When October Goes

Chapter 23

"April," she began, "is a horse of a different color.  She either likes you or she doesn't.  I hooked her early at her thirteenth birthday party.  Anna, on the other hand, was the tough one to deal with in the beginning."

"That's not very helpful," I half-laughed.

"Sorry, I can't tell you more, Kid," she replied.  "My advice is to find some common ground, and the rest will flow."

I knew she was right, but it did very little to ease my mind on the subject.  I was probably overreacting because I saw how excited she seemed to help me out.  There was just so much riding on this one meeting, and I wasn't a pessimist; I just always prepared for the worst.

Sitting with my mom, we finished our coffee and chatted about other subjects.  While my nerves weren't completely settled, she did manage to distract me with some town gossip.  I began taking mental notes for ideas in future books.  The locals provided enough fodder to inspire me, and I was eternally grateful for that.  In this instance, Kirk and Lulu did not disappoint.  Everyone in town is thankful for them raising pets rather than human children.  I returned home with more than enough material to start my next book.

That night, I went to bed and dreamt of my small town and Vivienne.  It was like a weird musical meeting reality, and it reminded me of the musical Taylor wrote about the history of Stars Hollow except Logan's daughter was the lead.  I shot straight up in my bed, confused and breathing heavily.  This certainly didn't help my cause, but I used the strangeness to my advantage.  I wrote down every detail I could remember from my dream in hopes that I could potentially use some of it in the future.  Afterward, I went downstairs and started a pot of coffee in order to face the day.

Why was I so nervous about a teenager's arrival?  Oh, because she's my son's half-sister, and I'm dating her father, I thought.  My life went from my version of normal to complicated in about sixty minutes.

The doorbell rang, and I leaped out of my skin.  I had coffee prepared in anticipation.  I opened the door to see Logan's daughter standing before me.  Immediately, I felt relief that she actually showed up.

"Vivienne, it's so nice to see you!"  I greeted her.  "Come in!"

"Thanks," she replied, seeming tentative and nervous.

"Would you like some coffee?" I offered.

"Only with my oxygen," she said with a giggle that seemed to break the slight tension.

"You sound just like my mother!" I remarked.

We eased into some conversation regarding the book and my dilemma.  This girl was so sharp, she'd actually homed in on the issue before I said a word about it.  After a few minutes of brainstorming ideas, the solution became glaringly obvious.  Vivienne was on the same page as me, yet she brought a fresh perspective.  She also suggested a couple of other things to me, and she was right on the money.

While many stories were based on incidents in my town, I still had to fill in gaps and find relevant situations for the characters I'd created.  I couldn't simply model a character after Kirk, and call him Dirk, while giving him the exact characteristics as real-life Kirk.  Fiction didn't work that way.  So, when some of my plots didn't add up or make sense to Vivienne, she brought it up.  I liked that she questioned and pushed me.

After three solid hours of discussion and writing, I realized the time.

"Wow!" I exclaimed.  "I'm starved.  Are you hungry?"

"Famished," she replied.

"Chinese it is!  Unless you don't want that.  Sorry, I should have asked first," I rambled a little bit when I realized I was assuming she liked everything I did.