He clapped the kid on the back.“You know, I could talk hours about what makes the perfect dad—a dad like me, I mean—but we’ve got an attic to clean out, and daylight is waning, son. So let’s get back to it, shall we?”
“Sure thing,” said Chase, but it was obvious he was still mulling over Tex’s words, those pearls of wisdom the doctor had casually dispensed to his Padawan.
It touched Tex’s heart. A wise man passing on his wisdom to his young son. How wonderful. How moving. Now if only he knew what he was talking about.
CHAPTER 5
[Êàðòèíêà: img_2]
Vesta Muffin and Scarlett Canyon were hard at work in the offices of theHampton Cove Gazette, where editor-in-chief Dan Goory had given them their own desk. The two ladies wrote the Dear Gabi column for theGazette, which had become quite a hit with readers, and was, according to the SEO boffin Dan had once hired to overhaul the website, one of the most-read, best-rated items on the site.
“What a pile,” Vesta sighed as she leaned back. Along with the growing success of their column, the number of letters and emails had also exploded, and it wasn’t unusual to get dozens of them every single day. Up to them the task of selecting those few nuggets that would be of interest to theGazette’s wider readership.
“Now this is odd,” said Scarlett as she frowned at her screen.
“What is?”
“Three different emails from three different people, but all of them from the same company. At least I think they’re from the same company. Their email addresses all end with ‘advantagepublishing.com.’” She looked up. “Advantage Publishing is the company that publishes—”
“Glimmer,” said Vesta, her interest piqued.Glimmer was only one of the most popular women’s magazines in the country. Right up there withGood Housekeeping,Vogue andCosmopolitan.“So what are they saying?”
“Well, the first one is from a Natalie Ferrara. She says she’s pregnant with her boss’s baby, only her boss doesn’t want the baby. In fact he told her to get an abortion, and not only that, but he broke up with her and now she’s on her own.”
“What a jerk.”
Scarlett nodded.“She says she can’t stop crying, and doesn’t know what to do.”
“She still works for the guy who knocked her up and then dumped her?”
“The email doesn’t say,” said Scarlett. “But I suppose so.”
“If I could just lay my hands on the guy…”
“And then there’s Tom Mitchell. He says he’s been in love with one of his colleagues for years, but she doesn’t even know he exists. He wants to know how to get out of the friend zone.”
“If she doesn’t know he exists, he’s not even in the friend zone,” Vesta commented. “More like the nothing zone.”
“And finally we have Doris Booth, whose boss just gave her a copy ofElements of Style, by Strunk and White, basically telling her she can’t spell.” She looked up. “Doris works as a publicist, so language is supposed to be her special skill. Her forte. I think it’s safe to say she’s pretty upset about the whole business.”
“I can imagine,” Vesta murmured. “What’s going on at Advantage? Three people write us on the same day. A pregnant woman dumped by her boss, a guy hopelessly in love with a colleague, and a woman being insulted by her boss.”
“Pity we don’t know more,” said Scarlett as she scanned through the first email once again. It had clearly touched a chord. “Tough to give advice. I mean, what can you tell these people?”
“Not a lot,” Vesta agreed.
“What are the rules on Gabi getting in touch with these people and teasing some more information out of them?”
“I don’t think it’s the done thing.”
“No, I didn’t think so either.”
They both pondered the issue for a moment, then Vesta’s eyes brightened. “I just had a great idea,” she announced, sitting up a little straighter.
“Uh-oh.”
“Why don’t you and me take the Gabi show on the road?”
“What do you mean?”
“I think we both agree that it’s hard to give advice when you don’t have enough information, right?”
“Right.”
“So why don’t we get the information we need the old-fashioned way?” And when Scarlett simply stared at her, not comprehending, she added, “We apply for a job at Advantage Publishing, get to know this trio of letter writers, and then we can tailor our advice to their needs!”
Scarlett’s frown indicated she wasn’t as excited as she could have been. Her next words confirmed this. “I think you’re nuts.”
“No, but it’s brilliant! We apply for a job, get hired, and that way we can look around, see for ourselves what’s going on, and give the kind of advice these people need and deserve.”
“And how are we going to get hired? We’re both senior citizens. And if you hadn’t noticed, job offers for our age bracket are pretty much non-existent.”
“We’ll do it like in that Nancy Meyers movie.”
“The Holiday? We switch places with some ditzy rich blonde?”
“No, the one with Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway, where she hires him as her senior intern.” She spread her arms. “We’ll be senior interns atGlimmer! How cool is that!”
Scarlett’s initial reluctance to recognize the brilliance of her plan slightly melted. “That would be cool,” she admitted. “But how do you know this senior internship isn’t something that only exists in a Nancy Meyers movie?”
“Oh, who cares? If it doesn’t exist, it should exist, and if they won’t accept us, we’ll simply accuse them of ageism, and threaten to sue. And if that doesn’t work, we can always ask Dan to get in touch with whatever bozo is in charge of Advantage and put in a good word for us.”
“Mh,” said Scarlett, but Vesta could see she was warming to her idea. “I’ve always wanted to see what a company like Advantage looks like on the inside,” she said.
“And now you’ll get the chance.” She spread her arms. “We’re going to help out three people, Scarlett. Three unhappy souls. Now what can be more gratifying? And if we pull this off, we could make it a regular thing: drop in on the people writing us, and get some background information before writing up a column.”
“It almost sounds too good to be true,” said Scarlett wistfully, as she gave her friend a look of suspicion. “What’s the catch? Cause there has to be a catch, right?”
“No catch,” she assured her friend. “We’re simply going to spread some sweetness and light. Just like we always do. Only now we’ll do it as Dear Gabi!”
CHAPTER 6
[Êàðòèíêà: img_2]
Marge Poole had just placed a copy of the latest bestseller—Heart ofa Turtle Dove—on the rack when a light cough made her jump. She clutched a hand to her heart. “You startled me,” she told Mrs. Samson, her oldest and best customer.
The elderly lady was holding a letter in her hand, and had a sort of feverish look in her eye. The same look she got when she was the first to snatch up a particularly spicy new novel that had just been added to the library’s collection.
“What have you got there?” asked Marge.
“It was in my mailbox just now,” said Mrs. Samson. “Even though it’s addressed to you. I hope you don’t mind, but I read it before I realized it wasn’t for me.”
“Addressed to me?” asked Marge with a frown as she accepted the letter from Mrs. Samson’s hand. “Who could have sent me a—” But then she recognized the handwriting. It was Tex’s. She quickly took out the letter and scanned it. Her heart sank like a stone. “But this is…” It was an old letter. One Tex had written when they first met in college. Back when his writing was still more or less readable, before medical school had its full effect, intent as it is on teaching young doctors how to stop writing in a legible way and adopt some obscure scrawl.
“It’s pretty spicy,” Mrs. Samson commented. “I especially like the way he compares certain parts of your anatomy to a peach. A ripe peach,” she added for good measure. Her eyes were shiny and very, very bright.