SEATTLE CINDERELLA: FOUR-IN-ONE COLLECTION Page 14

  She read a lot, but with the number of books available, the chances that she’d already read the book they would be discussing were slim.

  Still, it really didn’t matter. The existence of the book club provided her with an excuse to leave the house every Friday night without being pestered to go on any more blind dates. At least on Friday nights. The idea was actually next to genius. It couldn’t have worked better if she’d planned it.

  Since she didn’t know what they were reading, she’d brought her largest purse and tucked inside a few recent releases from her favorite authors.

  Zella sucked in a deep breath to give herself some bravado and opened the door.

  As she stepped inside the meeting room, the fragrant aroma of fresh coffee wafted up to greet her. Which was a good start.

  Everyone seated at the large table turned toward her and smiled to greet her.

  Three men and six women. A good-sized group. All adults, ranging from early twenties to an older lady with a bad dye job who appeared to be well into retirement.

  “Welcome,” the elderly lady said. “My name is Sheila. Help yourself to the coffee and have a seat.”

  Zella smiled back. So far so good.

  While she poured a cup of coffee, the conversation nearest her centered around a book she hadn’t read. However, it sounded interesting, and the woman speaking was very excited about the story line. This was one book that Zella would ask for the author and title and buy it.

  Coffee in hand, she took an empty seat and tucked her purse under the table.

  Sheila folded her hands on top of a stack of printed pages, still smiling brightly. “It’s nice to see a new person here. How did you find out about us?”

  “From the community newspaper.”

  About half the people seated around the table expressed surprise in silence, while the oldest of the three men smirked, looking rather smug.

  “Let me introduce everyone,” Sheila said. “Beside me is Terri, next is Jorg, then Sasha, Jessica, Jon, Patty, Michelle, and beside you is Trevor. What’s your name?”

  “My name is Zella, and I’m pleased to meet you all.”

  Her name came back, repeated en masse by most of the people in the group. “Zella?” Everyone raised their eyebrows and stared.

  A couple of them wowed.

  Beside her, Trevor, who looked to be about the same age as her, quirked one brow, leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms over his chest, and blatantly studied her. “Interesting. Is it real?”

  Zella felt her cheeks heat up. “Um. Yes.”

  This time a few people gasped. Now everyone was staring at her intently, waiting.

  “Yes, it’s my real name. It’s kind of odd, but there’s a story behind it.” She knew she was starting to blabber out of nervousness. “It was my grandmother’s dying wish that I be named Drizella after her own grandmother. My mother thought it was a horrible name, but my father had promised his mother under duress, so my mother agreed if it was shortened to Zella.” She laughed weakly. “I’ve never met anyone with the same name, and I don’t expect I ever will.”

  Sheila straightened the pile of papers in front of her. “That’s a nice story, dear. Now we should get started or we’re going to run out of time.” She pulled a bundle of papers from beneath the stack. “We’re mixed genres here. When Patty and I started this group, we thought it would be best to offer different viewpoints, depending on what we’ve chosen as the group’s focus for each week.”

  Zella nodded. “I like that idea.” While she loved to read romance novels, she had a few murder-mystery series authors she always followed, and she liked to vary her reading. She’d even read some speculative fiction, although she sometimes found the complicated fantasy settings hard to follow.

  “We’re sorry that you didn’t contact us in advance because now you’ll have to follow along what we’re doing today without having read it first. But if you have any comments, don’t be shy. We always welcome comments and suggestions.”

  Instead of handing her a book, Sheila slid the bundle of printed pages to her. It was labeled the third chapter of a book by an author she’d never heard of.

  While she waited for everyone else to shuffle through various totes and folders, Zella scanned the pages. Even though she didn’t have time to read much, she recognized it as the book the two ladies had been talking about while she was pouring her coffee.

  One of the ladies, who she thought might have been Patty, continued digging through a tote bag while everyone else waited for her, providing Zella with an opportunity to ask a question. After all, Sheila had told her not to be shy.

  “Excuse me, but I see you’ve given me chapter three. If this is the book I heard Sasha and Michelle discussing, I’d love to read the whole thing. Do you have an extra copy for me?”

  Sasha froze and her mouth dropped open. “Really? Are you serious?” She turned and grasped Michelle’s hands and gave them a squeeze while looking at Zella. “Are you sure? I’d love to send you the whole thing, but I’m not done yet. I need a better complication to get my protagonist to the final battle. What I had was coming out too contrived.” She looked around the table at everyone seated. “I was hoping we’d have time to do a little brainstorming before we go home tonight.”

  Zella tried not to let her mouth hang open. The book wasn’t finished? Complication? Protagonist? Brainstorming?

  Afraid to move, she kept her head still while she tried to subtly glance around the table.

  No one had a book in front of her or him. Most had printed pages, the same chapter 3 that she had been given, but everyone else’s was filled with red notes and scribbles. Instead of paper three of the people there, including Trevor, the man beside her, had laptops.

  Trevor turned to her and smiled. “It’s okay if you didn’t bring anything of your own; after all, it’s your first time here. If you think the group is a good fit for you, you can e-mail a chapter to Sheila, and she’ll send it to everyone else so we can read it for next week.”

  Zella gulped. This wasn’t a book club that read books. This was a book club that wrote books.

  Trevor’s smile widened. “Don’t worry. You look like you’re about to be drawn and quartered. I’m going to guess that you’re not published? If you’re not ready to share your work yet, that’s fine. You can submit to the group when you’re ready.”

  Zella struggled to breathe. She could barely write a grocery list, never mind a whole chapter. She certainly couldn’t write enough chapters to make a whole book. Back in high school she’d excelled in math but done abysmally in English.

  She didn’t belong here. But if she left, she had no place to go except home, where her mother was waiting for her with a list of eligible men desperate enough to fall into their planning clutches.

  For tonight she didn’t have to do anything here but read. That’s what they’d told her.

  Tonight she would do her best to go with the flow, and by next Friday she would figure out something else to do.

  Maybe she could make a few significant comments, and then she’d never have to see these people again.

  She cleared her throat and dug a pen out of her purse. “It’s okay, I’m ready. Let’s begin.”

  Chapter 2

  Trevor Jones leaned back in his chair and watched the newbie fidget in the chair. She didn’t look completely terrified to the core of her soul, but close.

  Of the people he knew who were writers, many were shy and didn’t do well in groups or social settings. The saying that writing was a solitary profession was very true. It took a long time to write a book, and most of that time had to be spent alone in order to concentrate. Very few people could do it. But of those who could, often it was because that person preferred to be alone than in a social setting. He wondered if Zella was one of those people who didn’t interact well with others.

  Watching Zella almost cower as Sheila offered her extra copies of Sasha’s first and second chapters, he thought that might be true.
Unlike himself. While he was far from the life of the party, he enjoyed going out and doing things with friends—when he had time, which often was nonexistent between deadlines and the day job.

  The hard facts of the writing life were that until a writer had a few bestsellers under his belt, he needed another income to keep a roof over his head and food on the table. Which meant rich parents, a supportive spouse, or a day job to pay the bills until the next royalty check. Or all of the above.

  Trevor didn’t have rich parents or a wife to help support him as he made his uphill climb, but according to his agent, he was almost at the point he could quit his day job—or at least take a few years off—to write full-time. Not yet, but he was close.

  Unless he didn’t make his next deadline. Then it would all be over. The day job wouldn’t be a choice, it would be a necessity.

  “Okay,” Sheila said as she straightened her pile of paper. “Let’s get started. Patty, do you want to go first?”

  Instead of paying as much attention as he should have to comments the group made on Sasha’s latest project, Trevor focused on Zella.

  As the only one who hadn’t previously read the chapter, Zella was at a distinct disadvantage, yet she managed to chime in once or twice. He found it intriguing that the more she read and the more the discussion intensified, the less nervous she became and the more she participated.

  The same happened when they pulled out three other members’ chapters they’d been working on. By the time they turned the last page of Jorg’s chapter, all traces of Zella’s nervousness had disappeared.

  He couldn’t help but smile, even though he was the only one. He loved brainstorming, and he saw that Zella had a vivid imagination and jumped right in, digging into plot configuration and red herrings. She was a great fit for their group.

  Too bad this wasn’t the week to do one of his chapters. He was curious to see what she would think.

  Sheila noisily slurped the last of her coffee then thunked her mug down on the table. “We’re done, people. Unfortunately we’re late again—the librarians are going to come in here any minute and kick us out. We can’t disrupt their scheduled closing or we won’t be allowed to come back. Everyone’s got to help clean up.”

  Trevor could now see that Zella wasn’t shy at all. She pitched in to clean up the scattered papers and coffee supplies without hesitation.

  He liked that. Since most writers were voracious readers, at least when they weren’t on a deadline, she probably was, too. He liked that as well. Also as a writer, you had to be an effective time manager to balance making an income, writing, family, and still having friends and a social life. He really liked that in a person, too.

  He realized he was assuming a lot, so he wanted to get to know her better to find out if all these things he wanted to be true about her actually were.

  Having young children at home, Patty and Sasha grabbed the envelopes Sheila had prepared for them and scampered out of the room. The other ladies and Jon weren’t far behind, leaving himself, Jorg, Sheila, and Zella to finish up. Like he did every week, after he’d finished stacking the chairs and knocking down the table with Jorg, Trevor was now ready to put the box of coffee supplies on the top shelf for Sheila.

  He froze before he took his first step.

  Zella had already lifted the box and was effortlessly sliding it into its place on the top shelf.

  The woman stood about nine inches taller than Sheila. He looked down to Zella’s feet. Sneakers. She wasn’t even on her tiptoes.

  She had to be nearly six feet tall.

  At six foot four, he towered above most women.

  He wouldn’t tower over Zella Wilson. With her long legs and sensible shoes, she would keep pace with him when they walked together.

  He wondered if she liked to go hiking. Or if she did rock climbing. She could with legs like that. Looking at her from the back, she was slim, but rather than being vainly model skinny, she was adequately filled out and looked physically fit. Maybe she’d even give him a run for his money on the track.

  If he wasn’t sure then, he was sure now. He definitely wanted to get to know her better.

  Trevor approached her. “If you don’t have any plans, I was wondering if you’d like to join me for a cup of coffee at the place down the street.”

  As he waited, he could barely believe the way his heart was pounding—he was actually nervous. It had obviously been too long since he’d asked a woman for a date. Not that this was a date, but it was the closest he’d come since his last deadline.

  Sheila reached up and rested her hand on his forearm. “That’s a great idea. I’d like that.” Sheila turned to Zella. “Would you like to come, too, dear? What about you, Jorg?”

  Jorg shrugged his shoulders. “Sure. I’ve got nothing better to do.”

  Zella glanced between all of them, checked her watch, and then smiled nervously. “I’d like that. Lead the way.”

  Trevor gritted his teeth. A group outing wasn’t what he’d had in mind, but if it was this or nothing, he’d take it. “See you all there in five.”

  As she carried her coffee cup and muffin to the table to join everyone else, Zella reminded herself to keep quiet and just listen. She had the same bad habit as her sister Annie, which was to talk too much when she got nervous.

  She couldn’t try to bluff her way into having these people think she was trying to be a writer. The best thing would be to sit quietly and let them assume. Then she had a week to actually try to write something, so even if she wrote really badly, which she was sure she would, at least she could have a small taste of what it was like. She hadn’t been sure what they were talking about when they groaned about sagging middles, but she didn’t think it had anything to do with anyone’s waistline. Except maybe for Jon.

  Zella shook the wayward thought out of her head as she sank into the chair and clamped her lips shut.

  Sheila turned to her. “What did you think of our group, Zella?”

  So much for being quiet.

  Zella maintained her smile, trying not to let her nervousness show. “I learned a lot. How long has the group been together?” It was kind of answering a question with a question, but she needed to change the subject and get everyone else talking.

  Sheila grinned ear to ear. “Six years. We started out in my basement, but it got too small when more members joined, so we moved to the library. How long have you been writing?”

  Zella gulped. “I…” She couldn’t lie to these people. “Not long.” Approximately three hours. Not that she’d actually written anything, but she had started thinking about it.

  Beside her, Trevor shook his head. “Can’t you see she’s nervous? Give the woman a chance to get used to us.” He turned to Zella. “I thought we could talk about something else. Like the last Mariners game when the roof on Safeco Field got stuck. Or if you’re going to Bumbershoot this year.” He paused, making a lopsided grin. “I wonder how they came up with a bizarre name like that.”

  Zella bit back a giggle. “I know the answer. The word bumbershoot is an old slang for umbrella, and it refers to the festival being a figurative umbrella for all the acts and performers. But I think it really refers to the fact that because it’s here in Seattle, everyone had better have an umbrella because it will probably rain.”

  Sheila waved one hand in the air. “That’s so crowded and too noisy. I plan to spend the long weekend catching up on my reading. I have a stack of books, and I’m so behind.”

  Trevor took a sip of his coffee. “You’re retired. How could you get behind on anything?”

  Sheila snorted. “For your information I have a stack of books from the Romancing America series to read, among others. What about you, Zella? What do you like to read?”

  Zella thought of the five books she had in her purse. “A variety, I guess. Mostly romance, but I also like mysteries. Right now I’m reading the latest T. J. Zereth. He’s my favorite author. His website says he lives right here in Seattle. I’ve been w
aiting for a book tour so I can meet him and get his autograph. Or maybe get my picture taken with him. Wouldn’t that be exciting?”

  Trevor’s eyes widened, and he slapped his napkin over his nose and mouth and started to cough violently. With his napkin pressed to his nose, he thunked his cup down on the table so hard that some coffee sloshed out, while it sounded like he was almost gagging. Sheila jumped out of her chair to avoid the splash, while Jorg ignored both of them, staring at Zella with eyes so wide she thought they might pop out of his head.

  “A picture with the enigmatic T. J. Zereth, huh?” Sheila handed the sputtering Trevor a handful of napkins out of the holder, patted him on the back, and then grabbed Jorg’s napkin to wipe the spill before returning to her chair. “Yes, that would be exciting.”

  Jorg leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “I read his latest one awhile back. What do you think of Mrs. Rubenstein?”

  All three of them stared at her, waiting, and Zella wondered if this was some kind of test that she would pass or fail for admission into their club. So far she hadn’t read anything in the book that had been off-kilter or questionable, nor had she read far enough to make a judgment call on the character—a short, eccentric, elderly lady with a sharp tongue and a quick wit who was constantly changing her hair color. Who, if she had to personalize, probably looked a lot like Sheila, which now that she thought about it, was very funny. Perhaps the group had teased Sheila about the resemblance, but Zella didn’t know Sheila well enough to comment or if Sheila would think such a thing was amusing.

  “I can’t say,” she said, trying not to laugh with the picture in her head, comparing Sheila to the character. “I haven’t finished the book yet. Please don’t give away the ending.”

  They talked a bit about a few other books, some of which she’d read, most she hadn’t. When they were done, everyone stacked their empty cups and used napkins on Trevor’s tray.

  He sighed. “You might as well give me your garbage, too. Everyone always does. Will you be joining us next week?”