by C. J. Corbin
At one of the parties, I met Nancy who became my agent and subsequently a close friend. When we met, I had recently finished my first book and hesitantly showed it to her. She literally grabbed it out of my hands. Apparently, my talent lay in the fluffy prose of romance.
“The romance queen was born!” I concluded with a flourish.
Michael sat up and applauded. “Tammy certainly loves your work. She waits in anticipation for every book, although with some of the book covers I wasn’t sure if I should let her read them.” He winked.
My face grew red again, “The books have adult material in them, though the early ones were harmless. The covers can be dramatic, but that’s just to draw in the reader so they pull it from the shelf and buy the book.” I laughed, “Most of mine talk big to build the anticipation, but it always ends, ‘the next morning.’ And Tammy is just the kind of fan every writer wants, a reader that waits in the book store for the next release.”
“So you’re good at building the anticipation?” he asked, looking at me with a wide grin.
I rose to stand up. “I’m very good at building the anticipation, but like I said it’s always ‘the next morning’ in the end. Speaking of books, I better get to work.” I bent over to pick up the coffee cups. Michael caught my hand as I straightened up.
He looked up at me, “Elizabeth, will you have dinner with me Saturday night?”
I cocked my head at him unsure whether he was serious. “Ah…,” I answered slowly, “yes, okay.”
“Good.” Michael smiled. “Thanks for bringing the coffee.” He squeezed my hand then let go. He stretched out his long legs on the dock.
“I’ll see you then.” I moved toward the dock steps.
“I’m looking forward to it.” He smiled again.
Walking toward my cabin, I turned around to look at Michael, and sure enough, he was watching me walk away. My face reddened, I waved and continued to walk to my cabin furious with myself that I was blushing again.
I fed the dogs breakfast and jumped into the shower. The phone was ringing as I shut off the water to the shower. I heard Nancy’s voice on the machine in the living room and I ran into the bedroom to pick up the receiver before Nancy finished her message.
“Hello, Nancy!” I said breathlessly.
“Hi Elizabeth, I’m so glad you picked up. I just sent you an email, the book tour cities are changing. Berkside decided to start the tour in Miami. They want a beach-like opening to the tour since the book is about an underwater archeologist. I’ve sent the whole schedule to you. It’s the same two weeks, but they’ve turned it all around.”
I put the phone on speaker and started to dress. “Nancy, I don’t care, as long as it’s no longer than two weeks.”
“I know,” she answered, “but they have us flying all over. Man, I’m feeling the jet lag already. So, now that you’re up in the country how is everything going? How are you doing on the new book?”
Sitting on the bed, I put my sandals on after buttoning my jeans shorts. “I’m still stuck. I’m having real difficulties getting past the beginning. I still don’t know what it’s going to be about, something will come, I know…but I have my own news.”
“Do tell?” Nancy said.
I could hear her grinning over the phone.
“I have a date!” I pulled my pink tank on over my head.
“What? A date? When did that happen?” I could hear the excitement in her voice.
“He’s my next door neighbor. I’ve known him for one day!”
“Well Elizabeth, I am impressed. You haven’t had a date in, what has it been two and half years? You meet some guy and after knowing him one day you’re going out with him already?” Nancy laughed.
“I know, totally out of character for me. But, he’s very sweet and yummy looking.”
“Okay, give me some background, what does he do and how much baggage does he have?”
I briefly filled Nancy in on what I knew of Michael’s history. “His photography is amazing.”
“What did you say his name was?” She asked.
“Michael Hoffman.” I heard clicking noises as she quickly typed on her laptop.
“Whoa!” Nancy exclaimed. “Have you checked out his website?” I heard clicking noises again as she was typing again. “Wow! I would say you scored major girlfriend. Michael is famous in the world of wildlife photography. He has three…four, no five coffee table books. I wonder if he needs an agent?”
“Nancy!” I exclaimed, “It is just a date for dinner.”
“And yes, he is definitely delectable looking. Look at that wonderful long hair!”
“His hair is short now.” I heard more clicking noises.
“Yes, here’s a picture with it short. Short…long, he is still cute. So when is the date?”
I started to braid my hair. “Next Saturday night.”
“Well, after you’ve worked on your book today,” she said, “you definitely need to check out his web site. Very nice.”
I laughed. I loved her enthusiasm. I loved her encouragement. “Okay, I will.”
“I’ve got to get back to work, and so do you. Listen, I’m sorry that Berkside had Kevin interview you. I told them under no circumstances was he to be the writer, but some stupid assistant screwed it up.”
“Don’t worry about it, everything was okay.” I said not wanting to drag Nancy into the Kevin saga anymore. She had supported me through the entire episode with my divorce. I needed Kevin out of my life, and continuing to talk about the situation did not help.
“I want to hear all about the date on Sunday,” she said with emphasis as she wrapped up our conversation.
After agreeing to call her, we disconnected and I sat at my desk like a good little writer. Unfortunately my writer’s block did not break. I surrendered and ended up watching a movie on the Lifetime channel during the afternoon.
It was a relief when Debi called to invite me over for dinner. I filled her in on about my time with Michael after we had left the restaurant and the date invitation to give us a leg up on the conversation when I arrived.
The sun was beginning to set on a hot day as I started out for Debi’s house. I met Katy and Tammy coming up from the dock. “Hi girls, did you spend the afternoon out on the lake?”
They both nodded their windblown faces. “There were a lot of people on the lake today.” Katy said.
“Yeah, this is the height of tourist season. Sometimes I wonder where they all stay at night. I’m glad our cove is so quiet.” I said.
Both girls nodded in agreement. “Dad said the campgrounds are full. There was trouble in town yesterday, and he’s gone up to check on the eagles that are nesting on Mt. Mintock.” Tammy added.
“Do you know what kind of trouble?” I asked. The occurrence of eagles on Mt. Mintock was a new one for us. They had just arrived and began nesting at the beginning of the year.
Tammy shook her head, “No, he didn’t say. But, he’s been going up the mountain to watch them all summer. They really are cool to see. You can see them flying over the lake all the time.”
“I was thinking of taking my boat out tomorrow. Do either of you ski?”
Katy’s face grew enthusiastic as well as her voice, “Do we? We love it!”
“Do you want to come with me?” I offered.
They both said “Yes!” excitedly in unison. We agreed to meet in the afternoon on the following day.
I continued on to Debi and Don’s house. Don greeted me at their front door. He gave me a hug and let me into the house. “Debi’s in the kitchen.” I nodded and as I passed by him, he whispered in a singsong voice, “Somebody’s got a new boyfriend.”
I tried to hold back a smile, and put a grimace on my face. I shouted, “Debi! I’m going to kill you!”
Don laughed as Debi came out of the kitchen drying her hands on a towel. “What did I do now?” She batted her lashes at me with innocent eyes. She saw my face, “Oh that. Don just has big ears.” Debi swatted him wi
th the dishtowel.
Don’s father got up from his chair in front of the television and hugged me. “Mija, it’s been such a long time! Did you just get back into town?”
I loved that Frank and his wife Annie called me a Spanish word for daughter.
“Hi Frank, I arrived Friday night. I was surprised you weren’t at the game yesterday?” I smiled.
“Oh once in a while I have to pull weekend duty, just to remind them how valuable the chief is to the town.” Frank sat back down and turned off the television. “There was some stuff going on with some of the tribal high school boys on the other end of the town. We thought at first it was some tourists, but it is just some of our kids getting out of control.”
“Everything is okay now, although I don’t feel good that they had guns.” Debi commented.
“They had guns?” I said with shock on my face.
“They said it was for target practice out on the range. We confiscated the guns anyway and had a severe talk with them and their parents. They probably won’t be any more trouble, but we’ll keep our eyes on them.” Frank explained.
I just shook my head in response. Debi pulled me with her into the kitchen. She called out to the men, “Dinner will be ready in 10 minutes.”
“What can I do to help?” I picked up some celery from the cutting board and started munching.
“Nothing, just sit and keep me company.” She stirred the spaghetti sauce and popped the garlic bread into the oven. “So, you didn’t really throw up last night did you?”
“Oh god, you would have to remind me of that!” I exclaimed.
“You were always the one with the sensitive stomach. Never got sick in Mexico, didn’t matter what you ate there, but a little twisty road and too much sangria and you’re tossing your cookies.”
I laughed, “I’m not that bad. Michael was sweet last night. I was surprised when he asked me out this morning. I hope he doesn’t think that by me coming over to his house last night that I’m…” I trailed off looking for a word, “I mean I just met him.”
Debi looked at me over her shoulder as she drained the pasta at the sink. “Elizabeth, it’s just a date. Don’t let the romance writer in you get ahead of yourself. You’re not going to sleep with him when you go out Friday night are you?”
“Debi!”
She snickered, “Okay just asking.” She put the pasta into a bowl and carried it into the dining room. “Elizabeth, could you pull the garlic bread out of the oven?”
Debi was right, how many times in the past had I gotten ahead of myself? I didn’t want to repeat the same mistakes over again. My romance with Kevin had been quick and I had put so little thought into where we were heading. Before I knew it, we announced our engagement and then I was walking down the aisle. Now, after Kevin, I wanted to be careful and not get ahead of myself. I was not sure if I wanted to get into a relationship with someone. It was time for me to face the facts. I did not have a good list of accomplishments when it came to relationships with men. Looking objectively at my marriage with Kevin, our relationship was doomed from the beginning. We were total opposites. Kevin was outgoing and gregarious, and I was very introverted.
Being in the public eye was difficult for me, and I had to feel safe before I could come out of my shell. My first few book tours were miserable for me. I worked very hard to be extroverted in meeting my fans and doing interviews. People who did not know me well were surprised to hear me sing karaoke. I could only guess that when friends and family surrounded me, I felt secure.
CHAPTER FIVE
The next day, I settled down at my desk to work on my book after my run. Frustration began to plague me after writing only a few pages, and there was no clear vision of where the book was going. My writers block had never been so bad. Usually leaping from the ending of one book smoothly into the next one was normal for me. Something was different this time around. Fighting the urge to visit the internet, I still had not looked at Michael’s website. I found myself staring out the window for blocks of time, and even sitting outside did not help.
I was happy when the clock on my desk clicked to 1:30. I quickly switched off the computer and changed into my favorite swimsuit. The back of the black suit was open down to my bottom and the French cut made my legs look even longer. The front, covered in a see-through mesh material pretended to be modest but did not leave a lot to the imagination.
The girls knocked on the door just as I finished pulling towels out of the linen closet. They followed me down to the dock and we set off for the ski area of the lake. I had purchased the boat new when I decided to make the cabin my permanent residence. Since my family had always lived on the ocean, I grew up enjoying all water sports. It was not unusual for the family to spend the whole weekend boating or spending our time on Catalina Island. My sister and I learned early on how to water ski and we were like fish in the water.
As the three of us made our way out to the main part of the lake, I acquainted the girls with all the safety features of the boat. It was a fast boat and handled well but I was not going to ski much until they felt comfortable driving her.
The lake was especially picturesque in its late summer view butting up against the mountain. I had always loved the way the mountain looked in the late summer. The bottom half filled with pine trees and California scrub brush turning a dark golden brown as the summer progressed. By August, the colors were toasty brown. As I looked higher, large boulders replaced the scrub brush and more pine trees were on the top of the mountain.
For a Tuesday, even with the tourists, the lake was not too crowded. After an hour of working hard at waterskiing and wakeboarding, we pulled into a small cove and quickly dug into the refreshments and drinks I had brought along for us.
Munching on a handful of almonds I asked, “So Tammy, how long have you been dating Jason?”
Tammy blushed and smiled, “A couple of months, since we moved here. I met him right away and things sort of clicked.”
Katy rolled her eyes as she leaned over to grab another handful of almonds. “The two of them have been inseparable and insufferable since we moved here.”
“It sounds serious.” I said.
“Well,” Tammy hesitated, “Jason’s will be going to Stanford next month, and I’ll be at UC Davis in January. We don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s not practical for us to be serious.” Tammy looked down at her Coke can and took a sip.
“It sounds like your dad has been talking to you.” I said.
“Yeah,” Tammy nodded slowly still staring down at her soda can, “I mean, I understand what Dad is saying but it’s hard because we want to be together all the time.”
“Well my advice is to enjoy the summer!” I lean over the edge of the boat and splashed both of them with water. We giggled together. “So Katy, how about you, who’d you leave behind in New York?”
She giggled, “Too many boys! Although there is someone special, but Dad isn’t happy about it.”
“Really?” I asked.
Tammy cut in, “Because he’s much older!”
Katy frowned at Tammy, “Paul is not that much older, he’s thirty.”
“Okay, I’m not going to touch this one!” I laughed. “I’m not going to have your dad mad at me for giving you the wrong advice.”
Katy laughed. “Coward.”
“Yes, that’s me.” I said nodding.
“How about you? You’re divorced, right?” Tammy asked.
I nodded. “About 3 years ago.”
“What happened?” Tammy asked again.
“Let’s just say in the real world sometimes happily ever after doesn’t really exist. Now I’m changing the subject. Looks like we all have our problems and all I can say is we have a beautiful lake here and the skiing is fantastic, so why should we be worried about men?”
Both girls nodded their heads in agreement. I started up the boat again and we drove out to the main lake for more skiing. It was late afternoon and getting cool by the time we moto
red back to the dock. Michael greeted us as we tied up the boat.
“Hold it right there!” He aimed his camera toward us and started clicking pictures. The girls started striking crazy poses, and I wanted to hide behind a towel. Michael called out to us laughing still taking pictures, “Okay Vogue!” The girls started to cling on me and force me into poses. We all ended up in a heap on the dock laughing hysterically.
“Oh let me up,” I said giggling, “please!” Tammy and Katy both started tickling me. I rolled over and started tickling them back. All three of us cried uncle at the same time.
Michael walked over and helped the three of us to our feet. His silent appraisal of my bathing suit did not make me feel uncomfortable, but I did wrap a towel around my waist. He winked at me without either girl noticing. I looked quickly away not commenting.
“I think I got some great shots of the three of you waterskiing. I saw you on the lake while I drove through town. Quite the three beauties!” Michael quipped.
“The next time you’ll have to go with us.” I invited.
“Oh Dad, Elizabeth’s boat is so fast. You would love it!” Tammy exclaimed.
Michael smiled, “I’ll just have to do that, the three beauties and the beast. What is the top speed on her?”
“I’ve pushed it to 55 but then the marine patrol comes after me. You know, the sirens are embarrassing.” I quipped.
He looked around the boat, “She twenty-two feet isn’t she? Nice wakeboard tower too. It’s a sweet boat Elizabeth.”
I smiled, “Thank you. Like I said, you’ll have to come with us next time.”
Tammy and Katy started gathering their stuff. I picked up the picnic basket from the boat and Michael said, “Here, give that to me.”
I handed the basket to him. “How are the eagles?”
Michael took the skis from me, “They’re good.”
I nodded, “Good.” I collected the rest of the towels and handed them to the girls. They followed me up to the house. “Leave the skis on the porch, and I’ll put them away later.”