The Christmas Wedding - James Patterson [13]
Seth couldn’t help reading the e-mail a few more times. Once he committed it to memory he did the only thing that might calm him down and bring him a little peace.
He called Gaby. He got her in the classroom, and she still spent several minutes talking him down off the ledge. She told him that he was a very good writer—and she knew what made a good writer—that she loved him enormously, and that now he had to suck it up.
For some reason that helped Seth a lot.
Suck it up. That was his mom.
Chapter 14
“IT STINKS. NO, IT’S even worse than that,” said Gaby to Seth. She had taken her cell phone outside her classroom. She knew that this was a call she needed to take, and that she mustn’t cut poor Seth short. She believed in always treating her children with sympathy when they had a problem, but never lying to them. She wasn’t about to feed Seth some fantasy like “Oh, someone else will buy your novel” or “Just think of it as a bad bump along the road to a Pulitzer.”
“Yeah, it sucks,” he said. “It’s just that Mariana was so enthusiastic. Everybody was loving it, she was saying. Everybody…everybody was. Oh, what difference does it make?”
“Well, wait. It does make a difference, Seth. The editor liked it. Other people at Knopf liked it. She recommended they buy it. Other people agreed. It just got screwed up somehow. So let’s not give up hope immediately. Of course, I’ll never buy another book from Knopf.”
“Hold on a second, Mom,” he said. And then Gaby heard Seth say, “Go right on back, sir. He’s expecting you. You know where it is, fourth office on the left.” A pause. Then, “Mom? You still there?”
“Seth, don’t get blinded by your disappointment. Be disappointed. Cry a little. Yell a little. Drink a few martinis. Then suck it up.”
“I know, but it’s hard, Mom. I had so much hope riding on this one. How dumb,” he said, and Gaby thought she could her son’s voice cracking. She remembered what her own mother used to say: “A mother is only as happy as her unhappiest child.” She felt as if poor Seth were lying on his shield in front of her.
“I’ve got to go. I’ve got an important receptionist’s job to do. And I will suck it up.”
“I love you, more than I love the goats, and you know how I feel about those goats,” Gaby said. “Remember, you’re my favorite son.”
“Mom. I’m your only son.”
They both laughed a small laugh, then said good-bye.
Seth glanced at the e-mail from Knopf one more time. Then he pressed the delete button. He would never buy a Knopf book again either.
Chapter 15
GABY’S THIRD VIDEO
IT’S TIME THAT I talked about and sang the praises of some wonderful men. They’re all willing to go along with this great mystery of mine, and have agreed that it’s time that Gaby did something for herself. At least that’s what they’re saying to my face. I’ve never cared much what people say behind my back.
You all know Jacob—whom I happen to know Claire has had a crush on since she was twelve or thirteen years old. At first I thought she wanted to convert to Judaism so she could have a bat mitzvah and get cool gifts like her friend Lauren. Then one day when she said, “Rabbi Jacob was jogging past our house this morning…and he looked so adorable in his running shorts,” I knew it wasn’t just about bat mitzvah gifts.
And, Claire, don’t bother to e-mail everyone and say it’s not true. I know it is…because he did look adorable in his running shorts. Jacob still looks adorable, better than ever. He’s also smart and sensitive and sensible. He’s also funny. I was standing with him at the Silverman wedding a couple weeks back when a woman, who shall remain nameless on these very public tapes, walked up and complained, “Rabbi, they’re serving shrimp.” Jacob nodded thoughtfully and said, “Hmm. Let’s hope they don’t enjoy it very much.”
Then there’s Tom Hayden, the Massachusetts Tom Hayden.
We’ll just ignore the fact that I once heard Tom say he’d rather