sundress to dinner and never even think about bringing a sweater. She’d never experienced either of those things growing up in Northern California.
Her split affection for the polar extremes of New York weather was similar to the way she felt torn between the two coasts. When she was in New York City, she loved the energy emanating from every corner—the dinners and drinks with friends, the mature social scene in which she never felt old or out of place for being a single woman in her thirties. But every time she went home to see her family in Palo Alto, she couldn’t help but imagine herself unpacking her suitcase for good, especially now that Tyler had children and her parents were getting older. After this last trip in particular, she could picture a life of solitary writing on a sunporch overlooking the rolling hills of Silicon Valley, punctuated by ice cream dates and trips to the park with her nieces. She would rent a small cottage in or around Palo Alto, maybe in Portola Valley or Woodside, and immerse herself in a low-key yet busy life as Auntie Cassie, as Courtney and Caroline called her. Plus Patti was out there, and despite the twenty years since they’d both lived in the same town, Patti was still the only person she could trust to tell her if a pair of jeans made her butt look big.
Opposite coasts, separate lives.
After finishing her loop, she stopped at a bench on Central Park West to stretch for a few minutes before slowly walking back to her building. Would she know when it was time to move back to California? Or would there ever be a concrete signal? She was thirty-eight years old but still didn’t have a life plan beyond finish this novel.
For now, at least, that was enough.
Back to work.
The next afternoon Cassidy was pondering the latest notes her editor had sent over on her book when the alarm on her phone went off. She picked it up and saw the daily notification for Respond to reader e-mails. Was it three o’clock already? She opened a new browser on her laptop and logged into the e-mail account connected to the Contact Cassidy tab of her website. Though she didn’t receive a ton of fan mail, she got messages from time to time, and it never ceased to amaze her that readers made the effort to send her a note. Answering fan mail was one of her favorite parts of being an author, if not the favorite, because it reminded her that real people were actually out there, enjoying her work and making her feel like she had a calling in life.
Today she had just one message, but it put a smile on her face.
Dear Cassidy,
I love to curl up in bed with a good book and just discovered Gretel Court ! I read it in two days and absolutely adored it!!! I couldn’t believe that I found myself nervous for Bonnie when she was tracking down Joe near the end. I was cringing while waiting for his reaction, like they were real people and not just characters. You do such a wonderful job of connecting the reader with the character. I laughed so hard at some parts that I was almost in tears. Thanks for the happy ending too. I’m about to start reading Montague Terrace and can’t wait to dig in. Keep writing, please!
She smiled at the e-mail, feeling grateful to Debbie in Chicago for sending it. Maybe she hadn’t found the man of her dreams and moved to the suburbs to raise perfect children, but missives like this helped her remember that in the grand scheme of things, she was doing OK.
She replied to the message and had just hit send when a new e-mail appeared in her in-box.
She gasped.
The sender’s name was Brandon Forrester.
She opened the e-mail and nibbled on her fingernail as she read.
Hi Cassidy, it was nice seeing you at the reunion. I’m not sure if you’ll get this or if you’re even in town, but I’m going to be in New York next week and thought you might want to grab a drink. Let me know—Brandon
She stared at the computer screen, her heart suddenly beating a whole lot faster than it
Her split affection for the polar extremes of New York weather was similar to the way she felt torn between the two coasts. When she was in New York City, she loved the energy emanating from every corner—the dinners and drinks with friends, the mature social scene in which she never felt old or out of place for being a single woman in her thirties. But every time she went home to see her family in Palo Alto, she couldn’t help but imagine herself unpacking her suitcase for good, especially now that Tyler had children and her parents were getting older. After this last trip in particular, she could picture a life of solitary writing on a sunporch overlooking the rolling hills of Silicon Valley, punctuated by ice cream dates and trips to the park with her nieces. She would rent a small cottage in or around Palo Alto, maybe in Portola Valley or Woodside, and immerse herself in a low-key yet busy life as Auntie Cassie, as Courtney and Caroline called her. Plus Patti was out there, and despite the twenty years since they’d both lived in the same town, Patti was still the only person she could trust to tell her if a pair of jeans made her butt look big.
Opposite coasts, separate lives.
After finishing her loop, she stopped at a bench on Central Park West to stretch for a few minutes before slowly walking back to her building. Would she know when it was time to move back to California? Or would there ever be a concrete signal? She was thirty-eight years old but still didn’t have a life plan beyond finish this novel.
For now, at least, that was enough.
Back to work.
The next afternoon Cassidy was pondering the latest notes her editor had sent over on her book when the alarm on her phone went off. She picked it up and saw the daily notification for Respond to reader e-mails. Was it three o’clock already? She opened a new browser on her laptop and logged into the e-mail account connected to the Contact Cassidy tab of her website. Though she didn’t receive a ton of fan mail, she got messages from time to time, and it never ceased to amaze her that readers made the effort to send her a note. Answering fan mail was one of her favorite parts of being an author, if not the favorite, because it reminded her that real people were actually out there, enjoying her work and making her feel like she had a calling in life.
Today she had just one message, but it put a smile on her face.
Dear Cassidy,
I love to curl up in bed with a good book and just discovered Gretel Court ! I read it in two days and absolutely adored it!!! I couldn’t believe that I found myself nervous for Bonnie when she was tracking down Joe near the end. I was cringing while waiting for his reaction, like they were real people and not just characters. You do such a wonderful job of connecting the reader with the character. I laughed so hard at some parts that I was almost in tears. Thanks for the happy ending too. I’m about to start reading Montague Terrace and can’t wait to dig in. Keep writing, please!
She smiled at the e-mail, feeling grateful to Debbie in Chicago for sending it. Maybe she hadn’t found the man of her dreams and moved to the suburbs to raise perfect children, but missives like this helped her remember that in the grand scheme of things, she was doing OK.
She replied to the message and had just hit send when a new e-mail appeared in her in-box.
She gasped.
The sender’s name was Brandon Forrester.
She opened the e-mail and nibbled on her fingernail as she read.
Hi Cassidy, it was nice seeing you at the reunion. I’m not sure if you’ll get this or if you’re even in town, but I’m going to be in New York next week and thought you might want to grab a drink. Let me know—Brandon
She stared at the computer screen, her heart suddenly beating a whole lot faster than it
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