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“I didn’t know you were up,” I say, taking the headphones out my ears. “Sleep okay?”
She nods, comes and sits on my lap. “When are you going to let me read it? Why so secretive about it?”
I sigh. “I’ve been writing it for ten years. So, honestly it’s probably crap. Am I weird for not wanting anyone else to read it?”
“No, that’s pretty normal for a new writer. It’s just me,” she says, peaking at the screen.
I lean in for a kiss, and to change the subject. “It’s about time for me to make lunch. Noon already.”
“No, no, no,” she says, standing up. “Let me read the first chapter, please?”
How do I plan to get this published without letting someone read it? I bite the bullet and move to let her sit down.
“Okay, just the first chapter and tell me what you think. If you want to continue and help me with edits, then I’ll pay you.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
I shake my head. “You aren’t doing it for free, Les.”
Lunch is calling, and my stomach is growling. I pull out some butter, four slices of bread and two slices of American cheese. Grilled cheeses it is.
What am I going to do if she hates it? Will she even be honest? I mean, I know it’s an utter mess right now without going through the whole thing yet. There are probably a million plot holes and the sentence structure could be better.
I flip the sandwiches over, and sneak a peek into the den. Her face is neutral but sitting criss cross in the chair.
The sandwiches come out of the skillet and onto a plate as I approach the den, leaning up against the door and just watching for expressions.
“Noah, did you really write this?” she asks, pointing to the screen. “Because it’s actually a great introduction. I sense some dark elements will be coming into play. I would love to work with you on this.”
I hand her a grilled cheese and she bites into it. “I can work on it in between clients so I don’t have any idea when I could be done with the first round of edits, but if you trust me, I would love to be your editor.”
The growling of my stomach changes the subject and I scarf down the sandwich and wait for her to be finished. The only thing covering her naked body right now are my sheets.
“By the way, what happened? I don’t even remember leaving the restaurant last night?” I ask, picking her up out of the chair and heading toward the bedroom.
“You got a little tipsy, and had a good time. Don’t worry, I took good care of you.” She winks.
I lay her on the bed and honestly right now, all I want to do is ripping those fucking sheets off of her, and show her how sorry I am for last night.
It’s my turn to make it up to her…
23
LESLIE
After a quick shower, and stealing one of his t-shirts, I sit down in front of his computer again and start reading. Noah is a good writer, but he shouldn’t be so down on himself. Imposter syndrome is a real thing, and once you start heading down that road, it’s hard to bring yourself back. First drafts are never shiny. It takes word to get it to where it needs to be, and I can’t believe he is trusting me to give him direction.
He brings a cup of tea, and shuts the doors into the den so I can give my full attention to his manuscript. I dive in, and it sucks me in. The first chapter really set the tone for the book and I hope the rest of it matches. If not, I will help him come up with ways to.
About four chapters in, I notice him lingers outside the doors, and it’s distracting.
“Go away! I can’t concentrate with you staring at me,” I laugh.
Noah has to become more confident in his work. I get that it’s hard to let someone else read it, but if he is wanting to get this published, then there are going to be thousands of eyes on it, and he has portray that confidence to an agent.
The flow of the work is competent but it’s very fast paced, and somehow we need to slow it down and let it sink in with the reader. We need to find a happy medium. So I continue to make comments throughout the chapters, and what I think might help, or where pacing needs to be slowed down. It’s something that is very common in first drafts. So he doesn’t have anything to feel bad about.
It's nice to read something for fun again, because in the last few months, all I have had time to read is work for clients. It’s not the same. I love it, but this is different. Noah trusting me with reading it means a lot.
