She applied the Page 69 Test to The Guest Cottage and reported the following:From page 69:Visit Nancy Thayer's website.Trevor’s throat closed up with emotion. He nodded, unable to speak.Wow! Page 69 is the perfect page to represent The Guest Cottage. Here, Sophie, 36, mother of two children, about to be divorced by her husband for a younger woman, talks with Trevor, 30, recently widowed and father of a four-year-old boy. They’re both worried about their children. They’re physically attracted to each other, and they’re worried about that, too.
Next to him, Sophie made a noise between a cough and a laugh. “Listen to me, the great know-it-all. At least your son talks to you.”
“Jonah’s fine.” Trevor glanced over at Sophie. Their eyes caught, snagged, and they both quickly averted their gaze. “Guys don’t talk to their moms much, anyway.”
“He used to talk to me. This spring he’s become too quiet. He missed a lot of baseball and soccer practice. He used to build his world around those games. His grades are dropping, too.” Her voice thickened when she confessed, “I can tell Jonah likes you.”
It was the perfect moment, the perfect opening, for Trevor to ask, “And do you like me?” But he didn’t want to come on to her like some kind of horndog. Still, he was rattled by her words. So he responded in a Mafia don accent, “Eh, what’s not to like?”
“Jonah doesn’t have a real grandfather,” Sophie said thoughtfully. For a moment, Trevor was thrown by her words. What relevance did that have to this conversation? “My father died a few years ago and he never was involved with my kids. Zack’s father lives in Florida, and gets a new girlfriend every year. He seldom comes to visit. I guess I was kind of hoping Jonah might strike up a relationship with Connor. I worry about him, too. I don’t think it’s good for the old man to be alone so often.”
“You worry too much,” Trevor told her. “It’s summer. Let’s give ourselves some time.” He bit his tongue after saying ourselves. That implied the two of them were in this together.
Well, after all, they kind of were.
Next to him, Sophie nodded. “Good advice.” She wasn’t looking at Trevor now, but he could sense some sort of force field radiating from her toward him like the heat of the afternoon’s sun. His throat went dry. He could pick up a woman in a bar, no problem. But this woman
They’ve accidentally ended up sharing a huge house on Nantucket for the summer. They’re getting to know each other. This conversation shows how Trevor, six years younger than Sophie and a laid-back computer dude, is not only handsome and funny, but also serious about caring for the children in the house. A great theme of the book is learning to trust an instant emotion, and all the ways we try to ignore it.
Writers Read: Nancy Thayer.
My Book, The Movie: The Guest Cottage.
--Marshal Zeringue
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