Chapter 6 Harper #2
Kelsey stretched out her lean legs and waved something in her hand. Somehow, in spite of the tension and smoke in the big house, her friend managed to maintain her composure. “You took off before Sissie could talk to you.”
“You told me to leave.” Harper dropped another book on the bed and turned. “Wait—why did Sissie want to talk to me?”
Kelsey held out a blue business card. “She wanted to give you this.”
Harper stared at the glossy rectangle, her hands locked at her side. “Why would she give me her card?”
“She knows genius.”
Harper snorted.
“And I think she’s curious about that brain of yours.” Kelsey flicked the card. “Take it, Harper.”
She swept it off the floor.
“And stop selling yourself short. Your work is good.”
But not good enough. The words whirled in her head like they weren’t sure exactly where to land. “Tony thought it was a terrible concept.”
“Only because you’re not pitching a bloodbath.”
And she’d never ever bathe an audience with blood. “Not my style.”
“Exactly, which is why Sissie said to contact her when you come up with a better idea and have worked out a solid beginning, middle, and end.”
A moment passed as she processed Kelsey’s words. “Sissie wants me to pitch her again?”
Not that anyone in the industry would call today’s disaster a pitch.
Kelsey’s eyes sparked when she grinned. “That’s what she said.”
Her notebooks were filled with scraps of ideas along with the two finished scripts that she’d already given to Evan. But none of those seemed like the right screenplay for Sissie Sloan. She’d have to write something new.
Harper added Lavender Ridge to her duffel. “What sort of story does she want?”
“A story that you love.”
“I’ve been trying to write that—”
Kelsey smiled. “Are you really that intrigued about Miles’s walk across the country?”
Harper rubbed the side of her head. “Moderately.”
“Sissie’s right. You should write something that you want to watch. Even more, something you want to watch with friends.”
“A rom-com about a guy in a coma?”
Kelsey laughed. “Already been done.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Kelsey tapped her chest. “Write from your heart, Harper.”
Which sounded easy enough, except she wasn’t entirely sure what was in her heart.
She glanced down at the card and saw Sissie’s information. A studio address, phone number, email address, even a fax number. “Thank you.”
“Use it when you’re ready.”
“Did your dad already fire me?”
“Not officially. I don’t think he wanted to do it in front of Marlo.”
“So he’ll send Wendi to deliver the bad news.”
Kelsey glanced back at the door. “At any moment, I suspect.”
“I’ll resign first.” She added toiletries to the bag, a photo album, more of her mom’s books, a manila envelope with all their important papers. She needed a new place to pull her head out of the clouds and tether it to the earth, but she didn’t want to say goodbye to her friend. “I have to leave.”
“I know,” Kelsey said. “You need to spend a few months just writing, and with Marlo here, it makes things complicated anyway. Apparently, she married my dad last week.”
Harper dropped her brush on the bed. “What?”
“He neglected to tell me, of course, or anyone on his staff.”
“Oh, Kelsey.” She’d been so caught up in her own world that she’d neglected to see the wounds of her friend. “Remarried . . .”
Kelsey shrugged. “Maybe this time, he’ll settle down.”
Neither of them believed that, but they could hope.
“I only come up to Santa Barbara to see you anyway,” Kelsey said. “When you leave, I’m heading back to LA. Or maybe I’ll spend a few weeks in Idaho with Mom, or fly to the Maldives.”
“The Maldives would be a lovely place to disappear.” Kelsey could remove herself from the paparazzi before word spread about Evan’s marriage.
Her friend smiled. “You should come with me.”
“I can’t afford—”
“My treat,” Kelsey said.
A stream of clear water rippled through her head.
White sand. Cozy bungalows on stilts in the calm sea.
And she wanted to go with her, desperately, but she and Kelsey had worked for years to protect their friendship from the polarizing opposites of their worlds.
A trip like that, Kelsey paying her way, would change everything between them.
And she wanted—needed, really—Kelsey as a friend.
“I can’t, Kelsey. I need to . . .” What exactly did she have to do?
Her father probably still lived in Albuquerque, but judging from the one call she’d placed after Mom died, he wouldn’t want to host her.
The rejection had stung fresh when she called, but he’d never placed himself in her life.
“I’ll stay at a hotel for a few nights until I figure things out. ”
“I understand.”
“Or . . .” She rubbed the back of her neck. “Maybe I’ll go to Pennsylvania.”
“To visit your aunt Marcia?”
Her mind traveled across the States, to the grand front door of the Sutton family.
She’d only visited twice over the years, but the house had been standing for more than a century.
And Marcia had been her mom’s best friend, keeping her rooted in this often-upside-down world.
Then she’d extended those roots to Harper when she’d offered her a room last year.
“I’m going to ask. She told me that I could stay anytime.” Harper tossed a pair of flip-flops and tennis shoes into the duffel, a summer dress, and two pairs of jeans for when it turned cold. The boots and a coat would come later. “Haven’t been there since I was a kid.”
“You have to write your stories, Harper.”
“I will.”
“And you need to stay far away from food prep.”
“Guaranteed.” Harper smiled. “If I tried, I’d be fired anyway.”
“I want you to settle into a good place. A home. And maybe in your writing, you can find some resolution.”
If home was where the stories were, perhaps Harper needed to find a place for her heart first. Then she would finish her stories.
“I want you to find a good place too,” Harper said. “And a man who truly loves you.”
“I’m not looking for love.”
“Then I hope he finds you.”
“It will be good for you to be in Pennsylvania.” Kelsey held open one end of the duffel so Harper could squeeze in her hairbrush and Lakers cap. “But I’m going to miss you terribly.”
“I’m going to miss you too.”
“I’ll visit you at your aunt’s.”
Harper closed her eyes, imagining the scene in her head, the private Cantor jet winging its way into the airport, a police escort through a hive of fans. “You’ll shut down the whole town!”
Kelsey pulled her dark sunglasses down from her hair, covering the top half of her face. “I can be all incognito about it.”
“There’s absolutely nothing incognito about you, Kelsey.”
Sighing, her friend pulled off her glasses, and with it, her smile wavered. “What am I going to do without you on this coast?”
“Same thing you always do. Go play with your swanky friends and break the hearts of the many gorgeous guys who ask you out on real dates.”
“It’s not like what you think, Harper.”
“Your life is all glamorous in my head.” She zipped up the duffel. “And I can’t handle any more surprises right now.”
“Not all surprises are bad.”
But in her experience, most of them were. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without you either.”
Kelsey gave her a hug. “We’ll talk all the time.”
“Of course.”
“Friends forever.”
Harper nodded. “Forever.”
“I’ll take you to the airport when you’re ready.”
“Thank you.” She took a deep breath. “I need to find Wendi. Then I’m ready.”
“Come on.” Kelsey picked up the bag. “Let’s break you out of here.”