Page 146 of Smoke and Fire
He clearly cared about his readers and his books, or else he wouldn’t be trying so hard. He wouldn’t have paid me to keep the inbox moving or some appearance of life behind the launch. What other male would do the same for females that thought he was also female?
Not many, I’d wager.
Bottom line: Bastian needed some help and I was still willing to give it.
While I fumbled to find my place in his strange, online world, I couldn’t deny that I harbored a secret thrill that a guy like Bastian gave me access to a world like this. I had a feeling his trust wasn’t given all that lightly, despite the hasty situation.
My gaze drifted outside, where the smoke column stacked high in the sky. It had vaguely thickened. Wind pushed it farther out, like trailing ribbons in the higher atmosphere. It spread a brown haze in the air. The air didn’t smell like burnt wood yet, which I took as a good sign.
“Stay safe out there, hot stuff,” I murmured to the billowing smoke, “because I can’t finish this series, and womankind won’t be able to handle you dropping it without resolution.”
With another deep breath for courage, I began again.
FOUR HOURS LATER,I had over a hundred emails sorted and the fourth book started.
I stood, stretched, and stepped to the door of the trailer. Wind shifted gently outside, then twirled through a rip down the middle of the screen door that I’d repaired with a strip of transparent tape.
The reservoir lay far away, behind the edge of the RV park and down the hill. This RV park was set up on the mountain, north of Pineville, and a fifteen minute drive from the coffee shop.
Sione had helped me find this spot amongst all the others, in the farthest corner away. The reservoir and mountains splayed out in front of me, uninterrupted by other trailers. The quiet bustle of other tenants continued not too far away, but I could ignore them. They helped me still feel connected to the world, but not so suffocated by it.
If the fire were to turn south, it would blaze through here before getting to Pineville. I’d purchased a slot to stay for the summer and possibly the fall. Eventually, they would winterize the RV park, so I’d have to move on.
Forced decisions, if you will.
Sapphire blue water sparkled with tips of sunshine in the distance, and my soul thrilled to the view. A nice swim would feel good today. Heat bore down on the cracked dirt, intense, dry, and hotter than Hades. Hardly an ounce of rain had fallen since I’d arrived two months ago, and the dry air seemed to rattle in my bones.
The silence out here was soul-filling, but sometimes maddening. During the quiet days, I just wanted someone to talk to. Someone to share the day with, or hear what happened to them. Someone to ask questions of.
What was your day like?
What was the best thing?
Worst thing?
What was important to you today?
The type of questions that Jakob and I had forgotten mattered, until theyreallymattered. By then, it was too late. My gaze lingered on the horizon.
Who talked to Bastian?
Probably no one, if he sat around heart-ing every comment that someone left on his account, or writing twenty-one books in just a couple of years.
Did his publisher get frustrated at publishing novels that quickly, or did they like it? How did he manage it? I knew nothing of the publishing world beyond the handful of tidbits I’d gleaned since meeting him.
Technically, I knew more about Jess than I did about him, but I had the feeling he didn’t have many close people in his life. Why else would he ask a total stranger at a coffee shop to bail him out of a big problem? He was best friends with Dagny and Hernandez, so why not ask them?
On a whim, I pulled up my phone and accessed the camera. The sight of a bird swooping nearby broke into my concentration, but I forced myself to push through it before I lost all my nerve. I positioned the camera on my face, turned to video, smiled, and hit the record button.
“Hey, Bastian. Just wanted to let you know that I got through about a hundred emails today, but that was cleaning out some spammy stuff and responding to easy ones. I’m speed reading through the books so I can answer the questions, and trying to organize all the rest. Depending on how many come in per day, I think I could have your inbox back to level zero before you finish with this fire.”
A silly feeling crawled over me, but I smiled through it. Why was I doing this? Would he think me a total dork? Maybe he didn’t want this level of updates.
I ignored those thoughts and pressed on.
“I have a few questions if you have time, like your plan for the series, how many books there will be, where you get your inspiration, when to expect the next launch, and your favorite type of bagel and shmear.”
I giggled, still disbelieving.
