Page 21 of A is for Aftercare

“Hello? I understand Hamish is getting you to do his dirty work?”

“He needs an extension,” I say, not rising to his bait. I wouldn’t bad-mouth Hamish anyway, but I’m definitely not going to while I’m sitting in the same room as him.

The man, who must be Kevin Mitchell, laughs. “Oh, he does, does he? Tell him he can grovel to me himself.”

I can’t imagine Hamish grovelling to anyone. “Is that a yes or a no?” I ask.

Kevin stops laughing. “How long?”

“Two months.”

“Tell him it’s the last one.”

“I will, thank you.”

My heart is racing as I put the phone down. I swivel around. Hamishisstill staring at me, but his expression has softened a little.

"He gave you the extension, sir. I'll change the deadline on the calendar. If you tell me how many words you're aiming for, I can calculate a daily word count goal. That's if you think it will help."

“Ninety thousand.”

“You’re starting from scratch?”

"Aye. As you said, there's no point in writing something I hate, is there?"

“No, sir.”

The left-hand corner of his mouth curls into a true smile. "You've read all my books. What mystery is left for Orion King to solve?"

I purse my lips as I think. I run through the plot of each of the previous books in my head. “What about bringing back an old character?”

“Who?”

“Jessica.”

He lifts his eyebrows. “The wee lassie he rescued in the first book?”

“Yes. He rescued her from a sex trafficking ring,” I recall. “But nobody knew who she was. What if her past comes back to haunt her and she reaches out to the man who saved her as a kid?”

Hamish nods thoughtfully. "I can work with that. When you're figuring out my daily word count, discount the next three days. I'll need the time to write an outline."

“Yes, sir.”

His smile deepens.

"I…Umm…" My tongue is heavy in my mouth.

“Spit it out.”

“I’m happy to bounce ideas back and forth if you get stuck or anything.”

Hamish frowns. Was it the wrong thing to say? He’s been writing books for years; he doesn’t needmyhelp.

“I might take you up on that. Thank you.”

My heart trembles. I bite my lip to stop myself from letting out a happy little sigh.

“Don’t you have work to do?”