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I kick a stick, and it lands near the birds. All three of them turn and squawk.
One of them lifts off and flies straight at me, wings flapping furiously.
I race to the porch and back inside, slamming the door behind me. “Maybe you’re right.”
“Sweetie, you need to get back to the city where it’s safe,” Sadie says.
“Believe me. That’s all I want.”
“How’s it going with the viral author? Who is she?”
“Cynthia Bennett, a romance author.”
I can practically hear Sadie’s giddy grin through the phone. “You’re finally going to discover how amazing romance books are.”
“It’s all formulaic tripe. I don’t care what you say. And all I have to do is pretend to like her work until I convince her to join Tenth Avenue.” Reflexively, I look around to make sure Goldy isn’t in earshot. I found out just a few months ago that she writes erotic romance books and I’m terrified she’s going to ask if I’ve read them.
Sadie snorts. “Put the snobbery away, sweetie. You realize that bullshit you just spat out is the patriarchy speaking through you, right? The patriarchy can’t have women writing books for women about sex and men treating them well. The patriarchy can’t allow women to succeed at anything legitimate or it challenges male power.”
“Get off your soapbox. I’m allowed to dislike romance.”
“When was the last time you read a romance?”
I sit on the nearest couch, suddenly exhausted. “You know the answer to that. Have you read Cynthia Bennett’s books? What can you tell me about them?”
“You can probably learn enough about them from the back matter and blurbs. Don’t you just have to put together a package enticing enough to get her agent’s attention?”
“Her agent turned me down.”
“Ah, sweets. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, I’ve got a back-up plan.” My stomach flips with excitement or nerves, maybe both. “I’m going to speak to Cynthia directly.”
“You’ll definitely have to read her books.” She lets out a gleeful cackle.
“Not if you give me a detailed synopsis of each of them.”
“That’s not gonna cut it. Does she live close by?”
“I’ve got no idea. I can’t track down any kind of contact information for her, and her agent’s definitely not going to give it to me.”
“Doesn’t sound like she wants to be found,” Sadie says. “Are you ready to admit you should start looking for a job with another house? My friend, Allen, has an in at Razorwood.”
“No. I’m going to get hired at the local indie who’s publishing Cynthia.”
The silence on the other end is deafening and full of judgment. My stomach flips again, but I ignore it.
“I know you hate this idea, Sadie, but you believe in fate, right?”
“I don’t want to answer that question.”
“It has to be fate that Lovemore Books, the local indie, is currently looking to hire an editor.”
“Love more books?” Sadie says slowly. Keys tap in the background and I know she’s looking them up. “They only publish romance.”
“Romance books are still books. How different can it be to edit them?”
“You should definitely read some romance books. They’ll be able to smell your hatred of happily ever afters otherwise.”
