Page 6 of Wish You Were Her
RE: Twitter Recovery
Dearest friend from out of town,
Still mysterious, but slightly less so now that I know you work in social media. What a career. I’m secretly thrilled to work for a man who hates the internet, it makes my recovery so much easier. What does your job entail? Do you get lots of trolls? I once tweeted from the bookshop account that audiobooks are valid and absolutely the same as reading a physical book and a man in his sixties threatened to come to the store and hit me over the head with a copy of his novel.
I’m not part of a group but I am enjoying these emails. They’re tiding me over, so I won’t dive into social media looking for human connection.
So, it would be really awkward at this stage if you turn around and tell me you have millions of dollars to give me, I just need to send you a fee to cover the wire transfer.
I’m usually a pretty disgruntled bookseller but if there is anything else I can do for you, I’m at your disposal.
Yours,
Jonah felt the urge to sign his name. He had been enjoying this email exchange since its random arrival in his life. Everybody knew everybody in Lake Pristine and so it was pleasant to have a little contact with the outside world.
“Jonah?”
Jonah smacked “send” out of sheer panic of being perceived, as George poked his head out of the backroom door and called over to him. The email disappeared into the ether without a moniker.
Chapter Three
Allegra’s mother, Roxanne, came to collect her daughter from the airport and, as the eighteen-year-old slipped into the front passenger seat of the old Vauxhall, her mother became slightly tearful.
“Ma, don’t,” Allegra said, her voice full of incredulity.
“Well, I’m sorry,” her mother replied, laughing. “This is the first time I’ve seen you properly in months.”
“I saw you at theBystandersscreening.”
“For five minutes, Ally.”
“I know, I’m sorry. It’s been busy.”
“Well, anyhow,” her mother sniffed as they hit the long, runway-like road that would lead them to Lake Pristine, “I get to boast about you at the office but it’s not exactly the same as seeing you.”
“It’s been a wild year.”
“You’re just everywhere,” her mother said, glancing at her daughter with a touch of worry. “I watch one episode of the show and then you’re every recommended video on my phone. Your press tour was… a lot, Ally.”
“Well, I’m done with the show now,” Allegra reminded her. The relief and satisfaction was very evident in her tone. “Unless they find a way to un-drown my character.”
“Your dad hated that scene.”
Allegra was surprised. She didn’t know that he had been watching the show. “It was a mess to film.”
She had become hypothermic. The director had been told he was only allowed to film in the cold water for fifteen-minute intervals, but he had been annoyed at the “suppression of his art.” So, Allegra, despite her protests, had been sent into the cold water for long stretches.
Which resulted in pneumonia. Her agent, Maria, had screamed at the producer for over an hour as Allegra was wheeled off to get an X-ray.
Now, almost a year later, she was weaker in the lungs and desperate for sunshine. She had never been to Lake Pristine but her mother had assured her that it was at its most beautiful in the summer. As the car sped closer and closer, the pale gray clouds turned to iridescent blue skies.
“If it weren’t for the nosy busybodies, I’d consider moving back,” Roxanne said. “Or at least staying with you this summer.”
Allegra wondered how true that was. Her mother was very happy in the city, far from the small town she had grown up in. But Allegra still believed that old ghosts were the reason Roxanne stayed away.
“I’m going to be normal for four whole months,” she said softly.
