Page 52 of Written By a Woman

“…But then everything about his family, like when he brings Sydney home to meet his brothers, changes.” Layla shook her head, “I just feel like these details are already too ingrained in the story.”

“Plus,” Michelle chimed in, “Readers are obsessed with Zayne and already have character art circulating of him. Changing both his name and ethnicity would throw everyone off. You might even lose interest in the story.”

I frowned, “You think so?” I had thought about it myself off and on, but hearing my agent confirm why I had pushed through with Zayne made nerves simmer in my gut.

There was no way out of this.

“I know changing the background might seem like a good way to deal with the one plot hole I mentioned in my edits,” Layla shrugged, “But I think we can get creative and find a better way to address it.”

I blinked because I hadn’t considered using that as the reason I wanted to change his name, but I wasn’t going to correct her. I’d made my bed. I needed to lie in it and allow Zayne to be Zayne.

“Speaking of that…” Michelle started talking about the ideas she had regarding the plot hole, and although I was able to keep up with the conversation just fine, and add my two cents, I kept thinking about how there was no way out of this.

Either I continued with the story with the love interest exactly as I had written him, or I had to pull the plug on the entire project and lose the progress I had made.

…But I wasn’t willing to do that yet, so instead, I took extensive notes during the meeting with these ladies on how to troubleshoot the plot.

* * *

I was already settledin at my desk that following Monday morning when Jamie and Mary walked off the elevator together. Mary looked casually confident as she always did, but I could immediately tell by the way Jamie forced herself to stand a little taller, and with a determined downturn to her lips, that something was up.

“Morning,” I greeted my friends.

“Good morning,” Mary replied as she leaned her arms on the ledge of my desk, before checking our surroundings. I immediately leaned toward them too, “How did your meeting go?” Mary whispered, ensuring our conversation wouldn’t echo down the halls.

I slumped a little, “Not…great…” I kept my voice in a whisper too, making both women stand closer together and lean their heads towards me. Jamie almost pressed firmly against Mary’s side, and I was surprised she went to such an extent to make our conversation feel more private.

“Your character’s name is staying the same?” Jamie asked.

“It looks like it…I couldn’t push for the change without revealing what I did. I didn’t want to give my agent and editor the ick and potentially make them drop me and my story.” I mindfully traced a leaf from the snake plant that Zaid gave me in thought.

“That’s a bummer,” Mary added, before turning to Jamie and giving her a look I couldn’t quite decipher, “But I still think telling Zaid would be fine. I thought about it more over the weekend, and not that I claim to understand men, but I feel like he would be the kind of guy who is flattered to star in your story.” I rolled my eyes, loving the idea in theory, but not daring to get my hopes up.

“Plus, Zaid isn’t really friends with anyone else in the office besides Nikhil and Brandon,” Jamie added, “You’re the only other one who he seems to be friendly with…maybe he has a little crush too?”

I tucked my lips into my mouth, “As exciting as that theory is, think about the logistics. Let’s pretend that my crush is possibly reciprocated, is that even allowed? He’s upper management, I’m a glorified receptionist. Doesn’t Sun Steer have a no-fraternization policy or something?”

Jamie kept her eyes on her fidgeting fingers as she recited, as if from memory, “Sun Steer employees are discouraged from starting any romantic relationships in the workplace, however, if any fraternization occurs, it is expected of the employees to disclose the relationship to human resources to ensure the protection of all parties involved.”

I blinked at her, “Wow. Were you looking that up recently or something?”

“Actually, yes,” Jamie nodded.

We all let the silence hang after Jamie’s words, but the energy between the two women was thick. I easily picked up on it and kept staring between the two of them to see what they were being so weird about. Why they were suddenly fidgeting and having a silent conversation with each other.

“I don’t like keeping secrets,” Jamie finally said, meeting my eyes.

“What? You have a secret, too?” I asked, leaning my elbow on the desk after checking over my shoulder to ensure nobody else was entering the hallway.

“Are you sure?” Mary asked.

“Wait,” I lifted both of my palms up, “Does Mary know your secret and I don’t? Jamie, what the hell?” I was mostly joking around, but a small part of me was a little hurt at being left out. I guess I couldn’t be too upset though since I only just opened up to both of them about my book and the chaos around it.

“Mary and I are…” Jamie paused, visible nerves making her swallow something a couple of times before a shy smirk tugged at her lips. At that, Mary turned to me and beamed.

“Jamie and I have been in a situationship for a while now,” I felt my mouth drop open when I saw Jamie reach forward and rest her hand on Mary’s arm as if she had done it a dozen times before, “And we are thinking we want to make things official.”

I was slack jawed.

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