Page 11 of Courtney
“What did I do?” I ask innocently.
I cross the small kitchen and pull her into my arms and kiss her deeply. She tastes sweet from the syrup. Almost as sweet as last night.
“I’m going to go take a quick shower,” I say backing up towards the door.
“Can I use your laptop? My phone died last night, and I need to check my email.”
“Go for it!” I call over my shoulder.
I jump in the shower and get out as quick as I can. I don’t want to miss a moment with Courtney.
After I get out and dressed, I notice she isn’t singing. The hall way opens up into the living room and I see Courtney sitting on the couch looking at my laptop sitting on the coffee table.
“I’m thinking that maybe today we could go take a walk in the park or—” I pause when I see the expression of her face.
“What is this?” she asks pointing at the screen of my laptop.
I can feel all the blood in my face drain away.
A sudden realization hits me like a punch to the gut. How could I have been so careless to let her see my laptop? The file I’d been writing in last night was still open and right there for her to see.
“I can explain,” I blurt out.
“Please do.” She looks from me and then back to the screen. “Please explain to me why you have notes about a group of woman sitting in a coffee shop together talking about their sex lives and
There is no explaining my way out of this situation. Either I tell her the truth that I’ve been using her and her book club without their permission as my inspiration to pull me out of my writing slump or I’m just some creep that was taking notes of everything they said.
“I didn’t mean for you to find out this way. I was going to tell you everything this afternoon.”
“Tell me now.”
“The woman you met at the book signing wasn’t Maxine Devore.” I admit. “She was someone my publisher hired to play her.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t understand.”
“I write under the pen name Maxine Devore. I’m Max Devers.” I say my name and watch her make the connection between the two. “I’m so sorry. I was looking for inspiration and I heard you all one day at the coffee shop talking about the dirty romance books you loved, and I couldn’t pass up a chance to get a window into the mind of woman who were like minded to my readers.”
“I can believe you.”
I step towards her but she puts up her hands to stop me.
“I don’t want to see you again,” she says and runs out of my house.
I can only stand there in shock at how quickly this situation turned. I woke up happy and in love—but now I’ve lost it all.
COURTNEY
It’s been a couple days since I ran out of Max’s apartment and I still feel like a wrecking ball has smashed into my life, leaving nothing but destruction in its path.
I’m sitting on the couch, staring at Max’s copy of The Juiciest Fruit and wavering between anger and wanting to cry. My phone rings and I ignore it but the caller refuses to give up and keeps calling until I do.
“Hello?”
“Have you seen it?” Michelle asks.
“Seen what?”
“Check out Maxine Devore’s website.”
