LITMIR.BIZ

      CHAPTER ONE

      Keira awoke on Bryn’s lumpy couch with a crick in her neck and freezing feet. The temperature in New York City was growing chilly, with fall in the air. But despite the lumpy couch and the shivers, Keira woke in the best mood ever.

      Today, October 22nd, Keira was going back to work in her new, more senior and better paid role at Viatorum magazine. She was looking forward to seeing Nina, her friend and editor at the magazine, and was itching to get back to her passion of writing again. What her next assignment would be she did not yet know, but she was certain it wouldn’t be quite as exhilarating as her last month in Ireland.

      Elliot was bound to give her something a little more low-key this time and Keira was absolutely fine with that. She’d barely had time to readjust to life back in New York City, to catch up with her friends and mom. And besides, Shane was coming to visit in a week and that was something Keira was far more excited about than jet-setting.

      Just then, her older sister, Bryn, rushed into the living room, her hair a mess, hopping with one shoe on, one shoe off.

      “I’m late for work,” Bryn stammered. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

      Keira checked the clock.

      “Because it’s seven. You don’t have to leave for an hour.” She laughed at her perpetually scatterbrained sister.

      Bryn stopped and squinted at the clock, then did a double take. “Oh yeah.” She kicked off her one shoe and came and sat next to Keira on the couch. “I really thought I’d be better at life by the time I hit thirty,” she mused.

      Keira smiled. “Never.”

      Growing up was not something either of the Swanson sisters were in a rush to do.

      Bryn leaned over then and nudged Keira. “So… first day back at work after your break. How are you feeling?”

      “I feel good,” Keira said. “It’s going to be different without Joshua there to ruin everyone’s mood. Mainly I’m looking forward to seeing Nina again. And of course, I’m excited to find out what Elliot’s planning for me to write next.”

      “Will it be another trip abroad?” Bryn asked.

      “I doubt it,” Keira replied. “Although I could certainly do with some sun!” She laughed and cast her gaze out the window at New York City’s gray October clouds.

      “And your own bed again,” Bryn joked, patting the couch.

      “About that…” Keira began. “You know I’m not planning on being here forever. It’s just taking a little longer than I thought it would to find an apartment. And I kind of need the deposit back from the place with Zach before I can. You know how much he’s been dragging his feet.”

      “It’s fine,” Bryn said, waving away Keira’s explanation. “Stay as long as you need. Just don’t judge me for the men I bring home.” She gave Keira a withering look. “I’ve seen the way you look at me sometimes.”

      Keira laughed. “I just think if you could really see how beautiful you are you wouldn’t waste so much time with ugly men.”

      Bryn rolled her eyes. “Enough of that. So, why don’t you think you’ll be going abroad again?”

      “I don’t know.” Keira shrugged. “Because it wouldn’t be fair to the other writers, for starters. It would look like favoritism.”

      “Don’t forget you’re in a senior position now,” Bryn told her. “And favoritism is a very schoolyard word to use. It’s business. If you’re better than the others, you’re better than the others. Learn to accept it.”

      Keira didn’t share her sister’s confidence. She squirmed uneasily. “Well anyway, even if it was abroad I wouldn’t be able to go.” She thought of Shane and smiled dreamily. “I have plans here.”

      “Ah yes,” Bryn said, smirking. “The boyfriend. How long until he arrives?”

      Keira’s mind conjured up the image of Shane’s gorgeous face – the stubble on his chiseled jaw, those amazing Irish blue eyes – and flitted through a myriad of wonderful memories from the month they’d spent falling in love.

      “A week,” she said through a dreamy exhalation, thinking of the sensation of his lips on hers, the touch of his fingers against her skin. “Which reminds me, I should call him.”

      It would be approaching midnight in Ireland where Shane lived, and so it would be her last chance to speak to him before he went to bed. Then she’d have to endure an eight-hour-long Shane absence while he was sleeping. No texts, no cheeky messages or funny quips. Those eight hours were almost unbearable for her at the moment, so strong was her craving for him.

      “You call him every morning?” Bryn asked, surprised.

      Keira picked up the hint of disdain in her sister’s voice. She was a perpetual singleton and serial dater, which made her suspicious of anyone who claimed to have found love.

      “Yup,” Keira replied. “You’re usually snoring so you don’t notice.”

      “Well, I think that’s unhealthy,” Bryn began. “You’re already too reliant on him.”

      Keira rolled her eyes as she stood. Bryn liked nothing more than to be a know-it-all, despite being a rather dismal role model. And if she only knew, Kyra thought, if she could only witness what she and Shane had together, she wouldn’t be so sure of herself.

      Keira took her phone into the bathroom, knowing it would be the only place where she could get any privacy in Bryn’s pokey apartment, then dialed Shane’s number. The usual thrill of excitement ran through her body as she waited, listening to the dial tone, in anticipation of hearing Shane’s beautiful voice again. She couldn’t wait to tell him about all the exciting things she had planned for his visit, all the sights of New York she was planning on showing him, from sampling food along Restaurant Row to river walks in Tribeca, the Tenement Museum, the gardens in Battery Park, the apple farm upstate and art galleries in Chelsea. Her itinerary was packed to the brim and she knew Shane would be just as excited to experience the city as she was to show it off.

      Finally the call connected and Keira felt her heart soar. But rather than his usual chirpy voice, Shane sounded strained. And rather than answering the call with a silly over-the-top pet name like bunny or petal, he used her actual name.

      “Keira, hey,” he said, sounding weary, like he’d had the worst day imaginable.

      Keira’s elation immediately turned to anguish. In the background she could hear unfamiliar noises, lots of conversations, and ringing telephones.

      “What’s happened?” she asked, starting to feel panicked. “Where are you?”

      “Hospital.”

      “Oh my God, why?” Keira’s heart began to race with terror, her mind going into overdrive. “Are you hurt? Sick?”

      “It’s not me,” Shane said. “I’m fine. It’s my dad.”

      Keira

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