Page 124 of Last Fall

“Yes. And now I’m dating Erik, the second baseman for the team.” I turned back to Scott. “Will you be at any of the gamesthisweek?”

His eyes darted over to Lucy and back to me. “Uh, yes. I plan on flying uptomorrow.You?”

“Same. Maybe we’re on the sameflight.”

“Wow, whirlwind trip for you,”Lilysaid.

I shrugged. “I don’t have much choice. I’m missing tonight’s game as it is. But don’t get me wrong, I was thrilled to be included in all the final details and I’m ridiculously happy to get to meet all of you before filming starts. Oh my gosh,” I sighed, tears welling up in my eyes. “I’m looking at Theodore and Caroline. You’re makingthemreal.”

From my head to the page to the silverscreen.

Wild.Justwild.

Dinner was so much fun. It was like someone had popped me into one of my books and I was running around inside it. Like Alice in Wonderland. But I was also exhausted and on east coast time, so by the time dinner was over I was practicallyasleep.

As I said my goodbyes Scott stopped me. “I plan on spending some time with my brothers after we’re done filming. Chris offered up his house on Calusa Key. I hope you’lldropby.”

Scott Kaine is asking me to hang out with him.And I was beingtotallycool.

Totallycool.

I smiled up at him. “We’ll makeplans.”

Lucy escorted me to the hotel and didn’t act at all surprised when I asked her to walk me up. “You’re in room 1550, here’s the key.” She handed it to me as we stepped into thehotel.

The lobby was tall—really tall—and bright. I stopped for a second to admire the arching ceiling and massive crystal chandelier. The soft colors made the entire lobby glow as if it were lit by a thousandcandles.

I needed to put this inabook.

“The car will be outside at six o’clock sharp to take you to the airport. We really appreciate you taking the time toflyout.”

“Are you kidding? This is a dream come true for a writer. You all are so amazinglysupportive.”

“They’re your words. Your creation. It only makes sense that you’re part of theprocess.”

But for most writers that wasn’t the case. Some had no interest—something I totally didn’t get—but usually the author wasn’t considered qualified to be involved in the movie making process. We were too close the source material, not trained in the different aspects of the moviemedium.

And yet those things were changing quickly as technology and storytelling styles clashed and melded into new thingseachyear.

“Well I appreciate that you were able to schedule things so I could get up to San Francisco. Scott is coming tomorrow, right?” It struck me as odd the way he’d looked to Lucy before answering and now that I brought it up again she lookeduncomfortable.

“Oh yes. He’ll be there if I have to drive him to the planemyself.”

“Does he not want to go?” We stepped into theelevator.

As the doors slid shut a man steppedintoview.

Tony locked eyes with me and cocked aneyebrow.

Ohmygod.

“No, it’s not that,” Lucy went on, not noticing my meltdown. “It’s complicated.” Then she sighed. “He wants me to go with him but I have too much worktodo.”

I knew she was saying things I should pay attention to, respond to, but I couldn’t. Tonywashere.

Did he know what room I was in? How far did his connectionsreach?”

“How discreet is thestaffhere?”

She blinked at me a few times. “Very. The best. Zoe, you don’t look well. Areyouokay?”

“My ex isdownstairs.”

The elevator stopped on the fifteenth floor but neither of usgotout.

“I’m sorry did you just say your ex was downstairs? Is he stalking you?” The doors started to close so she shot out a hand to stop them. “Zoe? Is hedangerous?”

Nothing seemed to be working anymore. Not my mind, not my body, not my mouth. So I squeaked out the easiest word Icould.

“Yes.”