LITMIR.BIZ

      Chapter 4

      Hayley stood inside the terminal of the Hancock County Bar Harbor Airport mesmerized by the Cape Air Cessna 402 arriving from Boston that gently touched down on the runway. She could feel the excitement building inside her as she knew her daughter, Gemma, along with Gemma’s boyfriend, Conner Gibson, were among the passengers onboard. Their originating flight from LaGuardia in New York had left late so there had been a question as to whether or not they would actually make their connection, but a small mechanical issue kept their Bar Harbor–bound flight grounded a few extra minutes, allowing them enough time to race from Terminal B to Gate 27 in Terminal C, according to a text from Gemma once she was strapped in her seat and the plane was ready for takeoff.

      Sure enough, as the door opened, the stairs were lowered, and the nine passengers began to debark; first off was Gemma, looking healthy and radiant, followed by Conner. It was a windy afternoon and Gemma’s silky blond hair was blowing in all kinds of directions as Conner took her hand and they quickly made their way inside.

      Hayley headed to baggage claim, where she had agreed to meet up with them. Gemma spotted her first and ran over to the conveyor belt where her mother eagerly waited for them.

      “I honestly didn’t think we were going to make it!” Gemma cried, hugging her mother tightly.

      “You look beautiful,” Hayley marveled as she stepped back to get a good look at her gorgeous daughter.

      Gemma shyly patted down her windswept hair. “No, I don’t. I look awful. It’s been such a long day.”

      Conner put an arm around her. “She’s terrible at accepting compliments. I’ve practically given up trying.”

      “You’re looking good too, Conner,” Hayley said with a welcoming smile.

      Conner was an actor, but not the scraggly, greasy-haired method type, more the impossibly handsome, put-together, could be in a toothpaste commercial type. Gemma would always joke that he was prettier than she was. Conner would wince every time because he wanted to be taken seriously as an actor not a model. Hayley had once reminded him that both Ashton Kutcher and Channing Tatum had started out as male models.

      Gemma glanced down at the conveyor belt that hadn’t started up yet. “I’ll bet anything our luggage didn’t make it. We barely got to the gate in time ourselves.”

      “I know they didn’t make it because if they had put all the suitcases you brought in the cargo hold, the plane never would have gotten off the ground,” Conner said with a wry smile.

      Gemma playfully swatted Conner on the arm with her handbag and turned back to her mother. “Have you talked to Dustin?”

      Hayley’s heart sank. “No. Why?”

      She never liked hearing that question, mostly because whenever Gemma asked it, that meant she had been in contact with her brother and he had confided some kind of bad news to her, like he was two months behind on his rent in LA, or had failed a class at art school, or crashed the junky used car he had just bought to get himself around the city. Hayley braced herself for the worst.

      “Everything’s fine, Mom. He’s just got a girlfriend,” Gemma said.

      Hayley breathed a huge sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God. I can deal with that.”

      “He’s being very cagey and is not telling me too much about her, but from what I have been able to get out of him so far, she’s in his animation class and liked one of his drawings, and so now he’s totally in love. He posted an adorable picture of the two of them at the beach on Facebook.”

      Hayley frowned. “I didn’t see it. I think he blocked me so I can’t see what he’s been up to. His worst nightmare is if I post a comment like, ‘What are you doing at the beach? Why aren’t you in class?’ ”

      “That’s very possible,” Gemma said, laughing. “How’s Bruce?”

      “Bruce is Bruce, steady as he goes, reliable, I couldn’t be happier. Except for the fact he’s smoking again.”

      Gemma crinkled her nose. “Oh no. You’ll need to break him of that.”

      “Already working on it,” Hayley said, nodding.

      The baggage claim conveyor belt whirred to life and the checked suitcases and boxes began to arrive through the rubber curtain on the carousel. Conner pointed out three Ralph Lauren Signature Logo Series suitcases moving steadily along toward them.

      “It’s a miracle! Look, they made it!” Conner said, circling around the conveyor belt to retrieve them.

      Hayley turned to Gemma. “Work good?”

      Gemma nodded. “Yes, Cyndi keeps telling me how indispensable I am so at least I feel as if I have a little job security... for now, anyway. I have no illusions about the cable TV business.”

      Gemma had started out serving hors d’oeuvres at high-end parties for a catering company called Cyndi’s Yummy Catering while working her way through culinary school in New York. But not long after she started, she was plucked out of the army of revolving cater waiters to be the personal assistant for the company’s founder, Cyndi Reed, who had recently become a bona fide Food Network star with her own show, a series of cookbooks, and a massive social media presence. That was six months ago, and in that time, Gemma had quickly moved up the ladder to the point where she was now making cameo appearances on Cyndi’s Food Network show as her personal sous-chef. Hayley and Bruce had hosted a watch party at the house on the night Gemma had made her first appearance on her boss’s titular show, Cyndi’s Cravings. Hayley could not have been more proud of her daughter’s fast-growing success.

      Hayley noticed Conner struggling with the three suitcases and grabbed Gemma’s arm and guided her toward him. “Come on, I think he could use our help.”

      By the time they loaded up the trunk and backseat with their luggage, and Hayley was driving them across the Trenton Bridge onto Mount Desert Island and home to Bar Harbor, Hayley realized that she had been so curious about how Gemma’s job was going, she had failed to inquire about Conner’s own career. “How have you been doing workwise, Conner? I’m sorry I didn’t get to come to New York and see you in that show you did on Broadway a few months ago.”

      “Fortune and Men’s Eyes,” Conner said, rolling his eyes. “It was a revival of an old play from the 1960s about the degradation and brutality of prison life.”

      Hayley raised an eyebrow.

      Conner noticed and chuckled, “Yeah, it’s as fun as it sounds.”

      Gemma

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