He rubbed his chin. ‘Okay, I know I shouldn’t let it affect me, but —’

‘I’m serious,’ she cut in. ‘Using my review is like holding up a shield to deflect from something else. Because the truth is, you’re a brilliant writer.’

Darren twisted his mouth in amusement. ‘Ah, Sage, it’s okay, you don’t have to say that. We all know what you think of my writing.’

‘No. You know what I thought of your first book.’

‘Yeah, exactly. You hated it. Remember? Pretentious? Amateur? Clichéd?’

‘Right, so those were the words that jumped out at you and you’ve let them define you. But did you even read the rest of the review?’

‘Of course I did. The whole thing was negative.’

‘Nuh-uh. You didn’t read it properly. I re-read it myself after I realised who you were. And I agree — it was critical, for the most part. But not all of it. Here are the words that should have jumped out at you: potential, joyous, sharp.’

‘What are you talking about? Those words weren’t in there.’

‘Yes, they were. Read it again for yourself if you don’t believe me. So, tell me why you only focused on some of the words? And why you’re using them as an excuse not to write again?’

‘It doesn’t matter. I’ve missed three deadlines and now my time’s basically up.’

‘Fuck your deadlines. Forget about that. Forget about your book contract. We’re talking about writing. What made you write the first book? There was no deadline on that one, was there? No contract in place.’

Darren shrugged. ‘I wrote it because I wanted to.’

‘Okay, so what do you want to do now?’

‘I still want to write.’

‘And what do you want to write about?’

He traced his finger through the condensation on the outside of his beer glass. ‘See, that’s the problem. I should be —’

Sage interrupted him again. ‘No, don’t tell me what you should be doing. Tell me what you want to do. That was the question — what do you want to write?’

Darren smiled. ‘That’s a bloody good question.’

‘Okay, so why are you smiling?’

‘Because I think I just thought of an answer.’

Chapter Twenty-Three

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Monday 4 January

Mimi

‘Okay, the kids are upstairs, time for you to tell me the full story. Why aren’t you at your brother-in-law’s funeral today?’