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She nods. “I’m heading to New York City for a girl’s weekend. We’re doing Broadway shows, fancy dinners, and Cosmos in a rooftop bar.”
I smile at her excitement. “Sounds like a fun trip. If you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing flying to Atlanta first?” It seems like a strange layover from Los Angeles.
“Meeting up with a friend. Betty is too scared to fly by herself,” she says. “You live in Atlanta?”
I shake my head. “Connecting to Wilmington.”
“I hear it’s lovely there. A little too hot and humid for my taste though. Especially in the summer. My late husband and I sat through a hurricane on the Carolina coast in the eighties. Let me tell you, that was something else.” She shakes her head, and her sunglasses fly in my direction.
I catch them and hand them back to her. “I’m pretty new to the area. No hurricanes yet.”
“But you have someone special waiting for you there. I can tell from your eyes. And the way your leg is bouncing up and down. Eager to get back to her?” she asks.
I laugh. “Something like that. Eager to share a bit of good news with my girlfriend.”
“Oh, do tell.” My neighbor turns to give me her full attention, just as the flight attendant walks through for her safety check.
During takeoff and the first part of our four-hour flight, I tell Cherry about how I spent the past few days wining and dining an important exec, getting her to green-light the next season of our show, with an option for several more.
“That sounds impressive. What exec? I knew quite a few at the big studios,” Cherry says.
I raise an eyebrow. “Really?”
She laughs. “Of course. I worked with half of them over the years. I’m retired now, but one keeps up with what’s going on…”
I remind myself never to judge a book by its cover and throw any other preconceived notions I have about Cherry aside. “Alice Witmore. She works for one of the big streaming services.”
“Alice.” Cherry looks at me with wide eyes. “She has quite the reputation.”
Rightly so. Working out this deal had been a tightrope act that had me flirting and fending the woman off in equal measure. “She does.”
“And by the grin on that handsome face of yours, you managed to get your contracts signed with your virtue intact,” Cherry says, her features relaxing. “You did get everything signed, right?”
“Signed, sealed and delivered.” I pat the inside pocket of my jacket that holds my phone. I saved offline copies of the electronic contracts, just in case. There hadn’t been time to print them out before catching the first flight back.
What I don’t tell Cherry is that I also managed to talk Alice Witmore into signing another contract. One I can’t wait to share with Elana.
“What are you doing here?” Elana asks when I finally track her down at her parents’ house.
I’d tried her place first, but there was no sign of her at her apartment. The only person there was that shady landlord of hers who was busy sweeping out a set of empty rooms. He’d paused long enough to tell me that Elana had moved away.
My heart had stopped at this surprising bit of information. I’d only stayed in touch via text the past few days, afraid I’d give away the surprise after I’d finally gotten Mrs. Witmore to agree to everything we wanted and then some.
“Looking for you. What’s going on here?” I motion for the cars that take up every square inch of the driveway and are parked up and down the road. It took a good five minutes to walk from my car to the front door.
“It’s my welcome home party.” Elana crosses her arms.
“Ryan, you made it. Come on in.” Her mother pushes past Elana and pulls me inside. “Get some food. We’ll have cake in a little while.”
I follow her through the living room and into the backyard, doing my best to ignore Elana, who’s urgently whispering for me to explain myself.
“Mr. Matthews. I didn’t realize you’re joining us today.” Mr. Pierce’s reception is much frostier than his wife’s.
“I told you, he called,” his wife stage-whispers. After a nudge in his side, he offers me a beer.
“I need to talk to you. Now.” Elana pushes me away from the crowd and back into the house.
“Good. I need to talk to you, too. Gotta say, I was a little surprised to get back and hear from your landlord that you’d moved out. That was pretty quick.” I stare at the woman I’ve grown close to over the past few weeks, letting her see the pain in my eyes.
