If only the promise of a fancy dress was enough to make all right in Jo’s own world. Despite the excitement of the day, Ewan’s behaviour continued to nag at her.

Jo replied to Graham Westbury after she had tucked Clara up in bed. Before then, she didn’t feel able to reply without making herself sound like a fawning idiot. It was bad enough that she had zero chill, she didn’t want to advertise it in her first official communication with Graham.

She could hardly believe that she was having this email conversation, but she was determined to take her time and enjoy it.

Dear Graham,

Thank you so much for your email of this morning. I apologise for the time it has taken me to respond, but I was so blown away by your words that I wanted a little time to process everything you had written.

As it happened, I was also on a writing retreat of sorts with one of your authors – Ewan McLachlan, who has been researching his next novel here.

I am beyond happy that you read and enjoyed The Lies We Tell, and I am thrilled that you would like to discuss representing me. I would be more than happy to have a phone conversation with you to discuss this further, and to discuss your ideas on how to get the book ready to submit to publishers.

Please let me know when would suit you for a chat. I look forward to speaking with you.

Kindest regards,

Jo Campbell

She read the email at least seven times, and tweaked it before she pressed send. She realised that while she hadn’t exactly shown zero chill, she wasn’t far off. But this was a huge deal. This could bring her dream directly to her door. The thought made her feel giddy.

Jo was still feeling light and breezy when she got up the following morning and looked out at the bright spring morning. She was determined nothing was going to bring her down, not even the incredibly bizarre behaviour of Ewan the day before or whatever would happen when she met Lorcan for a coffee. He had sent a perfunctory message shortly after her return to Derry saying he would appreciate the chance to talk. Something that, probably because of Ewan’s sudden mood swing the day before, she felt more nervous about than she normally would. She wasn’t sure she could trust her feelings about new men in her life any more.

But first of all, she was going to take Clara to school and then she, and her battered laptop, were going to Once Upon A Book to try to pull together some of the ideas she had worked on with Ewan. She intended to write until it was time to see Lorcan, and then, when that was done and dusted, she planned to write some more.