine, or just sit and talk for a while?”
“Yes, I do,” he said, sounding lost.
He came half an hour later, and he looked stressed and pale. Bentley came out of his room to get something to eat, said hi to Phillip as though seeing him there was a regular occurrence, grabbed some cookies and an apple from the kitchen, and went back to his room. Hailey liked the fact that her children were getting used to Phillip, and liked him. It would have been hard to deal with if they didn’t. But he had been very nice to them.
Phillip talked about Hannah for a while longer and reminisced about some of the books they’d worked on. Hailey invited him to stay for dinner, but he said he needed some time alone to think, and mourn her. He kissed Hailey when they got to the front door, and he smiled.
“You’re the bright ray of sunshine in my life,” he said. “You’re going to be busy now with Francine leaving, and your big promotion.”
“I’ll always have time for you, Phillip,” she said. “I’m honored that you let me read your work.” He nodded, and after kissing her again, he hurried down the stairs. She’d brought some work home that weekend. She was trying to get up to speed on Francine’s files. That was going to be a big change in her life too, being head of the literary department now.
She had a text from Allie that afternoon. “Sorry I was such a mess last night.” It reminded her of finding Allie with Benjie in the hammock. She just hoped again that Jane never found out. It had been a disturbing scene and a foolish thing to do. If Jane had come looking for them, she would have seen it too. He wasn’t the love of Jane’s life, but he was the man she had been dating fairly steadily since she had come to New York, and she thought he was faithful to her. Jane was a very direct, honest, clean-cut person. She didn’t have Allie’s more casual views about sex, and she had had enough upheaval over Dan Fletcher. The last thing she needed was trouble with Benjie now. And Allie was clearly distraught over the breakup with Eric.