In retrospect I probably could have added twice that, but it wasn't until I came to the final page that it occurred to me I'd just barely scratched the surface of the world of Mr. Green and the mysterious organization he works for. The addition of Abby Willis in my head (I'm becoming very United States of Tara these days) brought a much larger scope to the agency than I'd previously thought.
There's also the fact that while Josey was innocent and childlike and fairly simple, Abby ages into her teens, and like most teens is complicated. She's not only trying to discover what it means to be a little, but trying to discover who she is at the same time. That's hard enough for anyone, but when you're confronted with a drop dead gorgeous Greek guy that you'd do anything to please, it's nearly impossible.
Three chapters and over 15,000 words in, Abby's story is only a third, maybe a quarter written. Already the next girl has shown up, patiently waiting in the wings while I deal with Abby. For now she's faceless and nameless. I feel her in the back of my head, urging me to put off watching Kitchen Nightmare reruns for another day so that I can finish this book up and finally begin to tell her story.
For those who have said they wished Josey's story went on further, I'm sorry. I don't know where she is right now, but I do know she'll be back. Not in this book, or the next, or possibly the one after that, but I know Mr. Green's organization has a special event held every year, that she'll be there to fill us all in on what her life has been like, and that I'll be along to record everyone's stories along the way.
For those of you who responded so wonderfully to Josey, thank you.
