She ought to be celebrating. No charges would be brought against her. Danny’s charges had been not only dropped but expunged. He was a free man with a clean record, as he should be. Wallace and Logue were dead, killed in the crossfire on the bridge. Nancy was under arrest. Yet as she hurried toward the law school, late for a meeting, Madison’s stomach was in knots. She hadn’t slept soundly since leaping from that bridge. The judge was constantly on her mind. She couldn’t stand not knowing her fate. And that wasn’t the only thing making her nervous. She’d received a strange email asking her to report to the Financial Services Office regarding her financial aid.
She was ushered in immediately to meet with a financial services officer, who sat behind an L-shaped desk, turned sideways in her chair with her eyes on the monitor, not making eye contact. A bad sign.
“We close in twenty minutes,” the woman said. “I need to pull up your file right away or there won’t be time to complete your paperwork.”
“There must be some mistake. I filed my FAFSA last June. My paperwork is complete.”
“No mistake. Circumstances have changed. ID number, please.”
She recited it from memory. The woman typed. Madison tried to speak, but she held up her hand, peering at the screen.
“Please, you’re making me nervous. Changed how?” Madison said.
The woman finally looked at her. “Sorry, I assumed you knew it’s good news. You applied for this, right?”
“For what?”
“The Lucy Katz Memorial Award? You were chosen as the recipient.”
Lucy Katz. Lucy Cats. Kathryn Conroy.
“The— Oh. Lucy Katz. Yes. Lucy Katz, of course.”
The judge was alive.
She started to cry. The woman pushed a box of Kleenex across the desk toward her.
“It’s nice to see happy tears in here for a change. You know it’s a full ride, right?”
Shaking her head, Madison struggled to get control of herself.
“I didn’t know that.”
“Well, lucky you. This is one of the best scholarship packages I’ve ever seen. Full tuition retroactive to the beginning of law school, plus a generous stipend that can be used for living expenses during summer internships and any and all professional development expenses, including but not limited to training courses, bar review, tutoring, and—get this—wardrobe.”
“Wardrobe?”
“Yeah, you can buy clothes with it. I wouldn’t mind a scholarship like that myself.”
Madison laughed through her tears. Of course the judge would think of that.
“Now, if we can just get this paperwork filled out, I’ll cut your first stipend check. Somebody’s going to have a very happy Thanksgiving.”
* * *
The name of the scholarship was an inside joke, but also a reminder of something important left undone.
On the way to meet Danny, Madison stopped at a small grocery store on Newbury Street, a block from the town house. They had delicious breakfast sandwiches, fancy appetizers, and good wine. As she walked up and down the cramped aisles gathering bounty for an appetizer plate, she made sure to grab a can of tuna fish. The cashier let her borrow a can opener.
“You must be hungry,” he said, quirking an eyebrow as she opened the can in front of him.
She smiled. “Oh, it’s not for me.”
As she turned onto the judge’s block, feathery snowflakes began to fall. The street looked like a fairyland, decked out for the holidays in wreaths and lights and window candles. The judge’s house alone was dark and gloomy. But as Madison walked up to the front steps, she saw a sign of hope. A spot of silver between two bushes, right where she’d left it. Bending down, she picked up the last can of tuna, and saw that it had been licked clean, recently enough to still give off that fishy smell. She set the new can down in its place, waiting. Within minutes, Lucy appeared, slinking elegantly from behind a bush with a familiar yowl and attacking the tuna with a ferocious appetite. When she’d finished eating, Madison scooped her up, and together they went off to meet the bus.
Acknowledgments
Writing a book can be a solitary undertaking, especially during a global pandemic. But I am fortunate to work with the best people in publishing, who support me, inspire me, and make even the tough moments feel like fun.
This is my fifth book for my brilliant editor, Jennifer Enderlin, and I’m more grateful than ever for the opportunity to work with her. Jen has an unerring instinct for what a book needs, the vision for how to achieve it, and the patience to let it unfold. I am a better author for working with her, and this is a much better book. I’m also grateful for the talented and dedicated team at St. Martin’s Press whose hard work brings the book to readers. Special thanks to Erica Martirano, Brant Janeway, Christina Lopez, Jessica Zimmerman, Kejana Ayala, and Michael McConnell.
I can always count on my dear agents, Meg Ruley and Rebecca Scherer, to be there for me and to have my back. I could not do this work without them, nor would I ever want to. I’m so grateful for their hard work and support, as well as that of Chris Prestia and the rest of the team at Jane Rotrosen Agency, and Josie Freedman at CAA for her work on behalf of my film/TV rights.
Thanks also to Crystal Patriarche, Taylor Brightwell, and the team at BookSparks, who are so talented at publicizing books in the digital age. They have brought my work to the attention of countless new readers and are a pleasure to work with.
Most of all, I thank my husband, the one person who’s here every day and has to deal with me while I write. He’s a saint, and the best teammate I could ever wish for.