‘It’s not really that big a coincidence,’ I say, and I tell them about the copy ofThe Hunchback of Notre-Dameturning up in the shop.
‘Ooh, classic Gothic romance,’ swoons Daisy.
‘Turns out Alistair moved to Edinburgh after he adopted Flynn. He’d been in the city all along. He used to come into the shop with his mum when he was little.’
‘How cute is that!’ squeals Daisy. ‘You could have been childhood sweethearts!’
I roll my eyes, this time with a laugh. ‘Flynn dropped off a bag of second-hand books in the bookshop, then Alistair found out about Mum being on the trip when he came to the shop to reclaim the book.’
‘And he asked Flynn if he could come along too?’ asks Joe.
I nod.
‘Soromantic,’ sighs Daisy.
‘Or so stalker-y,’ I rebut. ‘My mum is married, to mydad. He’s a pretty great guy, you know. He doesn’t need some A-hole from the past rocking up and trying it on with his wife. Honestly, no wonder Flynn thinks nothing about cheating on his partner when his married father is chasing a married woman.’
‘All right, Sister Carly!’ says Daisy, having unintentionally poked a wound. She turns her attention to her menu while I’m served my avocado on toast.
‘Oh-oh,’ says Joe, when I’m a few mouthfuls into my breakfast, and Joe and Daisy have ordered theirs.
‘What?’ I ask, turning to see what he’s looking at.
‘Oh . . .’ I say, my heart sinking when I see what Joe has seen.
‘The traitor,’ Daisy stage-whispers dramatically, when she too has clocked the problem: Flynn, heading towards our tables.
‘Morning,’ I say flatly when he has the audacity to sit in the chair opposite mine.
He looks terrible – his hair scruffy, and bags the size of suitcases under his eyes.
‘I need your help,’ he says, his eyes pleading with mine.
‘What’s wrong?’ I ask coolly.
‘I’ve been up all night, scouring the streets.’
‘Why?’ I query, aware that I sound entirely unsympathetic.
Joe hands him his cup of coffee.
‘Chris Rose wentAWOLafter the meet and greet. I can’t find him. I can’t reach him. Ginny is out of her mind.’ He looks at his watch. ‘And his headline talk, the highlight of the whole trip, is meant to start in just over an hour.’
‘Huh, that is a problem,’ I say, feeling the tiniest bit bad for the guy. I swear he looks as if he might cry.
I tap a finger on the linen tablecloth, thinking.
‘We need a plan of action: a three-pronged attack.’ I mull things over some more, all eyes on me. ‘Flynn, you need to get on socials and find out all of Chris’s favourite haunts – fancy hotels, private member clubs, casinos, that sort of thing; Joe, you and Daisy need to get in a cab and go anywhere Flynn asks you to, and I need to find Ginny and Mum in the hope of talking her into the back-up plan.’
‘What back-up plan?’ asks Flynn.
‘That Mum gives the headline talk instead of Chris Rose. Frances Henderson is an equally successful and popular writer, I just need to convince her to believe it.’
‘Agreed,’ he says, offering me a grateful look then taking out his phone. ‘I’ll message Ginny, ask her to start preparing questions for Fran, while trying to keep track of Chris on his socials.’
‘Your cab will be here in seven minutes,’ I tell Joe and Daisy once I’ve booked it on my phone.
Leaving me with the trickiest job of all, I think –how to convince Mum into giving the biggest talk of her career.
