Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Cece Davenport had no desire to work out but the exercise class she’d signed up for was in two hours and she figured if she got dressed for it, she’d have one less excuse when it came time to leave.
Pulling on lycra leggings and a sports bra felt like a workout in itself. She grunted as she tugged the leggings into place, then frowned as her stomach pooched over the waistband. Well, that was why she was going to an exercise class in the first place.
Peanut, her calico cat, watched with feline judgement.
“I know I look ridiculous,” Cece said as she put an oversized T-shirt on. “We aren’t all born with your amazing metabolism, missy.”
Peanut sauntered past, hopped up on the bed, and curled into a ball.
“Sure. Nap.” Cece shook her head in mock disgust. “You don’t even pay rent.” At least she was prepared for her class now. All she needed were her socks and sneakers and she was ready to sweat.
Ugh.
She wanted to get healthier. She knew that was important. She went out to the kitchen to fill a water bottle and put it in the fridge. Getting healthier needed to happen. She had a daughter and a grandson and she wanted to be a part of their lives for a long time to come.
Especially now that they were going to need her more than ever.
Using information that Cece had found, Natalie had confronted her husband about his infidelity. He’d denied it repeatedly, until Natalie had produced the long blond hair she’d found on his clothes when he’d returned home from his most recent conference.
That had done it. He’d angrily confessed to a nearly yearlong affair and said he had no intention of ending things. That he loved this other woman and that Natalie had been ignoring him, focusing all her attention on their son.
Natalie had been devastated, but not to the point that she’d lost her wits. She’d thrown Jim out. Then she’d had to explain to her son, Tyler, what was going on.
Cece had heard the whole story through Natalie’s tears and angry gasps. Cece understood all too well. She’d lived through it when her own husband, Natalie’s father, had betrayed them.
His story had been that he couldn’t deal with the scandal of Cece being fired from the paper where she worked. One of Cece’s trusted sources turned out to be a fraud, which had resulted in the rescinding of her National Press award for the story and her subsequent firing.
No other papers wanted to hire her, either. Like all of that wasn’t humiliating enough, she’d done some digging and found out her husband had already been involved with someone else.
The scandal was just his excuse. What a low-life.
After that, Cece had endured cancer on her own. She hadn’t wanted to add more stress to Natalie’s life.
Hearing her daughter cry over her failing marriage had Cece reliving all those old feelings.. She’d get through it. She’d survived it once. But she’d never wanted her daughter to have to bear the weight of such a thing.
She put the water bottle into the fridge and sighed, exhausted by the wash of emotions that had left her drained. Was she really going to attempt a fitness class in this state of mind?
What would Joe do? Joe would go. She smiled, despite her mood. Maybe she should embroider Joe would go on a pillow and prop it in the middle of the couch. Except she couldn’t embroider.
Joe was her new…friend. She was still smiling, but that was the most she could call him. They’d been out once. A quick meal and bowling at the Starlight Lanes, which might not seem like a big night to most people. But it had been an awakening of sorts for Cece.
Not only had she looked better than she had in ages, thanks to the help of her friend and neighbor, Blaise, but Joe had made her realize that a setback was not the end of things. He’d been through his own setbacks and was now reinventing himself.
She could do that, too. If she really wanted to. Not just physically, but where she was in life. Writing reviews and doing interviews for the Colony’s newsletter was fine, but it was a bit of a comedown for a former award-winning reporter.
There was most definitely more to life than a byline in The Buzz.
After a lot of thinking, she’d decided she wanted to try her hand at doing a podcast. She’d dug into the whole process immediately after getting off the phone with Natalie as a way of distracting herself from the urge to kill her son-in-law.
She’d ordered everything she thought she’d need, mostly based off a list she’d found online, and was making space in her spare room to set up a studio.
Was she nuts? Maybe. But it was good to be excited about something. She grinned. Something besides Joe, who was also very exciting.
She sat in her chair and was about to pick up her ereader to get a few chapters of her book read when her phone chimed with an incoming text. Joe, maybe.
Nope, it was from Blaise. Still good.
Are you available? I want to talk to you about something. Need some advice and hope you can help.
Blaise needed her advice? Cece couldn’t imagine what about but after Blaise had helped her get ready for her date with Joe, Cece would have done anything for her. I’m here until four. Do you want to come over?
Half an hour all right?
Perfect.
Cece got some reading done before Blaise showed up right on time. “Hi. Come on in.”
“Thanks,” Blaise said. She was in khaki shorts and a white linen shirt, sleeves cuffed to the elbows and somehow she looked like she’d just stepped off the pages of a very expensive catalog.
“You want something to drink?” Cece asked.
“No, thank you. I’m on my way to the store, so I can’t stay too long, but like I said in my text, I want your advice.
I want to…run something past you. And I want you to give me your honest opinion.
I mean that. If this is a dumb idea, tell me.
You don’t have to sugarcoat anything, I can take rejection. ”
Now Cece was really intrigued. “Okay, I will. What is it?”
Blaise took a deep breath. “You know more about publishing than anyone else I know. Do you think there are any publishers who would be interested in a memoir? From me?”
Cece blinked, processed the information, then nodded. “Yes! Are you kidding? You’re Blaise Monroe. Of course they’d be interested. They’d be fools not to be.”
“Really?” Blaise didn’t look convinced.
“Have you already written it?”
“No. I’m just in the thinking stage. I wasn’t sure if there was a point.”
“You could put together some query letters, test the waters a bit, but honestly, you should get an agent and let them do the heavy lifting. Yes, you’ll pay them a share, but they have the connections and— Hang on.”
“What?” Blaise asked.
“I’m not backtracking on the agent thing, but there is another way. You could get an entertainment attorney. They’d probably still have the connections, and they’ll only take a one-time fee to vet the contract. Either way, I think you need a professional on your side.”
Blaise nodded. “That’s not a bad idea to get some kind of representative. The modeling business was the same way. Sort of.”
“Well, look, if you want to start by querying publishers, you could certainly do that, too. If you get an offer, which I suspect you will, you can find an agent or an attorney to represent you, and you’ll have the pick of the litter. Whatever way you go, I think this is a really smart idea.”
“You do?” Blaise exhaled. “Thank you for saying that.” Her expression shifted downward slightly. “I could use the money after what happened.”
Cece understood. Blaise had shared with the Queen Bees about how she’d been scammed out of most of her savings when she’d been grieving her late husband. “I’m sure.”
“Do you think that story will need to be part of the book?”
Cece paused, then nodded. “It’s the whole reason you’re writing it. And being brave enough to share it openly could mean other women don’t fall victim to those kinds of scams.”
Blaise took a breath. “You’re right. And you make a good point. Okay, I’ll include it.”
“Is there anything else I can do to help?”
“Maybe.” Blaise chewed her bottom lip a moment. “I’ll be perfectly honest—I started modeling at age fourteen. I got my high school diploma, thanks to tutors, and I don’t think they were all that great. I love to read but I don’t know the first thing about writing.”
Cece smiled. “That is definitely something I know about. I’ll tell you what: I’ll help you if you’ll help me.”
“What do you need help with?” Blaise smiled. “Going out with Joe again?”
“Yes, but that’s not what I was referring to, although I can see that I need your help with more than one thing.
” Cece knew it was a risk to ask. Blaise had already turned down Cece’s request to interview her for The Buzz.
But maybe this would be different now that Blaise needed her help.
“What I was talking about is I’m starting a podcast, and I’d love for you to be my first guest.” If Blaise said yes, it would really start things off with a bang.
Cece held her hands up. “No questions about you losing your savings or any of that. We’ll strictly stick to whatever you want to talk about. So long as it’s interesting. Maybe you could even think of it as a kickstart to your memoirs. What do you say?”
Blaise had a thoughtful look on her face but for a second, she had no reaction. Then she nodded. “Why not? If I’m going to write a memoir and tell my story to the world, I’d better get comfortable with it.”
Cece hugged her. “Thank you!”
Blaise laughed as Cece let her go. “You’re welcome. When do you want to do this?”
“As soon as I get my studio set up and get comfortable with my equipment. It’ll be a couple of days at least.”
“Okay. Just let me know. In the meantime, I’ll do a search online for how to write a query letter and see what I can come up with. Will you look at it for me?”
“I’d be happy to.”
“Thank you.” Blaise was all smiles as she headed for the door.
Cece nodded. “I can’t wait. This is going to be so much fun.”
And a lot of work. Which she needed to get busy doing.