1st 5 Pages March Workshop - Spizziri Rev 2

Name: Sammi Spizziri

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Title: After I Bid You Adieu

Pitch:

Eighteen-year-old Evie wants to change the world through podcasts. Determined to escape her hometown and follow her deceased mom’s hopes for her, she’s on the perfect path in an early college program. The only thing missing is her best friend and sort-of love interest from back home, Kace. But since he decided to skip college in favor of staying in Ridgeview, Evie’s done her best to forget about him. After all, the worst thing she can do is repeat her mom’s mistake of settling for a hometown boy over a career.

But then Evie returns home unexpectedly for the summer, bringing her face-to-face with Kace—and her grief. Things only get worse when her scholarship is threatened, forcing her to create a podcast to save it. When the story she chooses requires Kace’s help, he wants answers to what happened between them in exchange. Unable to afford college without the scholarship and unwilling to settle for a meaningless life trapped in a town she hates, Evie agrees. Spending the summer working together, Evie must do what she’s avoided the last year: be honest with Kace, face her grief, and decide if career dreams are worth sacrificing her heart.

Pages:

Mom always encouraged me to get out of Ridgeview and chase my dreams, but she never said those dreams would mean inhaling horse manure on a Saturday afternoon.

I tried not to breathe through my nose as we strolled through the stables, waiting for the owner to meet us. “Is this worth it?”

Liv, my best friend and roommate, typed something on her phone, seemingly oblivious to the smell. “How else are you going to get your story on horse carriages?”

My summer class was my first intro to my major, audio journalism, which meant I’d be creating my own podcast like I’d dreamed of. At eighteen, I couldn’t ask for more. Everyone back home wouldn’t graduate for another two weeks. “You’re right.”

“So, who are we interviewing tomorrow?” Liv had unofficially partnered with me on my project, more as an excuse to get out of the dorm than an interest in podcasting. I appreciated the help, since I’d never made my own podcast, and I could use someone to bounce ideas off of.

“A Wall Street financial analyst. Wednesday we have a Broadway actress, and Thursday a sous chef at La Bleu.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Important people.” She approached the horse in front of us and stroked his mane. “Have you considered telling a story about an ordinary person? Sometimes they have the best stories.”

“If I wanted ordinary, I wouldn’t have left Ridgeview.” The horse behind us whinnied, and I jolted forward.

Liv laughed. “I thought all farm girls loved horses.”

“I’m from a small town, not a farm.”

“Maybe if you ever told me about it, I’d know the difference.” Liv’s light tone didn’t mask her true meaning. This had always been a sore spot between us. But talking about the past wasn’t something I was interested in.

“There’s nothing worth telling.” I glanced at my phone, the clock reminding me I had only one hour before my class. Maybe it was because Dignitas University was used to dealing with us early college students, enrolled before we were legal adults, or maybe it was how all colleges worked, but the class tardiness policy was stricter than my high school’s. “I’m going to check where the owner is. Do you think the lady who greeted us has an office somewhere?”

My phone rang, and the name Dad flashed across my screen. It’d been weeks since his last call, a conversation filled with small talk while we figured out what to say. Jingling boots drew my attention to the woman who had let us into the stables earlier, beelining toward us, I silenced my phone.

“Evie,” she said. “I’m sorry but looks like we’ll have to reschedule. Roger had an emergency pop up.”

My heart sank. I hadn’t realized how set I was on this story, but it had an intriguing combination of elements. The glamour of carriage rides in Central Park, the rags-to-riches story of the owner, and the resurfacing debate about whether horses should be banned from the city. “My topic proposal is due on Friday. Is there time before then?”

“He’s heading out of town tomorrow, but I can do my best to answer your questions.”

I agreed. Before we had a chance to start, my phone rang again. Dad. My thumb hovered between the red and green buttons. Two calls in a row meant it was important. “I’m sorry, can I take this?”

When she nodded, I answered, walking out of earshot. “Hey, Dad.”

“Hi, Evie.” His voice was more upbeat than usual, like the life it once held was back. At the sound of it, I was home, the scent of cinnamon potpourri and peppermint tea threading through the house. But without Mom, that wasn’t home anymore. I forced down the lump in my throat.

“How are things?” I asked as he said, “When are you coming home?”

I exhaled. Coming home? I pulled the phone away from me to glance at it, like it might give me a clue about how to have this conversation with Dad without upsetting him. “Oh, Dad, I thought you knew.”

“Knew what?” His voice tightened.

“I’m staying in New York this summer.”

Silence filled the line. Not the deadened, dropped call kind. The kind where someone heard you but didn’t like what you'd said. “Didn’t you reschedule the Christmas flight I booked you?”

Now that he mentioned it, I had said something of that sort when I’d canceled back in December, an attempt to soften the blow of missing the holidays, but I’d left that credit untouched with no intention of booking a flight home. It was easier to stay away than face Mom’s absence. Or run into my best friend from home. Kace would want to talk about it all: her death, me ghosting him, the kiss…. “I’m sorry, I have classes to take, and—”

“Evangeline Marie Daniels.” His voice hardened. I’d never heard him speak to me like that. With my two older brothers, he'd used that tone a million times. Mom handled my discipline, and she had a different way of approaching everything. Where he was firm, she was tender. Where he was oblivious, she was in tune.

I swallowed, feeling like a chastised kid. Distancing myself from my family hadn’t been the plan. But if I wanted to move forward, to do something Mom would be proud of, I had to continue on the path I’d started: college. “Dad, you can’t tell me what to do anymore. I’m in college.”

“Barely. If you hadn’t gone to Dignitas, you’d still be in high school.”

“But I did go, and I’m not in high school.”

He sighed. “Evie, things are different without your mom. And…I’m retiring.”

“Seriously?” It’d been something he’d talked about since I was ten, yet kept putting off. My brother Luke had been waiting to take over the auction business since he graduated high school. He’d be happy. My heart leaped, followed abruptly by a pang in my chest, the reality of not seeing my family for so long catching up with me.

“It’s time. Which means I’ll be training Luke to take over, so we’ll need you to help out since Sara didn’t work out…”

“She didn’t?” I’d trained Sara with my mom to take over my mom’s position when she was diagnosed. She was supposed to be Mom’s replacement. “What are you going to do when I go back to school?”

“Scarlett will take over. All you need to do is train her before she and Jackson get married—”

I stopped, eyes fixed on the same horse who had scared me earlier. I'd heard Scarlett's name a few times from Dad the past year. I hadn't texted my brother Jackson much lately, and he pretty much only shared the weird things he'd found at the latest auction. Not that it was his fault. I was the one who left unexpectedly. I was the one dodging calls from home. “Wait, what? They’re getting married?”

“He didn't tell you?”

“No.” My stomach seized, like if I wasn’t careful something might burst out involuntarily. Neither of us said anything while we both probably thought the same thing: there was a lot I didn’t know.

“The wedding’s in August. We need you home. Just for the summer.”