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“Fall of next year. Edging toward the holidays would be ideal.”
“Coveted timing for a release.”
“Exactly,” Laura said. “He’s going to hold open several slots and will choose one when you deliver.”
“Fantastic. No pressure.”
In herStay calmvoice, Laura said, “We didn’t etch a date in stone. There’s some flexibility, and you’ve got plenty of time to complete the book.”
“Ordinarily, yes. But not at the rate I’m going.”
“If you try to force it, you’ll just get stuck worse.”
“That’s a discouraging prospect.”
“Are you sleeping enough?”
She confessed to waking up several times a night, listening for Charlie, thinking she’d heard him.
“Are you eating enough?”
“Enough to get by.”
“Drinking enough?”
“I hydrate.”
“I meant liquor.”
“I don’t think booze is the solution to my problem.”
“All the greats were drunks,” Laura stated, and when Elle laughed, she added, “I’m serious. It’s an irrefutable fact. Name a classic, any classic. The author—”
“Wasn’t writing about precocious clouds.”
“No, but his or her head was always in one.”
Elle’s doorbell rang. “This conversation has deteriorated, and the UPS man is at my door.”
“Is he cute?”
“I’ll call you in a couple of days.”
“Have some faith in yourself, Elle. I do, and so does the publisher.”
She disconnected. The banter had done her good. She was still smiling as she made her way to the front door and pulled it open.
He wasn’t what she would callcute.
Chapter 16
Calder Hudson wasn’t cute. He wouldn’t walk into a room and put people at ease by cracking jokes and glad-handing. He would walk into a room and make everyone wish they had the self-possession he did. He made it appear so effortless, it was intimidating.
Elle wasn’t intimidated by him, but, upon finding him on her porch, there was no denying the balloon-bounce of sensation in her midsection. “I thought you were the UPS man.”
He nodded and said deadpan, “I get that a lot.”
Spontaneously, she laughed. Maybe he could crack a joke. “My neighbor went out of town and asked me to watch for a delivery, so…” Running short of breath, she let a shrug suffice.
