Page 46 of No Words

“Jo.”

I screamed and nearly dropped my phone, on which I’d been typing frantically with my thumbs. “What?”

But it was only Bernadette standing at the end of the aisle by my seat. I was shocked to see that the houselights were back up and that everyone was filing out of the auditorium behind her, all wearing amused looks on their faces at the way I’d reacted to Bernadette calling my name.

“What’s happening?” I looked around and saw that the stage was empty. Will was nowhere to be seen, and neither were Garrett or Kellyjean. “Is there a fire?”

“No, silly. The panels are over for the day.” Bernadette was laughing at me. “It’s time for the book signings.”

I was stunned. I looked down at my phone and realized that not only had two hours gone by, but I’d written ten pages.

Single spaced. With my thumbs. Without any M&M’s.

“Oh my God. Sorry. Let me just get my—”

Bernadette held out her hand. “Your bag? I have it here. Come on. Everyone wants to get the signings over with so they can go out on Will’s boat. We’re supposed to have lunch on it, remember?”

Still feeling dazed, I rose from my seat and hurried toward her. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “I was just—”

“On a call, I know.” Bernadette continued to look amused. “What on earth were you doing way back here?”

“Actually,” I said as we filed out with the last of the audience, “I was writing.”

“Writing to whom? Your agent? Did she get back to you with the details about you-know-who?”

“No, I mean reallywriting. I was working on Kitty number twenty-seven.”

Bernadette spun on me, the smile on her face going from wry to delighted. “No way! But I thought you were hopelessly blocked on that one.”

“I thought so, too. But something just... came to me. It’s the weirdest thing.”

“Can you tell me what? Or is it too soon?”

Bernadette and I were both superstitious about discussing story ideas too soon. Sometimes, simply by mentioning it outloud, a narrative could feel already “told,” and then the drive to write it down could be lost forever.

“I think it’s too soon,” I told her. “But I feel like it’s a keeper. I have no idea why, but suddenly, I’m unblocked.”

“Oh, I think I know why.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. Kellyjean told meallabout it.”

We’d exited the building and were walking down the library’s front steps toward the parking lot, where the signing tents were set up. But now I stopped dead in my tracks.

“Oh, I’m sure she did.” Kellyjean had the biggest mouth. “Listen, I can assure you that I still don’t believe in magic. That thing last night with the wishing was only because I had a little too much to drink.”

Bernadette looked perplexed. “What are you talking about? Kellyjean didn’t mention anything about wishing. All she told me was what Will said to you at our panel, before I got there, about your books being good, and you being beautiful. She thinks you better watch out.” Bernadette reached out to tap me teasingly on the shoulder. “She really is convinced he’s in love with you.”

I felt my cheeks growing hot, and not because we were in Florida and it was so warm outside.

“Kellyjean doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” I said.

Bernadette looked confused. “Why? Did he not say those things?”

“Well, yeah, he said them, but not because he’s in love with me.” I had to dodge some little kids who were running around with balloons, their faces painted to look like sharksand angelfish. “I don’t know what’s going on with him. He seems to have the biggest case of Foot-in-Mouth Disease on the planet. One minute he’s saying something super mean, and the next, he’s saying something super nice. Honestly I think the only reason he says the nice things is because he has to, since he’s hosting this thing.”

“Oh, Jo, why do you always have to be so negative?” Bernadette asked. “I get that you’re a tough New Yorker, but just for once could you let yourself entertain the idea that a man—a man with an actual job—might admire you?”