She ended the call. Duke, Max, and Mia looked at her expectantly.
“That was Shelby,” she said. “She’s back in town. I have to go. Sorry.”
“You’re missing the movie?” Max said.
Hunter pulled her bag over her shoulder and brushed a few strands of grass off of her pants. “I’ll read the book. I’m sure it’s better, anyway.”
Fifty-Seven
Shelby walked straight from the ferry to the shuttered Land’s End storefront in a sort of pilgrimage. But if she expected to find answers in the shadows of the darkened building, she knew in that moment it wouldn’t be that simple.
Shelby hadn’t known what to do with herself after leaving Claudia’s office. She’d set the meeting certain she was pulling the book. But while she was willing to lose her pub date and the book, she hadn’t expected she’d lose her agent, too.
Wandering around New York, wringing her hands, wasn’t going to help. Impulsively, she bought a train ticket to Boston and ferry tickets to Ptown.
As promised, Hunter was waiting for her at the house. They sat out back, on Adirondack chairs with a chilled bottle of vodka and two shot glasses on a small table between them. The air smelled particularly pungent. Shelby knew from Justin this indicated a possible mass of seaweed washed ashore, or possibly an algae bloom. But she didn’t want to think about Justin. Justin was another thing to feel bad about.
“I know you don’t want to talk about it,” Hunter began. “But I have to say again I’m so sorry about the thing with Anders. I wish I could undo it.”
Hunter’s pretty face was tense, her eyes cast downward. “I’ve moved on,” she said. “Really.”
Shelby offered a small smile. “I’m not here to get into all that. I just want to make things right again. With all three of us. But Colleen won’t take any of my calls or answer my messages.”
“It might take her some time to get over her feelings about the book,” Hunter said. “I don’t think there’s anything you can say that will change that.”
Animals rustled in the shrubs below the deck, their motion turning on the automatic light sensors.
“I know there’s nothing I cansay. But there’s something I can do. I can cancel the book.”
Hunter, filling her shot glass, put the bottle down and turned to her. “Are you serious? That’s an option?”
“My agent will drop me. But I can do it.”
Hunter knocked back the shot and poured one for her. “You sure about this?”
“No. I’m not sure. But I can’t publish and promote a book that cost me a best friend. And the whole point of the book was to celebrate Land’s End, and now it’s gone so it seems... It’s just not right anymore. I can’t live with it.” She accepted the shot glass and swallowed half the vodka, feeling the burn and realizing she didn’t want it after all. She set the glass down.
“And you haven’t told Colleen?”
Shelby shook her head. “I’m trying to. She won’t take my calls, and in the meantime, she’s sitting there all upset about a book that isn’t going to publish. I need to get through to her.”
Hunter nodded, but looked uncertain.
“What is it?” Shelby said.
“I mean, logically she should forgive you if you sacrifice your novel. But there aren’t any guarantees.”
“I know,” Shelby said. She couldn’t control how Colleen reacted. She could only do what she felt was right. “But it’s a moot point right now. She won’t take a call from me. And this isn’t something I want to text.”
Hunter nodded and picked up the phone resting beside her. “I’ll call.”
“You’ll tell her for me?”
Hunter shook her head. “No. It has to come from you. But I’ll get her on FaceTime.”
Shelby considered it for a few seconds, then nodded. Hunter made the call, alone in the frame.
“Hey,” Hunter said. “You got a minute? I’m here with Shelby. She has something to say that you need to hear.”
