Now a Major Motion Picture (13 page)

She was looking forward to the tour. She loved meeting fans of her books, and signings weren’t nearly as panic-inducing as rooms filled with reporters. But after the tour, she’d be doing something she
hadn’t
done before: visiting the set of a movie based on
her
book.

Right now the production company was in the casting phase. A thrill of expectation shot through her as she thought about meeting in person the actors she’d so far seen only in emailed photos. Most of the minor players had been cast, along with the female lead. The male lead had yet to be picked, and that was the role she was most nervous about. Whoever he was, he had big shoes to fill…in her eyes at least. Her head swam at the idea that soon she’d see flesh-and-blood versions of the characters who’d once existed only in her imagination. She closed her eyes, her head filled with images of the story that was still developing in her head. She was asleep within minutes.

It felt like no time had passed when an insistent tapping noise broke into her dreams, rousing her into consciousness. She glanced, bleary-eyed, at the digital clock across the room on the bedside table. 2:30 p.m.

Hmm, that’s weird. Nina’s not supposed to be here till five
. She got to her feet, rubbing the back of her neck, and trudged to the door. She glanced out the keyhole, and then her hands flew up to fumble with the locks. She flung the door wide, her mouth hanging open in shock.

“Reese!” she shrieked. “What on earth…what are you
doing
here?”

Reese threw her arms around Amelia, and they both jumped up and down, squealing like they had when they were high school seniors and Reese had managed to score Coldplay tickets.

“I moved some things around.” She grinned, a sly edge to her voice. “I wanted to surprise you. I figured you were probably going nuts by now.” She gestured toward the expansive, tinted windows overlooking Midtown.

“Ohmigosh—you don’t even know. I feel like I’m in an alternate universe. Seeing you is the first normal thing that’s happened to me in days. I feel like two different people—me, then this sort of weird half-me that somehow wrote these books—”

Reese smirked. “Well, at least success hasn’t changed you. Still modest as ever. Guess what, honey? You’re awesome, and now everybody knows it.” Her eyes shined. “Speaking of, I saw you on the
TODAY
show this morning before I left. Totally surreal. But you rocked it.”

“Thanks,” Amelia said, walking backward and perching on the arm of a chair.

She remembered her almost freak-out moment and shuddered.

“Are you sure I did okay? I never know for sure. I…you know, it’s so hard to judge myself. I always feel like an idiot when the camera’s in my face.” She paused, her cheeks pink. “But Nina said it was good.”

Reese laughed.

“Chill out, babe. You did great.” She shook her head. “You really do need me here.”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

Reese moved out of the entry and flopped onto the loveseat. Amelia glanced past her toward the door.

“Where’s your stuff?”

“Oh, I’ve already checked in. My room’s one floor down.”

“How long do you get to stay?”

“I’m here as long as you’re here. We’re on the same flight home. Good thing Nina can keep a secret. I couldn’t be here without her.”

Amelia squealed again. “Yeah, Nina rocks.” She’d have to remember to thank her for this—Nina had totally gone above and beyond.

“How’s everybody doing? How’s David?”

“Oh, same old.” Reese crinkled her nose. “Ready for this production to be over with. So am I, for that matter.”

Amelia shot her a sympathetic look. Reese’s mother had been driving her nuts with wedding plans. Reese was pretty laid-back about the whole thing, but her mom, who’d just retired from her thirty-year elementary school teaching career, was treating the wedding like her new full-time job.

Amelia’s eyes traveled down to the ring on Reese’s left hand. The princess-cut diamond twinkled even in the diffused light of the suite. She looked away, feeling the twinge in her stomach that came anytime something triggered the memory of her own engagement ring, still in her possession, buried in the box in the top corner of her office closet.

She shook off the memory as Reese, quietly appraising her, asked what was on the agenda.

“Well, I’ve got a reading tonight at the ginormous bookstore at Union Square. That’ll be insane. Then there’s this dinner with some people from the publishing house.”

“Just another day at the office.” Reese smiled at her.

“Thank God you’re here,” Amelia said. “Now it might actually be fun.”

* * *

Later that night, Amelia pushed through the wood-framed front door of Union Square Cafe feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Out on the sidewalk, she glanced up past the towering buildings to the night sky, which was lit with a bluish-orange glow. Her stomach was filled to bursting with the banana tart she couldn’t stop herself from ordering at the last minute, and she was still buzzing from three glasses of wine. Feeling more content than she had in days, she exchanged hugs with Nina and with Lynn, her editor, and handshakes with the couple of other colleagues who’d joined them at the restaurant. It had been a good night, made even better by the fact that Nina had extended the invite to Reese.

“What’d you think?”

Reese huffed. “Of what, the signing? It was nuts. Are they always like that?”

Amelia gave her a puzzled look. “Like what?”

“Like what? Like, five million people, that’s what. Like
five million
people all holding books for you to sign. I can’t believe you don’t have carpal tunnel syndrome by now.”

Amelia chuckled. “No, that’s…kind of new. It’s gotten crazier with every book.”

“I’ll say. That’s, like, understatement of the year. I mean, there were people holding signs.” She stopped and gave Amelia a solemn stare. “Signs, Mel. And those ones in the T-shirts! Seriously, I don’t know how you’re still sane. I’d probably have to show up drunk just to make it through.”

Amelia giggled at the thought of sitting through a reading hammered. Leave it to Reese to put that image in her head.

“Okay, so I’m glad it’s not just me. You have no idea how much having you here makes this stuff feel more real. I mean, it’s not real. It’s…nuts, like you said. But you know what I mean. To have you see how crazy it is. It kind of makes me feel less like I’m
going
crazy.”

“I’m here for you, babe,” Reese said. “That’s not all I’m here for though, I’ve got to admit. What’s the plan?”

“Oh.” Amelia took a step back, wobbling a little on her platform wedge sandals, and pursed her lips. She’d been so focused on getting through the day that she hadn’t thought at all about tonight. “Well…I don’t know. I’ve got another full slate tomorrow, but, I mean, it’d be great to go out.”

Reese peered at her, incredulous. “You haven’t done anything fun at all since you got here, have you? Oh man, you needed me even worse than I thought.”

Amelia rolled her eyes. “I haven’t exactly had loads of free time, you know? You could cut me some slack. What do you want to do?”

“I’m up for anything—you know me.” Reese raised both hands in an exaggerated shrug. “Night out in New York? Yes, please!”

“Okay, then. Night out it is.”

She pulled out her phone to text Nina, whose cab had long since disappeared from view. If anybody knew where the city’s hotspots were, it was her.

* * *

Nina didn’t disappoint.

She called and gave Amelia a short list of chic bars and clubs—along with a halfhearted plea that she remember her morning commitments. But Amelia could tell she was happy that Reese was there and that she was getting a chance to loosen up and have some fun. Nina made no secret of the fact she thought Amelia should have more fun.

Assessing their professional-looking outfits and deciding they had to change, she and Reese hailed a cab back to the hotel. Once in jeans and stilettos, they headed for a bar in SoHo. It wasn’t the hottest spot on Nina’s list—not a Page Six kind of place—but that’s exactly why Amelia had chosen it. She wanted to keep the night low-key.

They were there within the hour.

When they got inside, the place was packed. They hung around the doors for a few minutes to survey the scene and then slid their way through the crowd, staking their claim on a tall, round table in the center of the bar where two guys and a girl were draining the last sips from their glasses. As soon as they stepped away, Amelia slipped onto one of the high metal barstools. She glanced at Reese, who was gazing at her with unguarded scrutiny.

“So, about tonight,” Reese said and paused. “If this is what you’re facing all the time, no wonder you look so exhausted.”

“Gee. Thanks.” Amelia gave her a withering look, but Reese just raised an eyebrow.

She sighed. Reese was the one person who knew her well enough to see through any pretense.

“Yeah, yeah. Fine. I am exhausted. But this part’s almost over. You know I fly home in two days. Then I get a break.”

“Well, thank God. You look like you need it. But that’s not exactly what I meant…” Reese shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

Amelia leaned forward, her brow furrowed. Her lips formed a question, but Reese started talking again before she could get it out.

“How are you dealing with…the emotional side of all this? I mean, those questions you’re having to answer. They’re intense. And have you heard anything from Noah?”

“
What
?” Amelia jumped at the name, her voice flat. “What do you mean, have I heard from Noah. Why would I hear from
Noah
?”

Glasses clinked, chairs scraped, and voices buzzed all around them, but the din of the bar had faded into a low, droning hum in her ears. Reese’s eyes focused first on the table, then on a spot above Amelia’s left shoulder.

They were interrupted then by a tall, shaggy-haired server in his early twenties. He looked like a soap star, his brazen confidence planting him in the herd of wanna-be actors who flocked to the city, holding down jobs in hospitality while waiting for their big break. He looked them over and flashed an ultra-white smile before asking what they wanted to drink.

Reese ordered a Manhattan. Amelia, still distracted, asked for the house red.

As soon as the waiter was out of earshot, she started back in. “What do you know that you’re not telling me?”

Reese looked sheepish. “Nothing, I swear.” She paused, and then she gave Amelia a sharp look. “It’s just that…well, the books are freaking everywhere, Mel. And there’s so much of Noah in them. I just, I don’t know…I thought maybe you were trying to reconnect.”

Amelia’s jaw dropped.

“So much of Noah in them,” she repeated, her voice faint. She felt sick as her eyes bored into Reese’s. “Is it really that obvious?”

“No.” Reese’s answer was too fast. “I mean, it is to me. I don’t think anybody else would see it.” She faltered, looking down again. “Except…I think Noah would see it.”

“Has he read them, Reese? Seriously, have you heard something that you’re not telling me?” Amelia felt every fear that had crippled her these past few months coming to fruition. Her entire body was rigid. “I swear to you, solemnly swear, that reconnecting with Noah was the last thing on my mind when I wrote the books. I didn’t think he’d ever even know that I’d written a book.” Her voice lowered several notches. “And I definitely didn’t think it was obvious that they were about him.”

Reese was chewing on her lower lip. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to freak you out,” she said. “It’s not obvious, I swear. It’s just…you won’t ever talk about him. Ever. Not even to me. At some point, something’s gotta happen.”

Reese studied the table again as Amelia mulled over her words.

“You’ve got to either deal with it or move on,” Reese continued. “Because clearly, that hasn’t happened. The way you two left things, it’s no wonder.” She looked up, shaking her head. “You were still in love with him. He was still in love with you. I always expected you to make up eventually. When that didn’t happen, I waited for you to move on. And it’s been all this time. And you…haven’t. I’m just worried about you.”

When Amelia was able to find her voice again, the words flooded out in a jumbled stream. “Why is this the first time I’m hearing all this? Why say it now?” She paused, frustration masking the pain in her eyes. “It doesn’t even matter anyway. I’m sure Noah
has
moved on.”

She stared down at her hands, thinking about the picture she’d dreamed up last night of the house and kids she assumed he had by now. She had trouble placing a wife in that scenario, but she was sure he had one of those, too.

“I don’t know, Mel. I’m pretty sure he’s still single,” Reese said, her words slicing into Amelia’s vision. “I think you did even more of a number on him than he did on you.”

“How would you even know that?” Amelia glared at her, suspicious. “What, are you friends on Facebook or something?”

“No, but, you know…friends of friends.” She shrugged. “I heard he’s in Texas now, working as an architect.”

Amelia felt Reese’s eyes piercing into her and worked to control her expression. So he
was
the Noah Bradley she’d been stalking online—which meant he had finished school. That was a relief. She couldn’t process the other news.

He was still single? Not that it mattered…

After a too-long pause, she looked up and into Reese’s gaze. “That’s great for him. But what Noah’s doing isn’t any of my business.”

One corner of Reese’s mouth turned up, but her skeptical stare remained in place.

“Okay, so he inspired the books—so what? He had a big impact on my life. But that’s in the past.
He’s
in the past.” Amelia gave a vague wave of her hand, trying to convince herself as much as Reese.

Reese didn’t look at all convinced.

“I’m fine. Really,” she said, her voice sharper than she wanted it to be. “And I’d love to move on. But I have to find somebody to move on
with
first, don’t you think?”