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Lauren punched her friend in the arm. “Cassidy, stop. God, spoiler alert! Some of these people may not have read it yet!”

Most of the people in the first-class cabin looked as if they had no interest in reading anything by Will Price. Most of them looked much more interested in their alcoholic beverages, and in the girls returning to their seats so that they could finish those drinks in peace before we began preparations for landing and the flight attendant took them away.

“But I guess Will is back, or, like, on his way back,” Jasmine went on, “because he posted to his fans this morning that he wouldn’t miss the island’s first book festival foranything.”

What?

I closed my eyes. No. This wasnothappening.

Except that it was.

Great. Freaking fantastic. So Will Price was going to be at this book festival. Despite Rosie’s promise, I was going to have to see him—not only see him, but probably be in a room with him, and even have to talk to him.

Kill me. Please kill me now.

“I. Am. So. Excited!” Cassidy’s out-of-body experience was turning into divine ecstasy along the lines of Saint Teresa’s. “Now I can get my copy ofThe Momentsigned! And maybe ask Will to sign my chest. You know he’s hetero, right? And single.”

“Ugh, gross, Cassidy.” Lauren looked offended on behalf of her friend. “He’s, like, old.”

Cassidy grinned. “Not too old for me.”

Great. How super for her.

I, however, was going to drown myself. As soon as the plane landed, I was going to walk out of the airport and fill my pockets with stones and then wade into the ocean and drown myself like Virginia Woolf.

A stern male voice rang out, startling all of us and causing me to fling open my eyes.

“Okay, girls. That isit.” The flight attendant had had enough.

Ignoring the girls’ cries of protest, he shooed them back to their seats, then returned and firmly closed the curtain separating the first-class cabin from coach.

“I’m so sorry about that, Miss Wright,” he said to me, sounding like he meant it.

“Oh, please. It’s fine.” I gave him an It-happens-all-the-time smile and wave.

But of course, it didn’t happen all the time. Itused tohappen all the time, but not anymore. Not since so many readers of Kitty Katz, Kitten Sitter—which at one time had been the number one bestselling book series for tweens, ananimated television series (on cable), and even a feature film (straight to streaming and DVD)—had grown up and started flocking to Will Price’s stupid, depressing books and even stupider, more depressing movies.

I downed the rest of my drink then lowered my eye mask, leaning back against my headrest. What was I worrying about, anyway? I wasn’t going to have to see Will Price. Rosie was right: All I had to do was give my speech, do my signing, maybe take a dip or two in the hotel pool—hey, it was January and below freezing in New York; it was seventy-five and sunny on Little Bridge Island—collect my ten thousand dollars, and go home.

And maybe... just maybe... I might even try out this famous Little Bridge tropical breeze I’d heard so much about, and see if it gave me the inspiration to writeKitty Katz #27.

Everything was going to be fine. Just fine. All I needed to do was have a pawsitive attitude. That’s what Kitty Katz would do. With the right attitude, Kitty always says, everything will be purr-fect!

Right?

Chapter Three

Wrong.

Little Bridge Island was so small that it didn’t have a proper airport, with Jetways that stretched from the arrivals terminal to meet incoming planes so that passengers could disembark.

Instead, we were supposed to climb down a steep flight of metal stairs that airport personnel had shoved up against the door, then walk out onto an active runway.

This would have been charming and even fun, like something fromKitty Katz #12, Kitty Goes Hawaiian, when Kitty and her friends went to Meowuai, if I’d checked a bag.

But after years and years of work-related travel, I’d learned never to check a bag, because it so often got lost right before a super-important Kitty-related event. I’d once been forced to speak before a thousand Barnes & Noble booksellers in jeans and a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man T-shirt because that’s what I’d been wearing on the plane and my bag was nowhere to be found.

So I always packed everything I needed into a carry-on,and as a consequence, my carry-on weighed a ton. How was I going to lug it down a rickety, narrow flight of metal steps while wearing stacked heels (because of course I had on my most fashionable pair of winter boots, as it had been snowing when I’d left New York)?