Page 65 of A Summer of New Beginnings
‘Zee, you’ve gone ever so pale. What’swrong?’ Shelley asked, her voice filled with concern as she moved towards the edge of the bed.
‘I… erm… It’s…’ She shook her head as she handed the letter to Shelley.
Shelley cleared her throat. ‘“Dear Miss Bailey, we are delighted to inform you that your novelNew Beginningshas been shortlisted in the Best Unpublished Newcomer category of the Original Fiction Association Literature Awards.This year the awards are to be hosted in Inverness. As you may already be aware, the first prize in this category is a four-book publishing deal and a twenty-thousand-pounds advance. The awards ceremony will be held at the Kingsman Hotel and Conference Centre, Inverness; further details are noted on the enclosed invite, and we look forward to seeing you there. Please confirm your attendance and gueststo my secretary at the above address. Yours sincerely, Dominic McAllen. Chairman.”’ Shelley’s voice became exponentially louder and higher pitched as she read.
‘Fucking hell, Zee! You’re going to be a famous author!’ Marco and Shelley jumped round the room squealing as Toby and Jake looked on in bemusement.
Zara still couldn’t understand it. How had this happened?
‘I didn’t realise you’d actuallysent your book off anywhere! You bloody dark horse,’ Shelley said as she hugged Zara tightly. ‘I’m so proud of you. Still pissed off that you wouldn’t let me read it. But so proud!’
‘But… guys, Ididn’tsend it off anywhere. I wrote a submission letter to accompany it but that was as far as I got. I hadn’t even compiled a list of who I’d send itto, never mind being so presumptuous as to submitit to a competition!’ She held her arms out and let them flop to her sides. ‘How the hell has this happened?’ She narrowed her gaze and pointed a finger back and forth between her two best friends. ‘Did you—?’
‘God, no!’
‘Absolutely bloody not!’
They spoke in unison and wore an almost identical, incredulous expression.
Shelley looked to Marco and then back to Zara. ‘I for one wouldn’t invadeyour privacy that way, Zara. And I’m sure Marco’s the same.’
Marco nodded emphatically. ‘Absolutely. And anyway, I wouldn’t want to send it off before reading it in case it’s crap.’ The whole room seemed to gasp simultaneously and Marco waved his hand dismissively. ‘I don’t mean itiscrap, for fuck’s sake. I simply mean that I love you too much to set you up for a fall like that.’ He restedhis balled fist on his hip. ‘And whilst we’re on the subject, I’m still mad at you for letting Hunky McKilt Pants read the damned thing before me.’
Shelley’s eyes widened. ‘Oooh! That’s it! It’shim. It’s Kilty McSporran! He read it without your permission once – who’s to say he wouldn’t send it off without your permission too?’
Zara yelled, ‘Would you two pleasestopwith the offensive, stereotypicalnicknames? After what we all went through at school, I honestly thought you’d both know better. Andno, I don’t think Lachy would do such a thing. Not after the reaction I had the first time he read the bloody book.’
The room fell silent and the group stood there, tilted heads and knowing looks on their faces.
‘Wait, you all think it was Lachy? Seriously?’
Marco shrugged. ‘Well, you did sleepwith him very quickly so maybe he thought you’d moved to the next level?’
Zara scoffed. ‘What the hell are you going on about, Marco? Is there an “I’ve shagged you so now I can send your manuscript off to competitions willy-nilly without your knowledge” level? Eh?’
Marco folded his arms across his chest sulkily. ‘I was just saying.’
‘The thing is, Zee, how well did you know himreally?’ Shelleyasked softly.
Images of a naked, delicious Lachy gazing at her from his side of the bed sprang to her frontal lobe and she almost lost herself for a moment. Realising she hadn’t answered her friend’s question, she shook her head to try and eradicate the memories. ‘I think I knew him well enough to not suspect him of doing this behind my back.’
Marco gasped and everyone turned to face him, waitingfor the next gem of wisdom to fall from his lips. ‘Did Josh know about the book?’
Zara thought back to one of their post-coital conversations. ‘Yes. I mean, we talked about our hopes and dreams and stuff like that after he’d found my pink memory stick on my keyring. He asked what it was and I told him it was my book. And before you ask, no, I didn’t let him read it. I just said that one day Idreamed of sitting somewhere with a lovely view and being free to be a fiction writer.’ The group shared those knowing looks again and Zara shrugged. ‘But why would he do it?’ A light bulb flicked on in her mind. ‘Unless…’
‘Unless what?’ Shelley asked.
‘He’s been doing everything in his power to make me take him back properly. He’s been so sweet and thoughtful. Maybe this is his way of helpingme get my dream come true?’ She placed her hand over her heart as she realised it was actually a wonderful thing he’d done.
Marco scoffed. ‘Well, I wouldn’t bloody put it past him personally. Look what he did in Scotland with the posh hotel. And he could’ve copied the memory stick without you realising when he called round to see you or something. I mean, it’s always with you and you said yourselfthat he’d noticed it.’
The more she thought about it, the more confused Zara became. ‘I think I’ll message him. I think it’s very kind but it’s not good enough for things like that. I’ll have to withdraw it.’
Marco snatched the letter from Shelley’s grasp and waved it in Zara’s face. ‘Not good enough? Look what’s happened. You’ve been shortlisted in the Original Fiction Association Lit Awards,Zee. It’s only one of the most prestigious awards in the UK for writers. It’s obviously a bloody good book so don’t be ridiculous. You can’t withdraw it now. He may have just done you a huge favour.’
Marco was right, but Zara was too mixed up to admit it. She huffed like a sulky teenager and walked out of the room to retrieve her phone from its charging point in the lounge. At the very leastshe had to know who had done it.
