Page 18 of Under the Mistletoe
Jane perked up at this. “I think your strongest building point would be the origin story of Anwar.”
“The life stone?”
“Yes, where did it come from? What was its power before they decided to split it? This gives you a lot of ways you could go with it. You just need to find two characters that interact with the life stone and make them fall in love. But other things could work, as long as it is romantic.”
Just the idea made Logan’s skin itch.
“We aren’t looking for Hallmark. Think more Arwen and Aragorn. Happy endings are up to you, but most of all, we need to see Victor Holt on the page.”
Mark fiddled with his pen, looking a little too satisfied. “So what do you say?”
What did he say? What he wanted to say wasNo thank you, I’m going back to my cabin. I’ll send you another draft of book four in a few months. But that wasn’t an option.
“Sounds great.” The words scraped against his throat. “I’ll start working on that story today.”
“Don’t be discouraged.” Sandy jotted something down on the paper in front of her. “All good authors hit a bump at some point. You’re not the first author to have a book rejected, and you won’t be the last, but I think we can find a good story in there. Let’s connect next week.”
With that, the call ended.
He shut the laptop and sank back into the chair. If he had to check in with Christina regularly, not to mention submit a chapter every day, it looked like he was stuck in Heritage till after Christmas. But if he were going to be here for the month, he should probably take a quick trip home tomorrow to turn down his heat, not to mention get more clothes and basics.
So much for getting back to his cabin and away from Heritage and all its attachments.
four
After seeing how much the kids had thrived at the derby two days ago, Devin was even more convinced that she needed to do whatever it took to save this program. She had the list of possible Christmas activities to present at the online meeting tomorrow but still no idea how she’d pull them all off at the last minute or how she was going to get people to them.
Devin shut the door to the Sunday school classroom where she’d been teaching the first through third graders, tugged on her coat, and walked toward the lobby of Grace Community Church. Nate had done a lot to modernize the place from when she’d visited Jess when she was younger.
The stained blue Berber carpet had been replaced with dark wood vinyl plank. And the long hallway that led to the classrooms had murals of different Bible stories. They were all signed by the name Kade. Whoever Kade was, he was good.
Tyce ran past her, giggling as he pushed out the side door.
“Mrs. Barlow said no running.” Easton hurried after him, a very stern look on his face, followed by Alani, who didn’t say a word.
Heather Barlow appeared around the corner a second later, dark circles under her eyes. “Sorry about them.”
Devin dismissed her words with a wave. “God loves joy in His house.”
“Tyce is full of joy, that’s for sure.” Heather drew a slow breath.
“Do you have time to set that coffee date?” Devin dropped into step with her.
“Soon.” Heather pulled down three coats from the coatrack. “Text me.”
The lobby was still quite full when Devin reached it. Or maybe it just felt full with two Christmas trees now taking up a large corner.
Devin was halfway to the double doors that led to the parking lot when her steps faltered. What was Logan doing here? She’d seen him headed north in his Bronco yesterday morning when she’d gone to do some Christmas shopping in Ludington. He was supposed to be gone from her life again so she could pretend he didn’t exist, while she focused on real problems like her job.
“Devin!” Roman came running at her full steam in a little blue sweater vest, his face in a dramatic pout. “It isn’t fair you teach Joseph’s class. I want you to teachmyclass.”
“Well, when you get to be six, I’ll teach you too.” She bopped him on the nose as Hannah wandered up with his coat in her hand, her hair tied back in an elegant high ponytail with a braid wrapped around the band.
“Great job on the race Friday. The kids haven’t stopped talking about it. Have I told you lately how thankful I am for you? Promise to never leave.”
That was it. The weight of what she needed to accomplish combined with everyone counting on her slammed into her afresh, and she blinked hard. But she didn’t seem to be able to keep back the threatening tears.
Hannah’s eyes widened. “What happened? I thought you’d be in an extra good mood today after the announcement that Victor Holt was releasing a novella.”
