‘Don’t thank me,’ he said. ‘Allow me to mentor you. For a few days. As I said, I’m going to Donegal on a research trip. Come with me, for a day or two. Let’s work together. Nothing dodgy,’ he said, smiling. ‘I’m not a creep. I’m booked into a hotel. I’ll get you your own room. I just like to support new writers when I can and this… this is worth supporting. I mean, I understand if you can’t or if it feels weird. But the offer is there.’

20

An Indecent Proposal

It had to be a set-up. Jo wondered if Ewan McLachlan had some secret recording device. Or maybe he was just an exceptionally weird and cruel man who liked to raise the hopes of aspiring writers and then laugh when they attempted to take up his offer.

What she knew was that there was no way his offer could be genuine. Things like that didn’t happen, especially not to her. It most certainly could not be genuine, could it?

‘I don’t understand,’ she eventually stuttered.

‘Obviously I’m going to Donegal to work and I’ll have to do that, but I have a few research trips planned and, from a selfish perspective, having someone local would help with those. I’m not being entirely altruistic. But I’ll have some downtime and I’d really love to talk to you more about your work. I’ll be honest and admit it, I’ve not finished it yet, but I’m far enough into it to be really intrigued. Have you thought about which publishers or agents you want to submit it to, or maybe you’ve already sent it out?’

‘Oh God, no. I haven’t even thought about it,’ Jo said, and blushed furiously. ‘I wasn’t sure anyone would think it was worth reading. Apart from my friends and my mum, obviously. I did plan to start looking, you know, at some stage.’ She decided not to tell him that she had no idea what ‘at some stage’ would have translated to. It could have been a year from then, or it could have been after hell had frozen over. Chances were it would have fallen somewhere in between.

‘Well, look. For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’ve not submitted it yet. It has huge potential, but to give you the very best chance of securing a great deal, there are a few areas which could be worked on. The bones are all there. It’s not a huge amount of work by any means, but if you’ll allow me to help you, I’d love to.’ He smiled that dazzling smile of his once more and she was sure she would wake up to find this was just a dream and her life was as ordinary and uneventful as always.

‘I don’t honestly know what to say,’ Jo told him.