Page 96 of Battle of the Bookstores

“That’s bananas!” Eliza says.

“Why would you want to experience the saddest part of the whole book?” Cinderella asks.

“Seriously,” Eliza agrees. “That’s my least favorite part of a romance.”

“But the dark moment is an important part of story structure,” I say, although I agree it can be painful to read.

“And it’s important for character growth,” Indira adds, nodding.

Eliza scoffs. “It’s emotionally manipulative and predictable.”

“Not when it’s done well!” Indira says, her voice rising.

“All right, all right,” I say, but then Nora raises a hand.

“May I?” she asks, and I motion for everyone to listen.

“You’re all right, in a way,” Nora says. “Falling in love is something that happenstoyou, sometimes even against yourwill—like being struck by lightning or catching the flu. Butstayingin love? That’s a choice.”

She pauses, glancing around our circle. Everyone is quiet, digesting her words.

“Maybe don’t think of it as a third-act breakup,” she says. “Think of it as a decision point. Will the lovers allow themselves to be torn apart by outside circumstances or their internal fears? Or will they fight for each other?” She smiles. “That’s a decision anyone in any relationship will have to make, over and over again.”

“Huh,” Eliza says thoughtfully. Cinderella seems to be digesting it, too.

I’m up next, and our senior staffer has given me a hard act to follow, so I say the simple truth: “Friends to lovers.”

Cinderella rolls her eyes and mutters something about enemies under her breath, but I bite my tongue. The last thing I want is to call more attention to myself and Josie.

Especially given the news I’m about to share.

“Moving on,” I say. “I wanted to share an update about the competition.”

Everyone stills. The store is so quiet you could hear a condom drop. Eliza looks like she’s about to cry; Nora and Indira are holding hands.

“There’s no real news yet,” I say, and the group collectively exhales in relief. “But we do have a shift in our strategy.”

When I finish filling them in on Josie’s plan, they’re all staring at me with shocked expressions.

Indira is the first to speak, her dark eyes flashing. “You want to work with that uptight, snobby little—”

“Hey!” I say sharply.

Indira blinks, surprised. “Sorry. You want to work with…her?”

“Voluntarily?” Nora adds.

“I thought we hated her?” Eliza says.

“We do,” Cinderella says at the same time I say, “We did.”

I shoot Cinderella a glare. “We don’t anymore. Josie has a lot of great ideas and—”

“How do you know she’s not trying to sabotage us?” Indira cuts in. “I don’t trust her.”

Eliza folds her arms. “Me either.”

“Ryan, why in the world would you consider this?” Nora asks, her wrinkled face full of confusion.

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