Dad laughs. ‘Really? You’ll be brilliant!’
‘Don’t know about that.’ I wince. ‘The butterflies areflapping non-stop now.’
‘No need to be nervous, love. You’ll walk it. I know youwill.’
I smile at him. I love that he has such faith in me. Butsometimes I think that life threw him such a devastating punch to the gut –when Mum walked out – that in order to get through, he has to pretendeverything’s absolutely fine and hunky dory when sometimes it isn’t...
But I guess everyone has their own personal copingmechanism. (I eat carbs when I’m low and watch lots of reality TV shows, and Iswear it helps.)
‘I’m going to meet Kaz in the morning and she’s going totalk me through what she’ll ask me in the interview.’
‘Do you want some support? I’m sure I could manage to nipaway from work for an hour or so.’
‘No, no. Thanks, Dad, but I know you’re really busy rightnow.’ I pause. ‘Actually...the marketing person at the hotel,who organised the interview, is going to drive me there in the morning.’
‘Ah. That’s good. Is she nice?’
I feel myself start to blush. ‘Er, it’s a he, actually. And yes,he’s really nice. Fancy a top up?’ Scraping my chair back, I get up to fetchthe bottle, hiding my tell-tale blushes in the fridge.
‘Go on, then.’ He smiles up at me as I pour us some morechampagne. ‘And I’m making dinner tonight. Something special.’
‘Ooh, lovely.’
He laughs. ‘Try and sound alittlemore genuine inyour enthusiasm.’
I make a fake scared face. Dad’s attempts at cooking havebeen known to end in disaster, which is why I usually take charge in thekitchen. ‘No, it’ll be lovely. I’m sure it will. What are you cooking?’
‘Paella.’
‘Ooh, that’s brave.’
‘Rubbish. It’ll be a breeze.’
‘I admire your confidence.’
He grins. ‘Let’s hope you admire the paella just as much.’
*****
Next morning, I’m ready and waiting when Logan’s car drawsup outside.
I hardly slept last night, thinking about everything that’shappened, and yet I feel wide awake now and raring to go, which I guess must bethe adrenalin coursing through my system.
I’m a little nervous of meeting Kaz but the main thing I’mfeeling is excitement. I actually can’t wait. I could talk about writing allday and never run out of things to say, so hopefully, I won’t be stuck forwords when we do the actual live interview tomorrow morning.
As I climb in the car, Logan says a cheery, ‘All set?’
‘I think so. Bit nervous.’ I smile at him, experiencing thatsame little heart flip that I felt the day before when I looked into hispiercing blue eyes for the first time.
‘Just relax. You’ll be fine. Kaz is great at putting peopleat their ease.’
‘But what if I dry up completely and can’t think of a singleword to say?’ Now we’re on our way to the studios, the butterflies are flappingat the next level. If I’m feeling like this right now, when I’m just going tobemeetingKaz, what the hell will I feel like tomorrow morning, fiveminutes before I’m on the air.Live!
‘I’m not sure I can do this,’ I murmur, glancing anxiouslyat Logan.
His smile is reassuring. ‘You’re going to have to get usedto things like this when you’re a published author.’
When you’re a published author.
