24. “With a Little Help From My Friends”

24

"WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS"

JOE COCKER

A fter putting the groceries away, and checking in on Kari, I sat on the couch in the sunroom with a notebook on my lap. I thought about the couple in front of me at the beach, and the hypothetical life they lived, full of adventure and mysteries and secrets. While my typical genre wasn't mysteries and thrillers, it intrigued me to think about the secrets people keep—sometimes from those in their own home.

With that couple in mind, I started to outline an idea for Caleb's assignment—the husband, a covert CIA agent, and the wife, secretly working as a private investigator. I had so much fun putting it together and building character profiles that before I knew it, I had written the outline, the profiles for the husband and the wife, and a few details about the adventures they each had during their week apart.

Five thousand words flowed out of me like honey from a hive on a hot, sticky August afternoon. I read through it, made a few edits, and sent it off to Caleb. The act of clicking the ‘Send' button filled me with a kind of nervous excitement I hadn't experienced while writing, and I wished I could bottle it and sprinkle it on the next time I hit a roadblock.

Thirty minutes later, my phone rang.

Caleb.

Immediately, I got a knot in my stomach.

I answered the phone with my heart in my throat. "Hello?"

"Hey there, Paige. I just got your short story. I'm waiting for one of my writing mentees to get here, and I thought I would give you a call."

"Hey there, Caleb. Wow, I didn't expect to hear back from you so soon."

"Well, I didn't expect you to get your assignment done so soon. I'm impressed. No writer's block there, huh?"

"I definitely feel like the shorter word count felt a little less intimidating. I took your advice and went to the beach to observe the people around me. I saw a couple playing with their children and invented a whole story in my head about who they were like you had told me to do."

"Sounds like that was an effective exercise judging from what you sent me this morning. The CIA agent and the covert private investigator?"

"We all have dreams, right?"

"Isn't that the truth? I have to say, Paige, I'm impressed with what you've got here. I would make a few edits with some tense changes and word usage, but overall, you have a solid story here. Let me ask you something. Do you think you could take a story like this and expand on it? If you had a story that captured your imagination, do you think an outlining process could help you get to a fifty-thousand-word first draft?"

"Fifty thousand words? Yikes." I felt my stomach clenching up with the thought. "I'm not sure…. "

"Okay, why don't we start here? Think about this story. Try to come up with some ways you can possibly expand it, and I will send you some resources you can use to build out characters. Have you done any work with character development?"

"I've done some, but I've mostly been trying to write by the seat of my pants. That doesn't appear to be working as well as I'd hoped."

Caleb's quiet laugh came back over the receiver. "There are some people that can write by the seat of their pants. We call them ‘pantsers'. But others prefer to have everything laid out, plotted, and planned in advance, and they write based on those plans. It keeps their thoughts organized and helps pull them through the story as they write. It also helps them remember where the story is headed. You might fall into that camp."

"I haven't had much experience with plotting," I admitted.

"I have a couple tools I used on the last few books I published. I'll send those along to you in an email, but in the meantime, start thinking about what kinds of assignments he could go on. Dig a little deeper into some sticky situations the wife could uncover.

"Perhaps you can come up with some funny or stressful things that happen to her along the way, just to build some intrigue and interest around both their character arcs. Different ways they could grow—separately and together. Think about how you want your story to end. Is there a conflict? Is the conflict the secrets they are keeping from each other? Perhaps it's that he would really like to leave his current role and become a French horn instructor. Have some fun with it. You can always change out details later, but give them each an overarching conflict, then figure out how you would want to resolve those conflicts."

"I can do that," I said, wondering if it were true.

"Wonderful. Can you have it done by next Wednesday?"

"I'll do my best. "

"Great. Once I get your notes back, I can show you how to plot out your story using your ideas. I know we have a meeting set for two weeks from now, but I wasn't expecting you to get done with your assignment so quickly. Let's move our next meeting up a bit so I can get you set up for the next step. Can you meet next Wednesday at noon?"

After checking my calendar, we set up the next session and chatted for a few more minutes until Caleb's mentee arrived. When we hung up, I felt a little better about the direction in which I was headed. It felt good to have a plan, even if it was headed into unfamiliar territory. It seemed everything around me was unfamiliar territory, but everywhere I turned, there were people standing next to me, ready to help me find my way forward.

Halfway through the beef bourguignon I was making ‘Paige, party of one' for dinner that night, my phone vibrated on the counter. I picked it up and saw a new text in our group chat, which had been renamed, ‘The Sensational Six.'

Grace: Hey you. The girls and I have been having a little side chat so as not to overwhelm you. We've got some ideas we'd like to run past you.

Elyse: Grace, you make it sound like we're sitting around talking about her behind her back.

Jenna: We have definitely not been doing that.

Grace: Oh stop it. We're just here crafting our master plan for Paige's future. You don't mind, do you Paige?

Not one bit. Someone needs to have a plan for my future.

Grace: That's where we come in. Are you free tomorrow around one?

My calendar app indicated I was indeed free. Not to mention, my curiosity was piqued.

Looks like I'm free. What did you have in mind?

Grace: Meet us at Cat's Bites. Bring a notebook.

Sounds… mysterious… but well-documented. Should I be afraid?

Elyse: With Grace on the case, you should always be afraid. But don't worry, we're keeping her reined in.

Jenna: Barely

Oh. She jokes.

Grace: See you tomorrow

Elyse: See ya

Jenna: Bye

See you tomorrow

I spent the rest of the time it took to make dinner, wondering what on earth they had up their sleeves. I carried my soon-to-be-tattered notebook to the table with me when I sat down to eat. It was time to get serious and start that Pros and Cons list.

Pros :

1. I have friends who are willing to help with the leg work.

2. I'll be surrounded by creative people.

3. It'll give me a sense of purpose.

4. The additional income will help with the utility bills. (Yikes.)

Cons:

…

I couldn't think of one.

I got through my work in record time the next morning. None of it was all that difficult. The usual: subject lines, social posts, a blog post, editing a brochure, sending an email to a subject matter expert I needed to interview the next week, a few emails from my boss asking for updates on a few other projects we were working on together, and I was finished in the nick of time.

By twelve-thirty, I had walked Roxy and apologized profusely for needing to leave her behind again, but I didn't think Cat's café was dog-friendly. Golden retrievers loved to leave little bits of themselves everywhere they went, preferably in people's food.

"You and your fur need to stay here, Rox. I'll be back with leftovers." She wagged her tail as if she understood, and I bent to give her a kiss on her snoot before I walked out the door.

After a short trip in the Jeep, I found a parking spot in the back of the lot next to the library. I was walking toward the sidewalk still singing the song that had been playing in the Jeep as Elyse was walking up .

I put my hand up in greeting. "Hey, how'd your morning go?"

"Pretty good. Slow day at the bookstore, so I was able to leave the cashier in charge for a little bit. I couldn't miss this."

She had her backpack with her, as usual, and looked like she was ready to get down to business.

"I'm a little nervous, but… I'll just hear what you all have to say."

"Oh, it's all good. We've all been putting our heads together to try and come up with some ideas to see if we can talk you into this whole endeavor. We know it will be a lot of work, but I just want you to know we will be here to help you with it. We all have a particular set of skills," she said as she winked at me.

"Yeah, but will they make you a nightmare to someone like me?"

Elyse laughed. "Probably, but hear us out first."

We walked in together, welcomed by the smell of greasy bacon and… pie? Directly in front of us was a counter with a register and to the left of it, the baked goods case I'd heard so much about. Cat's head popped up through the opening into the kitchen behind the counter and she smiled when she saw us. "Hey, ‘Lyse. You know where they are. Paige, I'm so glad you're here. Welcome to Cat's Bites."

I waved and smiled before she put her head back down, her face a mask of concentration framed by the steam from whatever she was cooking. Elyse pivoted to the left, and when I looked in the direction she was facing, I found Grace and Jenna with their heads together at one of the two U-shaped booths in the back corner.

This smells like trouble.

As Elyse and I walked past a dozen or so booths and a neat row of tables, I took in the eclectic decor of the café. Art of every kind hung on bright orange walls, and it all seemed to be grouped by themes, but I couldn't decipher what they were. I was so engrossed in taking in as much as I could, I nearly slammed into Elyse when she stopped. She turned and saw me staring at a large oil painting of a fully nude dark-skinned woman with one toe dipped into a roaring white-capped river. "Cat does a fair amount of traveling now that her son is grown and she's done paying for his education. Everywhere she goes, she picks up something for the café. These walls are basically an anthology of her travels."

She swung her backpack down and set it on the booth between her and Grace. I sat down next to Jenna and across from Elyse, then looked over at Grace. "Hey there."

"Hey there, yourself."

I wrapped my arm around Jenna and gave her a little squeeze. I had started to feel a little protective of her, like she was the younger, more introverted version of me from thirty years ago. I was hoping I could pull out some of the spirit I knew was in there.

"Alright ladies, I see you all have your pens and notepads in front of you. Is this an official meeting?"

"Indeed it is," said Grace with a huge smile and an unmistakable twinkle in her eye. Yes. An actual twinkle. I was terrified.

"I now call to order the first official meeting of The Sensational Six."

"First things first," Grace said, handing out spiral-bound presentations. I flipped mine open and was met with a Table of Contents.

Grace, Kari, and my mom would get along great. Would the world explode if they stood too close to each other? I chuckled to myself at the thought.

"I'm not sure what's so funny, chucklehead, but the first thing you'll need is zoning approval. Flip to page six. I found this on the website for the village, and it lays out everything you need to do… "

The next hour was a blur of sandwiches, to-do lists, and iced tea. As my cohort began to wind itself down, Elyse spoke up. "I have mentioned my friend Raina is an expert in social media. She's got a huge following that she's grown organically over the years. She doesn't spend a whole lot on advertising; she just creates content. I reached out to her yesterday to run the idea past her. I didn't give her any details, of course, but just a hypothetical situation, and she actually got pretty excited about it and had a few ideas of her own. If you don't mind, I'd love to connect you so she could go over those with you herself."

I was so overwhelmed by that point that, for once, I didn't know what to say. "I don't… you guys… you've put so much thought into this. Sure, I'd love to talk to her. It doesn't do any good to do all this planning and then not have anyone show up. If we're going to put this much work into it, I should probably have someone with local contacts and knowledge doing the marketing for me."

"Exactly," said Elyse. "Okay, so can I give her your number?"

"Absolutely."

"Okay, the next order of business is… Jenna, can you please run and get Cat and let her know she's up to bat?"

I stood so Jenna could scoot out of the booth. She disappeared into the kitchen, returning a moment later with Cat on her heels.

"Paige, good to see you. How was your lunch?"

Jenna slid back into the booth, and I returned to my spot next to her.

"I'll never rue a Rueben."

Elyse scooted over so Cat could settle in across from me.

"Ha. Good one. Anyway, I've been so busy at the café the last few days, but I've had some discussions with the other girls about your retreat. You are thinking of providing breakfast and lunch, correct? "

"Correct."

"I would love the opportunity to earn some of that business. We could work together on an easy menu that fits your budget, and we would deliver the lunches every day. Have you figured out what you'd like to serve for breakfast?"

I felt like I needed a nap at this point, but they had put so much into this that I needed to absorb as much as possible. "I haven't figured out much of anything at this point, but what did you have in mind?"

Elyse cleared her throat, and Jenna looked at her nervously before speaking. "You know how I have been really wanting to… You know I love to bake, and I really wanted to have another way to earn some money and maybe have a little bit of independence. I was thinking, if you're going to be serving breakfast, I would love the opportunity to provide some baked goods during these retreat weekends." Jenna paused and made eye contact with me.

"Okay," I smiled, trying to encourage her to continue. "What did you have in mind?"

"I think it would be a lot of fun, and it would give me some practice planning things out, and I could maybe turn it into a business. Maybe other people would want me to provide baked goods for their events."

"This is a great idea, Jenna, and I would love to talk to you more about that and hear what you had in mind."

She looked down at her hands twisted in front of her, but when she looked up, she was smiling, and it was like the first sunny day after a long, gray Midwest winter. "Okay, I'll put some ideas on paper and start thinking about things I could make. I could even do some different options for people who are gluten-free or have food allergies as well. I think that would be a smart idea for sure."

Grace piped up. "Jenna, I think this is fabulous. I'm really proud of you for speaking up and offering your skills to Paige. You're very talented, and everything you've ever made has been absolutely delicious. You might make Paige's retreat famous just from your muffins alone."

Jenna beamed, and Cat's eyes shone with pride. "I spoke with Jenna about this opportunity before the meeting today. She can come in early and use my kitchen if you decide to let her bake for you."

"It sounds as if you ladies have this all figured out."

Elyse picked up her backpack and shoved her notebook into it. "I need to head back to the store, but it feels like we got a lot accomplished today. Let me know when the next meeting is." Cat stood to let her out, then Elyse turned to me. "This is going to be fabulous. All of it. I can feel it in my bones." She threw her backpack over her shoulder, placed a twenty-dollar bill on the table, and turned to leave. "See you at league next week. I'll be the one racing Cat to the first tee box." And with a wink, she was gone.

The rest of us followed suit. Cat said goodbye and returned to the kitchen, and Grace, Jenna, and I paid, packed up, and walked outside.

"Productive meeting, I would say," said Grace. "I'll fill Sarah in once she's out of school. She'll be delighted by how much we got done." She reached out and squeezed my upper arm. "Thank you, Paige. This project we've foisted on you is going to change a lot of lives. You wait and see." She took a step back. "Ready, Jenna?"

"I'm ready. Thank you, Paige. Thanks for listening and considering me. I'll put some ideas together for next time we meet." Again, her eyes were on mine, her shoulders back with budding pride.

"I can't wait. I'll see you both soon."

We parted ways, and Jenna and Grace headed for the Range Rover. I had parked in the back of the lot near the library, so I walked the rest of the way, lost in thought.