Page 34 of A Cornish Winter's Kiss

When Jude realised it was Marty calling, he almost let it go to voicemail, as he had when his editor had called the day before, and the evening before that, just a couple of hours after Jude had discovered that his biological mother had died. He’d ignoredseveral messages and emails from him too. He couldn’t bear to give Marty another update, letting him know that the novel was still a steaming pile of horse manure, but he couldn’t keep dodging his friend and editor forever either. He might as well face the music.

‘Hi, Marty.’

‘Bloody hell, Jude, I was beginning to think you might have died!’ Marty sounded genuinely relieved. ‘I’ve been ringing you and messaging you. I was about to ask Sophia for Emily’s number. I thought maybe the two of you were together.’

There was a note of hope in Marty’s voice in the final sentence, but Jude was going to have to disappoint him again. ‘I haven’t seen her since the day before yesterday.’

‘In that case, I hope you’re going to tell me that the revisions to the manuscript are almost complete?’

‘I’ve made a lot of changes.’ That part wasn’t a lie. Jude had made changes, altered them again, and in some instances changed them back to how they’d been in the first round of edits. Before he’d kissed Emily, he’d wanted her to look at some of the key pages and give him feedback about whether or not they were as big a mess as he feared. Only now it felt like he’d already revealed far too much of who he was. He didn’t want Emily to see anything else that exposed the flaws in his character, flaws that were mirrored in the description of the characters in his book.

‘That’s great. So when do I get to see these changes?’ Marty’s tone was almost always upbeat, even when he was delivering not so great news, probably because he tried to see the upside in every situation and find solutions that worked for the publishing house and for Jude, if things weren’t panning out the way they’d hoped. He’d always felt like an ally, someone who wanted Jude’s career to flourish every bit as much as he did. Jude knew how lucky he was in that respect. He wasn’t just a pound sign toMarty. Only now there was a far more serious, insistent tone to his voice. ‘I need you to deliver on this, Jude, for both our sakes.’

He’d suspected that Marty might have put his neck on the line with the team at Foster and Friedmann, by championing the DCI McGuigan series and insisting that the diminishing sales could be turned around. Now he knew it was true, and Jude’s stomach roiled at the thought of letting Marty down. It was time to be honest. ‘I can send them to you, but I’m still not sure I’ve captured what the readers want. To be truthful, Marty, I’m not even sure I’ve got what it takes.’

‘Yes, you have, you just don’t believe in yourself. You’ve always been the same, Jude. Christ, when I got your manuscript from Daniel Beckham, I wasn’t even going to read it.’ Marty sighed. Jude had been thrilled to find an agent, but he’d had no idea Daniel Beckham had set up his literary agency, with no experience and hardly any contacts. ‘We’d all had manuscripts from him that weren’t worth the paper they were written on. He was signing anyone, in a kind of scattergun approach, with the hope that something would land and make him some money.’

‘That’s why he took me then, because he was taking anyone?’ Jude could joke about it now, but when he’d first heard this story from Marty it had knocked him for six. It had just been more proof that Jude was nothing special, and it had only been Marty’s faith in him that had stopped him giving up on writing altogether.

‘Yeah, but you were the one he got lucky with. I know you’ve heard all of this before, but I think it’s a good time to remind you. I wasn’t even going to look at your novel, but it had become a standing joke sharing stories about how bad the latest Daniel Beckham submission was. So I thought I’d read a couple of pages to give me a funny anecdote to tell, and that was all it took. I realised I’d found a diamond in the rough. I knew it wasn’t the story that was going to be your breakthrough, but I also knewI wanted to work with you on one that would be. The biggest barrier to your career has always been your belief in how good you are. I want this next novel to prove that to you, so we’ve got to get it right.’

‘I’m lucky to have you, Marty.’ It was as mushy as Jude was ever going to get. ‘And maybe you can make a silk purse out of this sow’s ear. Although I’m chopping it up and churning it over so much it’s probably more like salami by now.’

‘I think we need to take a different approach. That’s what I’ve been trying to get in touch with you about.’ Marty let out a long breath. ‘I know you’re probably not going to like this, but I’ve set up a meet and greet for you at Cecil’s Adventures. It’s a fabulous bookshop in Holly Bay, about half an hour from where you’re staying. They’ve had all the big names in there and they contacted us a while back to see if you and Sophia would be willing to go in and give a talk to some of their readers. I knew what you’d say, so I didn’t even bother to ask, but Sophia accepted. Only now she’s got the flu and it’s completely wiped her out. The owner of the bookshop was putting on a brave face when she spoke to Sophia, but she’d already had another author cancel this month. That’s when Sophia asked me if there was anyone else who might stand in for her and I thought maybe you would. It could be a great way of connecting with readers and hearing from them first-hand what it is that makes them invest in a character’s story.’

‘Sorry, Marty, but no. It’s a ridiculous idea. Why on earth would fans of Sophia want to see me instead?’ It didn’t matter how big a debt he felt he owed his editor, or how worried he was about the state of his novel, there was no way he was agreeing to this.

‘The team at the bookshop have been doing an all-out blitz, locally and online, to let people know there’s a change of author,and they’ve had lots of responses from readers who want to meet you, not Sophia.’

‘They’re already advertising the fact I’m going to be there?’ Jude raised his voice. This felt like a stitch up.

‘Look, when I couldn’t get hold of you, I had to make a decision and I really think this could help you see how to make any final changes the novel might need.’

‘No, I’m sorry, Marty, but no.’

‘That’s a real shame, because it means Emily is going to have to carry the whole event by herself.’

‘What do you mean?’ Jude frowned, trying to work out what possible role Emily could have in all of this.

‘Sophia asked if she’d go along and do a reading of her new book for anyone who shows up, not realising there’s been a change of author.’ Marty gave a theatrical sigh. ‘I mean, I suppose we could ask her to do a reading from your book too, but it’s a lot to put on her, especially when people are expecting to meet you.’

‘Bloody hell, Marty.’ Jude wanted to be angry, but the thought of seeing Emily again was making it impossible to summon up the same kind of response he’d have given otherwise. ‘When is this thing?’

‘Tonight, at 6 p.m.’

‘Tonight!’ Suddenly, Jude found himself laughing. It was so ridiculous, so far out of the realms of anything he thought he’d ever agree to, and yet he knew he was going to say yes, because of Emily. ‘Okay, but you owe me one, big time.’

‘I’ll just offset it against the ten thousand or so things you owe me.’ The upbeat tone was back in Marty’s voice. ‘I’ll get someone from marketing and promotions to send you all the details. Have fun, and more importantly, listen to what the readers have to say so you can get that bloody book of yours finished.’

‘I’ll do my best.’ As Jude ended the call, he felt his shoulders slump. The thought of seeing Emily again had lifted a weight off him, but now it was back. He had no idea if agreeing to this ridiculous meet and greet would do anything to improve the novel, and even less idea of how Emily would feel about seeing him again. He wasn’t even sure which of those things bothered him the most.

Butterflies were soaring and dipping in Emily’s stomach. There were far more people in the bookshop than she’d expected. She’d done lots of readings in the past, but never without Sophia there. Added pressure came from the fact that her parents were sitting in the audience, alongside her father’s best friend, Barry, and his wife Gwen. The bookshop was like something out of a Hallmark movie. A huge Christmas tree was decorated with baubles depicting characters from unforgettable stories, everything from Paddington Bear toA Christmas Carol. There were rows of gold fairy lights hung in swathes along the top of the bookshelves, and the children’s corner had a candy cane lane leading to a sleigh filled with beautifully wrapped parcels; classic children’s books slotted artfully between them hinting at just how perfect a Christmas present they would make.

The shop was Emily’s idea of heaven and usually not even her nerves would spoil that for her, but she was also going to have to face Jude. She’d let her attraction to him show, and when he’d kissed her it had been impossible to believe the feeling wasn’t mutual. Except he’d decided almost instantly that it was a mistake, and his actions since had hammered the point home. It was embarrassing enough to realise that the kiss had been a full stop for him, in terms of moving beyond the friendshipshe’d been so certain they were building. But now it seemed he didn’t even want that. She’d suggested meeting for a walk, in the hope they could get back to where they’d been before the kiss, because she’d only have been lying to herself if she didn’t admit how much she liked spending time with Jude. He was complex and guarded at times, but not far below the surface he was warm and funny, and kind. When Jude had come over to meet her parents, Patsy had ended up telling him about her favourite ever Christmas gift – two Ladybird classic fairytales,CinderellaandRapunzel. Her mother’s face had lit up when she’d described looking at the pictures, huddling under the bed covers with the light of a torch she’d been given that same Christmas. Emily had made a mental note to do some research to try and track down copies to give her mother as a Christmas gift, but before she could even start looking, a parcel had arrived at her parents’ house on the same day Jude and Emily had shared that fateful kiss. The package contained copies of the original Ladybird books from 1964 and 1968, along with a printed note from Jude.

Dear Patsy, thanks so much for inviting me over. Anyone who doesn’t believe in time travel doesn’t understand the power of stories. When you talked about reading the Ladybird books, it took me back almost thirty years to when my mum read The Elves and the Shoemaker to me. It brought back so many good memories and I hope rereading these books does the same thing for you. Jude X

It had made Patsy cry for all the right reasons, and it had deepened the feelings Emily had been trying to fight. She’d been planning to tell him how much the books had meant to her mother, but things had escalated so quickly after the call from the intermediary agency and everything that had followed. Now he was barely responding to her messages. Hearing thathis biological mother had died must have hit Jude hard, and she could understand why his emotions were all over the place, but she wished he hadn’t just shut down on her again. Maybe he blamed her for opening himself up to the hurt, and maybe he was right. All she knew was that she missed him, which was crazy when they barely knew one another really, except that wasn’t really true either. They might not have known each other long, but the focus of their relationship had been to prove in the existence of love. It meant their conversations had gone far deeper than they might have done in months or even years, otherwise. They’d told each other the things that defined them, and yet suddenly he was a stranger again, fobbing her off when she suggested meeting. All of which meant that the thought of having to face him was uncomfortable to say the least.

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