Page 81 of All the Right Words
But that wasn’t the end of the story. A few companies had felt that there wasn’t much of a market for this particular book, but they liked Gina’s style. Two asked to see a sample for her next book. But she had to write the bloody thing first.
Gina had never been sure she even had a second book in her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know either way. She might have just left it at that, given up for good. But things had changed. She’d had the attention and affections of Harper lavished upon her, and that was quite a thing. It had relit the torch that had once burned. Just a little spark. But it was enough.
One particular morning of her new unemployment, she’d been making a cup of tea and switched on the kettle. For whatever reason, the seed of an idea popped into her head. By the time the kettle clicked off, it was a real idea. She’d banged out three chapters and an outline at shocking speed. Harper took it back to the publishers. Both of them wanted it. Gina picked one of them at random, and that was it. She was a paid writer.
Once the book was sold, Harper gracefully retired from the business and gifted all her clients to the best agents she knew. Brenda had shat a solid gold brick when she was handed off to Laura Huang, during which Harper received many angry calls demanding that Harper take her back. After a period of adjustment, Brenda settled down with Laura. Who occasionally texted Harper to ask if Brenda had always been like this or should she call someone?
As for Gina, she was under a young guy called Mikey, who was a newbie to the business, but mostly left Gina alone to get on with her work. It was a big selling point. She was a writer again. She had no interest in the business side anymore.
Once Gina was squared away, it was Harper’s time to spin out about her career. What did she want to spend her days doing? What could she be good at? The answer alluded her.
Until the day Gina and Harper popped into a local bookshop on their way to lunch. They were perusing the aisles when Harper said, ‘Jesus, look at this cover. It’s bloody terrible.’ She handed the book to Gina. Gina thought it looked OK. ‘What’s wrong with it?’
‘The font is shocking for a start. And the colour pallet is all over the place. Burgundy red and swamp green? Horrible.’
Gina looked again. ‘Yeah, I guess it is.’
‘Even I could have done better,’ Harper muttered.
‘I’d like to see that,’ Gina said.
Harper laughed.
‘I’m not kidding. ‘Your work is great.’
‘How do you know? I never show you anything,’ Harper said.
‘I know, but you leave sketches everywhere,’ Gina shrugged.
‘I do?’ Harper said, shocked.
‘I found a flattering portrait of myself in the margin of a takeaway menu the other day. I wanted to have the world's tiniest frame made for it,’ Gina said, grinning.
Harper blushed.
‘And you know the book business inside and out. Why the hell couldn’t you pivot to artwork?’ Gina continued.
Harper rolled her eyes. ‘You need a graphic design degree for that.’
‘So get one,’ Gina shrugged.
Harper looked at her in astonishment. ‘I can’t do that.’ She paused. ‘Can I?’
Not even a month later, she was a student of graphic design. She had less money these days, but she was a hell of a lot happier. Gina and Harper didn’t need much money anyway. The basics - like cuddling while they watched Olivia getting hauled off - were all they needed.
‘God, I’m starving,’ Gina said. ‘Pizza?’
‘I could eat,’ Harper said. Then she paused, and the slightest smirk appeared. ‘Hawaiian?’
Gina turned to her with faux annoyance. ‘Oh, the hilarity! You should have been a bloody stand-up.’
Harper exploded with pent up laughter. ‘I can’t help it. It’s low hanging fruit.’ She stopped; her eyes went wide. She started guffawing again. ‘I WASN’T EVEN TRYING THAT TIME!’ she howled through tears of laughter.
Gina watched her laughing, her green eyes shining with tears of delight, and she knew something. The coward was about to lose.
‘Umm, by the way, I love you,’ Gina told her.
Harper stopped laughing immediately. ‘Did you just say what I think you just said?’
