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To:P. Cooperson
From: F. Gil
Subject: Agent
October 2nd, 11:23 a.m. EST
I’m attaching the rest of my manuscript, but can we keep this simple, without agents? I want to remain anonymous. Though my family supports my writing, they don’t like the spotlight.
Regards,
F. Gil
To:F. Gil
From P. Cooperson
Subject: Anonymity
October 2nd, 3:17 p.m. EST
Do you know that most people have trouble pronouncing that word? It also applies to the words anemone and coelenterate. There’s just something about them that makes them hard to say.
Why don’t we chat over the phone or via text? I’m sending the link to the chat room for the publishing company. You just have to set up an email account.
Looking forward to speaking with you.
Regards,
P. Cooperson
ChapterThirty-Nine
Derek
October 4th
Piper Cooperson is talented, beautiful, and compassionate.
Am I falling in love with her?
I’d rather not think about that. She’s too young and engaged to, I believe, a dead man. That’s a lethal combination, and I don’t want to start something I know will end with a broken heart and another wave of disappointment.
We’re friends, soon-to-be partners, and if she ever comes out of denial and starts a family, I’ll be happy to be the uncle to her children.
That last one might be the biggest lie. After seeing her interact with kids, I want her to be the mother of my children. Okay, I need to work on falling out of love with Piper Cooperson. That’s going to be too fucking complicated since every time she has a new idea, I offer to be a part of it.
This could be a great time to search for a job in the mercenary forums and leave New York for a month or a few years. But I wouldn’t leave her. Not when she’s still waiting for a dead man.
Not when she needs someone to take care of her while she’s taking care of the world.
“Are you sure that’s the building we want to buy?” I ask, looking at the pictures she has in front of her. “What about these buildings? I don’t recognize them.”
“Those three are in Seattle. Dad is helping me search for a place to open the practice in Seattle. This is a good time to do it since I’ll be there for at least the next three months.”
“Getting baby snuggles,” I mock her because she can’t stop talking about it.
She loves babies. Once her fiancé—if he even exists and isn’t dead—is back, they’ll start a family. And I’m jealous of that motherfucker who doesn’t deserve a woman like Piper. He’s somewhere in the world, probably fucking different women every night.
