Cece had heard the whole story through Natalie’s tears and angry gasps. Cece understood all too well. She’d lived through it when her own husband, Natalie’s father, had betrayed them.
His story had been that he couldn’t deal with the scandal of Cece being fired from the paper where she worked. One of Cece’s trusted sources turned out to be a fraud, which had resulted in the rescinding of her National Press award for the story and her subsequent firing.
No other papers wanted to hire her, either. Like all of that wasn’t humiliating enough, she’d done some digging and found out her husband had already been involved with someone else.
The scandal was just his excuse. What a low-life.
After that, Cece had endured cancer on her own. She hadn’t wanted to add more stress to Natalie’s life.
Hearing her daughter cry over her failing marriage had Cece reliving all those old feelings.. She’d get through it. She’d survived it once. But she’d never wanted her daughter to have to bear the weight of such a thing.
She put the water bottle into the fridge and sighed, exhausted by the wash of emotions that had left her drained. Was she really going to attempt a fitness class in this state of mind?
What would Joe do? Joe would go. She smiled, despite her mood. Maybe she should embroiderJoe would goon a pillow and prop it in the middle of the couch. Except she couldn’t embroider.
Joe was her new…friend. She was still smiling, but that was the most she could call him. They’d been out once. A quick meal and bowling at the Starlight Lanes, which might not seem like a big night to most people. But it had been an awakening of sorts for Cece.
Not only had she looked better than she had in ages, thanks to the help of her friend and neighbor, Blaise, but Joe had made her realize that a setback was not the end of things. He’d been through his own setbacks and was now reinventing himself.
She could do that, too. If she really wanted to. Not just physically, but where she was in life. Writing reviews and doing interviews for the Colony’s newsletter was fine, but it was a bit of a comedown for a former award-winning reporter.
There was most definitely more to life than a byline inThe Buzz.
After a lot of thinking, she’d decided she wanted to try her hand at doing a podcast. She’d dug into the whole process immediately after getting off the phone with Natalie as a way of distracting herself from the urge to kill her son-in-law. She’d ordered everything she thought she’d need, mostly based off a list she’d found online, and was making space in her spare room to set up a studio.
Was she nuts? Maybe. But it was good to be excited about something. She grinned. Something besides Joe, who was also very exciting.
She sat in her chair and was about to pick up her ereader to get a few chapters of her book read when her phone chimed with an incoming text. Joe, maybe.
Nope, it was from Blaise. Still good.
Are you available? I want to talk to you about something. Need some advice and hope you can help.
Blaise needed her advice? Cece couldn’t imagine what about but after Blaise had helped her get ready for her date with Joe, Cece would have done anything for her.I’m here until four. Do you want to come over?
Half an hour all right?
Perfect.
Cece got some reading done before Blaise showed up right on time. “Hi. Come on in.”
“Thanks,” Blaise said. She was in khaki shorts and a white linen shirt, sleeves cuffed to the elbows and somehow she looked like she’d just stepped off the pages of a very expensive catalog.
“You want something to drink?” Cece asked.
“No, thank you. I’m on my way to the store, so I can’t stay too long, but like I said in my text, I want your advice. I want to…run something past you. And I want you to give me your honest opinion. I mean that. If this is a dumb idea, tell me. You don’t have to sugarcoat anything, I can take rejection.”
Now Cece was really intrigued. “Okay, I will. What is it?”
Blaise took a deep breath. “You know more about publishing than anyone else I know. Do you think there are any publishers who would be interested in a memoir? From me?”
Cece blinked, processed the information, then nodded. “Yes! Are you kidding? You’re Blaise Monroe. Of course they’d be interested. They’d be fools not to be.”
“Really?” Blaise didn’t look convinced.
“Have you already written it?”
“No. I’m just in the thinking stage. I wasn’t sure if there was a point.”
