Summers' Love, A Cute and Funny Cinderella Love Story (LPC Romantic Comedy Series) (18 page)

Stu took note of the nautical theme of the cafe as he waited for the seating hostess. Yacht club pennants hung from ceiling rafters; colorful paintings of Beaufort’s historic homes adorned red brick walls. The sound of silverware clanging against ceramic plates gave the place a cozy, welcoming feeling.

The hostess arrived, asked him how many were in his party. For a moment he wanted to say something snide, like “twenty-four,” but he chose to simply smile and say, “One.”

She led him to a two-person table overlooking Front Street. When the hostess left, he pulled out his laptop and read his editor’s email. After dropping Kate off at the lighthouse dock, he’d returned to
Summers’ Breeze
, and emailed his very, very rough draft of the first three chapters to Blair Dalyrimple. Yes, Kate had been upset that he’d modeled his heroine after her, but given that she wasn’t willing to forgive, he figured he would push on with the project. Having sent the email, he pulled up the anchor and sailed to Beaufort, beating the rain and cold front by minutes.

Now he anxiously peeked at the Subject Line from his editor: This is the Stu We Love!!!

He smiled. Dalyrimple
never
complimented his writing, not ever. And in all caps? Never ever never.

After the Subject Line, the email only got better.

Good news! We’ve extended your deadline. You have another three weeks before the final manuscript is due. But feel free to send it to us earlier if you finish. This will help us keep you on track and our marketing department excited!

When the waitress arrived, he ordered coffee. She shuffled off and, with mixed feelings, Stu opened his manuscript and began working on the next chapter.

Kate sat on the porch swing, drinking sweet tea from a Mason jar while the sun set over the Pamlico Sound. When she heard the deep-throated growl of an outboard, she strolled around to the side porch and watched the skiff pull alongside her dock. Tuck Satterfield glanced up and waved to her. She remembered when they’d held each other for what she thought would be the last time. They had been sitting on the very same swing. After he’d left that morning, she’d locked herself in the cottage and cried until spent. Now, here he was again, sailing back into her life.

Stu hit the save button and stared at the screen, smiling. The words flowed. In fact they came too easily. It was as though a magical muse had invaded his soul and transformed him into a writer. Over the course of several hours, the caffeine kept his fingers flowing. Conflict in the dialogue kept the story tense. At the completion of the chapter, Stu clicked on his laptop’s Kindle application and referred back to
A Novel Idea: Story Structure Tips for the Break-Out Novelist,
a 99-cent eBook he had purchased on Amazon. For Stu,
A Novel Idea
was his writing bible.

Show conflict on every page, a problem in every scene.
Stu quickly reflected upon his story and mentally noted the areas of disagreement between his two characters, Tuck and Kate.

Maybe he should change the heroine’s name to Katherine. Or Katie …

Announce your character’s goal at the beginning of each scene. Allow them to state their goal in dialogue, if necessary. Then, make sure they do not get the thing they want.

Check.

At the end of the scene, give your main character a new problem.

Check.

Satisfied he was on the right track, Stu opened his own cheat sheet—one he’d developed from his years of watching romantic comedies. Stu would never admit it in public, but he was a closet romantic and loved chick flicks. He would sit for hours on his sofa, alone, with a legal pad in his lap and catalog the scenes. He now compared his story to the classic “boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl-back” structure, known within the book and movie industries as the “Romance W.” The formula was so entrenched within the publishing world that any deviation could cause an otherwise terrific novel to be rejected by an acquisitions editor.

Stu blew on his fourth cup of topped-off coffee, sipped, and scanned his cheat sheet.

Act I

1) Introduce the hero or heroine before presenting the romantic rival. Readers and audiences instinctively identify with the first character who appears on the scene.

In the first paragraph Stu had introduced Kate Winston as a harried, young single actress hoping to make it in Hollywood.

2) Present your heroine’s main motivation. In a properly-structured story, the hero’s outer motivation, which defines the story concept, is established no later than 25% of the way through the story.

Stu thought about “Kate the character’s” motivation. He would probably change her vocation later but for now she worked as a pizza delivery person. Stu didn’t know enough about the stun gun party business to accurately write it, so he gave Kate a second job as a pizza delivery person.

3) Introduce the inciting incident. In a romantic comedy this is often a chance meeting. Both in real life and in fiction, one of the highlights of any relationship is that first, head-over-heels, all-consuming I-saw-her-across-a-crowded-room scene.

While delivering twenty pizzas to a mansion in Beverly Hills, Kate finds herself face-to-face with one of Hollywood’s leading men.

4) Call to Action.

Mr. Handsome Hollywood actor asks Kate if she would like to join him for dinner while he watches the USC-UCLA football game.

5) Denial of Call to Action.

Kate refuses. She is on the clock and needs to finish making her deliveries before midnight—the classic Cinderella theme, Stu thought, smiling.

6) Repeat of Call to Action based on an emotional tug.

As Kate carries an armload of pizza boxes into the mansion, Mr. Handsome Hollywood actor leads her into a spacious room off the kitchen. Television monitors cover three walls. Boys and girls, most of them looking like street kids, lounge around playing video games and watching TV. Mr. Handsome Hollywood actor explains that occasionally he opens his house to kids who have no place to sleep. He sleeps in the guesthouse while his housekeeper and her husband chaperone the children. He invites Kate to stay and help him serve the kids.

7) Acceptance of Call to Action.

Kate reluctantly agrees. Mr. Handsome Hollywood actor calls Kate’s boss and informs him that Kate is now off for the evening. To keep Kate from losing her job, Mr. Handsome Hollywood orders one hundred pizzas, pays for them with his credit card and has them delivered to a homeless shelter.

8) Begin the quest.

As the front door to the mansion closes, we see Kate handing out plates of pizza. Her journey has begun and … oh! What an adventure it will be.

* * *

“Have you decided to eat?” asked Stu’s waitress.

Without looking at the menu, Stu ordered a house salad. Then, in honor of Kate, he also ordered a bowl of clam chowder. The waitress topped off his coffee and left, leaving Stu alone with his thoughts. Thunder boomed, its reverberations shaking the hardwood flooring beneath his feet. Through the front windows, he watched as rain puddled in the street. Much had changed in the past twenty-four hours—and not all of it the weather. Stu thought of how Kate had looked sitting on the beach, her brown eyes liquid and large as the sunset. He loved how she would tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and smile at him, or toss her head back and laugh when he’d recount his misadventures on
Summers’ Breeze
.

God, she was beautiful.

And not just physically. She easily anticipated his needs, hurrying to his side when he needed help bringing in the sails. He loved how her voice broke when she talked about loggerhead turtles and how commercial fishing nets threatened to wipe them out.

Without meaning to, he’d fallen in love with the heroine of his story.

How sad is that?

The waitress returned with his salad. Five minutes later, he’d only stabbed at it, choosing to spend more time looking out the window. Watching the rain bounce off the street left him depressed. He could save his writing career … maybe … but his heart would remain a wreck. He needed to find a way to get her back. And the only person he knew who could help was a full day’s sail away. Stu pulled out his phone and dialed.

“I need your advice. I’m in some trouble.”

“Oh dear me, what sort of trouble?”

“The girl kind, Hattie.”

“Dear God, don’t tell me you got her pregnant!”

“No, it’s worse. I think I’ve fallen in love with her.”

Chapter Twenty-one

Before Roger could ask why Kate was sitting outside his apartment, she blurted out, “So, how’d it go? Did you get the part?”

Her brother fished a ring of keys out of his jeans’ right front pocket. “What brings you to the hood?”

Kate pushed herself up and anxiously waited for Roger to unlock the door. The apartment building looked as if it had once been part of a public housing project. A window stood open at the end of the dimly-lit hallway. Outside, a fire escape. Judging from the windowsill’s worn edge, a well-used fire escape.

“So, do you think you’ll get the part?” asked Kate, giving it her best attempt to sound cheerful.

“Only if I want to perform in the nude. Turns out
Gilligan’s Island: The Musical
is about an all male burlesque troupe of cruise ship stewards who get stranded on a sandbar a half-mile from Coconut Grove in Miami. I
doubt
I’ll get the part.”

Kate cringed at the mental image of her little brother buck-naked with a fig leaf covering his privates. First she’d pictured Red’s chubby hubby prancing around their bedroom. Now Rog. She seriously needed to get her mind out of the gutter.

“We better get inside,” Roger announced, bumping the door open.

As soon as they were in the apartment, Roger pushed the door shut and slammed the deadbolt in place. The walls of the living room were painted a violent shade of orange. Cigarette burns marred the brown shag carpet. In the kitchen, linoleum tile curled along the edges. Now Kate understood why her brother never invited her over. And why he was willing to let himself be shocked,
but always at the lowest voltage
, at her stun gun parties.

Roger hooked the security chain in place and pushed one of the couches in front of the door. “So what’s the problem, Kate?”

“Problem? Who said there’s a problem?”

“When you called at lunch you told me you were leaving Ocracoke and heading home. Now you’re here. What’s up?”

“Plans changed.” Glancing around the tiny apartment, Kate asked, “Mind if I stay here tonight?”

Roger stepped into the tiny kitchen, opened the avocado green refrigerator, and retrieved a shiny black handgun from a Tupperware lettuce crisper. He checked to make sure the pistol was loaded, then tucked it in the back of his pants. “Tell me what happened, Sis.”

“I got evicted, that’s what happened.”

“But I thought you were paid up.”

“I needed all of last Thursday’s stun gun sales for that to happen and the girls didn’t come through. Please. It’ll just be for the one night. I fly to Charleston tomorrow afternoon for the big sales conference.”

“And after that?”

Kate threw up her hands. “I don’t know, Rog. I really don’t. I’m just trying to get through tonight, okay?”

Roger nodded toward her rain-soaked jeans. “Hope you’re not going to your precious stun gun sales conference looking like that.”

“Of course not. That’s where you come in. Or, rather I should say,
break
in. I need to get into my condo.” Kate heard shouting in the hallway and glanced at the door. “Just long enough for me to pack a few things,” she said over her shoulder. “You still have that lock-picking kit, right?”

“Yes, but it’s been months since I practiced.”

“They changed the locks on my townhome, Rog. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be asking.”

“What about your author friend? Can’t he help you? From what you told me earlier, he was … how did you say it? Wrapped around your finger.”

“It’s like I’ve always said, Rog. Men can’t be trusted. Not ever. So can I stay here tonight?” She looked toward the sofa. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“That’s where
I
sleep.”

“Great. I’ll take the bedroom.”

“That’s my office.”

“Why would an actor need an office?”

“To do voiceovers and book narration ACX. You didn’t seriously think I paid my bills doing street skits, did you?”

Before Kate could answer, the shouting in the hallway escalated to cursing.

“Better get away from the door,” said Rog, taking Kate by the elbow. He pulled her into the hallway bathroom and shut the door. “We’ll be safer in here.”