Page 93 of Bookworm and the Beast
On the outside I wrote a name—a beautiful name that held the power to determine my fate—and scooped up my car keys, jogging toward the staircase.
Three and a half hours.
I wasn’t sure I could wait that long for my new life to begin.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Surprise Package
Bonnie
On Monday morning, I made pancakes and bacon, killing time until Dad got up.
He’d be fine to get breakfast on his own, but honestly, I just needed to see a friendly face before going to work and facing my fate.
Dad came into the kitchen, dressed for the day and smelling of white soap and aftershave. Lifting his nose, he inhaled the unfamiliar fragrance of cooked breakfast foods. On a normal day we’d both be eating cereal in the morning.
“What’s the occasion?” he asked. “Are we celebrating something? You get good news on that promotion you wanted?”
I stepped over and kissed his cheek, handing him a plate. “I thinkthat’sout of the question at this point. There’s no occasion. Can’t I spoil my dear old dad a little bit? Besides, I missed cooking.”
He laughed out loud. “I appreciate it, believe me. But you’veneverliked cooking. What’s really going on?”
Ugh. He knew me too well.
“I’m stalling,” I admitted. “I’m afraid of what’s going to happen when I go in to work today. I have no article to give Charlotte, and I don’t know how to explain why.”
My father sat down and cut into the stack of pancakes with the side of his fork. “You could try telling her the truth,” he suggested before taking a big bite.
I shook my head, though of course he couldn’t see my horror at the suggestion. The truth was too embarrassing and completely unprofessional.
“What am I going to say… well, you see I fell in love with the interview subject, we started a sexual relationship, and then he kicked me out?”
Who was I kidding? Charlotte probably already knew.
No doubt Jack had wasted no time in calling her and giving her his side of the story, beginning and ending with how he’d caught me red-handed in his office with his printed pages in my hand.
That would be all any reasonable person would need to hear to believe I’d also been the one to pirate his first five chapters on that sleazy site. I wassofired.
I dropped into a chair at the table, letting my face fall into my cupped hands with a frustrated groan.
“I’ve messed up so badly. I wish I’d never heard of Jack Bestia.”
My father reached over and found my back, patting it. “I know you’re hurting, but that’s a bit extreme, isn’t it? You once told me his writing changed your life. It made you want to write books, too.”
“Yeah. I wish I’d never started that either. Because now that I have, all I want to do is write fiction, and it’s probably never going to go anywhere either.”
The patting turned into a soothing rub. “It’s going to be okay. I’m proud of you.”
“Why? I’m about to be fired, which means I’ll probably end up getting evicted and we’ll both be homeless. How can you possibly be proud of me?”
“I’m proud of you because you tried. You put yourself out there. You took some chances. I’ve been worried about you these past few years.”
“You have?”
He nodded. “That’s one of the reasons I agreed to move into the city with you. There’s an old saying, ‘Youth is wasted on the young.’ Well in your case it was more like, ‘Sight is wasted on the sighted.’ Here I am wishing I could get out and go anywhere, do anything I want to and unable to do that. While you’re young and healthy with absolutely no limitations, and yet you were spending your life hiding in your apartment whenever you weren’t at work. You’ve been going through the motions, reading and writing about other people’s lives but not going out and making one of your own. When you told me you were taking the trip to Eastport Bay, I was so happy and proud because you were taking a step in the right direction. You were finally going for something you truly wanted.”
“Yeah, and look how it turned out.”
