Page 63 of A Secret Escape

I’ve got this.

The three (or was it technically four?) words that no one ever said to her. She was always the one taking charge. In control. It felt good not to be for a short time.

“Great. If you manage to get a table, then message me a time. And if not, let me know if you need me to suggest somewhere else.”

“Why don’t I pick you up from the boathouse around seven?”

She didn’t want him near the boathouse in case he spotted Nicole. “I’ll meet you here. It’s probably easier.”

“Sure, if that’s what you prefer.”

And now that it was all planned, the doubts started.

“Are you sure you’ll have the energy for dinner? If you worked all night, you must be exhausted.”

“I’m energized because finally the book is going well. You have no idea how good that feels. I have a draft. Once I have a full draft, I can relax. I have major work ahead on it, but it’s work that I know I can do.” He was more relaxed than she’d ever seen him. There was warmth in his eyes and something else that she couldn’t quite interpret. Something that made her deliciously jittery.

“Is the fact that you’ve finished your draft the reason I could finally walk across your floor without stepping on sheets of paper?”

His smile widened. “It’s connected. I should probably thank you because you were the one who finally gave me the idea that fixed it.”

“Me?”

“Yes. I changed the killer. Instead of it being the estranged younger brother, it’s the dutiful ex-wife. It’s brilliant. No one is going to predict that.”

She remembered Lorna saying that she was never able to predict the ending of his books. “I’m trying to figure out how I inspired this. Are you saying I look like a murderer?”

“You look nothing like a murderer. And neither does the murderer in my book. Which is why no one is going to suspect it.”

“So how did I give you the idea?”

“Because you were talking about your ex-husband.”

“I wasn’t the one suggesting different ways of murdering him. That was you.”

He laughed. “You’ll have to forgive the way my mind works. And now I’ve given you a major spoiler, so I’m hoping you don’t read my work.”

These days she wasn’t reading much at all. She was usually asleep before her head hit the pillow. But if she did read a few pages she made sure it wasn’t something that would keep her awake or give her bad dreams. “Will I offend you if I admit that I don’t?”

“Not at all. Given that I’ve just ruined the next book for you, I’m relieved. Although, obviously, you could ruin everything for me by going online and spilling the ending of my next book.” He leaned a little closer. “Are you good at keeping secrets, Milly? Because if you’re not, I’m going to have to keep you trapped here until the book comes out. Which would be a good plot for a story, come to think of it.”

It was hard to focus on the conversation when he was looking at her with that gleam in his eyes.

“When does this book come out?”

“Late next year.”

“Then, it’s lucky for both of us that I’m excellent at keeping secrets.” Milly thought about Nicole. “You can trust me. Just tell me that the victim in your book isn’t called Richard.”

“His name is Callum, but I can change it to Richard if you prefer?”

“Definitely not.” She imagined Richard picking the book up and discovering himself dead by her hand. “Stick with Callum. So now you’ve cleared up all the paper, does this mean I can finally clean your floor?”

“If you’re sure that’s okay.”

She laughed. “It’s my job.”

“But not really,” he said and rubbed his hand across his jaw. “It’s only your job because I scared Lorna away.”

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