Page 120 of Everything's Coming Up Rosie

It’s always been people.

“Yeah. I really do.”

“Then let’s put our heads together and figure out how to fill this place,” she says. “What have you tried so far?”

I shake my head. “Nothing. I haven’t even invited my friends or my parents yet.”

She frowns. “Why on earth not?”

I give her a half-hearted shrug.

If she’s disappointed, she doesn’t let on. “Well, we should fix that immediately.” She pauses. “Do you know anyone at the local news station?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know anyone local at all.” But then I remember something... “Wait. Wait a second. One of my best friends just took an anchor job in Milwaukee...”

Bertie’s eyes light up. “Call her!”

“I doubt she knows anyone all the way up here,” I say, really not wanting to ask for this favor.

“Milwaukee stations cover Door County news sometimes,” Bertie says. “It can’t hurt to ask.”

I chew the inside of my cheek, trying to imagine what I might say to Marnie, one of my best friends who has no idea what I’ve been doing up here. Or really, since I moved to New York.

“Call her.” Bertie squeezes my hand. “She might actually be able to do something here.”

I give her a nod. “I will.”

She smiles, but I notice that smile fades when she sees Arthur, who takes one look at us and walks the other way.

I frown, turning back to her. “What’s that about?”

She tries to wave me off, but I can see the hurt behind her eyes. “Oh, it’s nothing.”

“I thought you two were getting along.”

“We were,” she says wistfully. “He’s a wonderful man.”

“I’m surprised to say I agree with you,” I say.

She sighs. “But he made it clear he doesn’t want to see me anymore.” She hands me the basket. “Too much baggage, I guess. Old people stuff.” She says it as a throwaway.

I start to ask another question, but she cuts me off. “Here, you take these and make sure to pass them around. I don’t want to be in the way.”

As she turns to go, I glance back over my shoulder and see Arthur standing off to the side, working, but looking like he’s trying very hard to pretend not to notice Bertie is here at all.

After a long moment of me glaring at him, he finally turns and walks out the stage door and into the scene shop, leaving me standing onstage with a basket of muffins and a whole lot of questions.

Chapter 33

“You hate the phone. What’s wrong?”

I laugh at Marnie, who picked up on the first ring. “Hello to you too.”

I can practically hear her frowning. “I mean, I love that you’re calling me... but are you okay?”

“I’m good, I promise,” I say, though I’m not sure it’s true. It’s not like I’ve stopped to take stock of my mental state. I’m still running on caffeine and adrenaline, and I’m sure I’ll crash later. “I mean. I’m okay.”

“You have some explaining to do,” she says. “You send a picture of a hot guy, and then you leave us hanging!”

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