Page 9 of Christmas By The Shore

“Sure! Sounds good! Have fun!” Catherine knew her enthusiasm was coming off a little forced, but she couldn’t help it. She was glad when her mom jumped off the phone without further discussion of the trip, and she was left to her own devices. The disappointment she felt over not seeing her parents for Thanksgiving was stronger than she was expecting. Somehow, it was made worse by the fact that they had forgotten to tell her they were leaving.

If this had been any other year, Catherine possibly wouldn’t have found out about her parents’ departure until after they were already gone. She might not have called them to discuss Thanksgiving plans since she wasn’t planning on returning for dinner herself.

Am I a terrible daughter?

Her computer chirped with an incoming email, subject line URGENT.

Catherine was deeply relieved to have something else she could focus on. She opened the correspondence and dove into the chaos of one of her writers, who was causing a PR nightmare by insulting the Queen while overseas for his UK book tour. She wasn’t typically responsible for cleaning up these sorts of messes, but she was truly grateful for the distraction, so she told everyone she would put the fire out.

She then spent the rest of that day on the phone with various diplomats, British newspaper writers, and even someone low-level at the Palace who could help her ensure that the publishing house’s apology for the writer’s comments was read by the Royal Family.

It was exhilarating, and the thrill of having nipped a crisis in the bud made her feel like she was a young intern again. Back then, she had to think on her feet and never drop the ball because the world of publishing was highly competitive, and she wanted to make a name for herself early on.

Which is exactly what she did. And that’s what got her here, in a position that rarely entailed as much of this kind of work. She missed it a little and enjoyed the chance to show off her other skills besides finding good writers in a sea of untalented ones.

She was in such a good mood, in fact, that when McKenzie texted to see if she wanted to grab a beer after work—Catherine said yes.

5

“Don’t look now, but that man across the bar is totally checking you out.”

Catherine moved to look over her shoulder, but McKenzie grabbed her arm and spun her back just in time. “I saiddon’tlook.”

“Yeah, but that’s just a saying. Of course I was going to look. Everyone looks when they are prompted with that.”

“Okay, well, for future reference, when I say it—I mean it.” She frowned to underline her point. “So, just wait a second! I’ll tell you when he’s not looking. All right… now!”

Cat glanced back and spotted a tall man in a plaid shirt nursing a beer. He had long-ish hair, but it was hard to discern any other features in this dimly lit room. As far as she could tell, however, he seemed pretty handsome. Catherine scoffed at the thought that he would be checking her out. “He was probably looking at you, not me.”

“Why would he be looking at me?” McKenzie asked. “I’m over here in a paint-stained T-shirt and greasy hair. You’re the one in a cute dress, looking all hot and professional.”

“Hardly.”

She groaned. “What is with you these days? It’s like you’ve forgotten about the fact that when we were teenagers at the mall, you would get scouted to be a model all the freaking time!”

“Okay, first of all,” Cat said, “that was a long time ago. And second of all, I don’t think any of those scouts were legit. I have a feeling they were creeps looking to take pictures of teenagers or something. I’m not sure, but I know my mom was wary of them, and she probably had good reason to be.”

“Still—they never gavemetheir business card. So that should tell you something.”

“Why are we even talking about this?”

“Because I don’t get it. You used to be so confident! When did you start being so down on yourself?”

“I’m not down on myself. And I’m still confident… Just not as much in my looks. But I’m confident about my career and stuff.”

“But the fact that you can’t see how gorgeous you are—honestly, it’s insulting to the rest of us normies.”

“Oh, whatever,” scoffed Cat. “I’m just trying to stay realistic. I’m no spring chicken, and I just think it’s better that I don’t have too high expectations.”

“But that man is totally attainable!” McKenzie said, once again nodding in the man’s direction. Catherine didn’t look this time. She already knew what he looked like and didn’t want toaccidentally make eye contact. “If you ask me, you’re out of his league.”

“You’re crazy.”

“No,you’recrazy! At least you’re acting a little crazy. But hey—let’s say you’re right, and

that man wasn’t actually checking you out. That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be interested in you if you went over and said hi. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“You don’t want me to answer that question.”

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