Take it slow, he told himself as he climbed the stairs to his room. He and Beatrice needed time to get to know one another again, because neither were the same people they had been half a lifetime ago.
But, by god, was he looking forward to it!
The shrill ringing of his phone woke him, and Mark reached for it, blinking owlishly. ‘Yeah?’ he muttered, rubbing his free hand over his face.
‘Is that any way to greet your favourite agent?’
He sat up, shuffling up the mattress so his back rested against the headboard. ‘Angela.’
‘You don’t sound very happy. Is anything wrong?’
‘What time is it?’
‘You worked all night, didn’t you?’
‘Guilty as charged.’
‘It’s not good for you.’
‘What are you – my mother?’
‘I’m the woman who has just this second heard back from Estelle. She’s thrilled with your new manuscript. So am I. The artwork for the cover is stunning. I defy any little boy or girl not to love it. Santa Paws,’ she chuckled. ‘She says there’s talk at Pinkymoon of a cuddly toy franchise. They want a meeting.’
‘For Santa Paws plushies?’
‘Exactly! They’ve got to move fast, because of the design and the manufacturer’s lead times. They want to do a special boxed edition: a book and cuddly toy. It’ll make a fantastic Christmas present. Oh, and Estelle wants to have a chat about the possibility of more in the series.’
‘More Santa Paws books?’
‘No, the other characters. The market for Santa Paws is limited to Christmas, so can you change the focus? The main character could be—’
‘Hang on,’ Mark interrupted. ‘You want me to change the whole story?’
‘Not exactly. Just the focus. Take it off Santa Paws and put it on one of the other characters. Santa Paws works as a Christmas release, but if we run with the series idea, then—’
‘Can I think about it?’ For Pete’s sake, it had taken him long enough to come up withthisstory, let alone change it now. ‘How many books are they thinking of?’
‘That’s what we’ll need to thrash out. I’ve gone ahead and set up a meeting for Friday. Does that sound good to you?’
Not really, he thought. ‘So, to summarise, Pinkymoon Publishing loves my book but they want me to change the story and the main character?’
‘In a nutshell.’
‘And we’re meeting with them on Friday?’
‘That’s right. I trust you can make it?’
‘I’ll be there.’ There was more than a hint of resignation in his voice.
‘Fabulous. I know it’s short notice but you’re only an hour and a half by train.’
‘I’m not in Bristol.’
‘Where are you?’
‘A little place called Picklewick.’
‘Picklewick… Picklewick…? Where have I heard that name before?’
