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?“Yes,” I grumbled, and I felt my face flush hot with embarrassment. Jeff usually never praised my talents, and pushed me to always improve my technique. For him to suggest that I was a great writer was unheard of.
?“You need to get out, babe. Marsha keeps telling me to have you over for dinner again.”
?“And invite over another one of her single friends, like the last time?” I shook my head.
?“She can’t help it.” He shrugged. “There are a lot of single women in this city, and you are quite a catch.”
?“I-I can’t,” I said. Since Susie was gone that part of me was absent. I used to look at women all the time—not to do anything about it, just to look. Since Susie died, I didn’t have the interest. “Besides, I get out—I buy groceries.”
?He yanked open my refrigerator, which was quite sparse.
?“Okay,” I snapped. “I go out to eat.”
?“Mark, you need to get out of this damn condo and do something. Meet people, experience life.”
?I tightened my jaw as I felt tears stab my eyes.
?Experience life? I thought. With Susie in the cold, cold ground?
?I wish I had just died with her. It would’ve been so much simpler.
?“Whatever,” I snarled, annoyed that it was a pretty lousy comeback for a writer.
?“Tell you what, Mark. I got a deal for you.”
?“Look, Jeff, I just don't want to—”
?“Hear me out, babe. A mystery conference is coming up.”
?“A fan con? Those things are such a pain—”
?“It’s here in town. They want you to participate.”
?“What are you talking about?”
?“The Northeast Mystery Conference. They want you to be a featured speaker—and they are willing to pay.”
?“I don’t know—”
?“Think about it. It’s just five days next month, here in town. You give a lecture the first night, Wednesday, and sit on a panel on Thursday.”
?“A panel?”
?“Yeah, a panel of writers who do Holmes stories.”
?“Oh great!” I snorted. “Do you know how much dreck there is out there? Why do I want to be associated with that?”
?“For one thing,” he said, his voice far too chipper, “I know for a fact that Sheryl Homes is a participant.”
?I paused as his words sunk in.
?“You’re kidding.”
?“Not in the least, babe.”
?Sheryl Homes was my number one competitor in
the genre of Sherlock Holmes books. Like me, she also had the approval of the Conan Doyle estate.
