“That’s love.”
Lani groaned. “I don’t want to hear that.”
“Because you don’t love him?”
“I—”
“Don’t bother denying it. Everybody knows you’ve been crazy about him for months. We just figured it would have to burn itself out somehow because you were so resistant.”
“That’s what would have happened, but then he wrote this book.”
“You’re right that you can’t submit it to Square Glasses. If you’re gonna ditch him, you can’t be his editor.”
“But he doesn’t want anybody else.”
“He’ll have to get over that. I’m sure Desiree’s had more than one editor in forty years.”
“I’m sure she has, too. She might be able to talk some sense into him.”
“I take it she doesn’t know what’s going on.”
“She probably has some idea, but unless he’s told her, she doesn’t have the whole story. I don’t feel right telling her, either. He hadn’t admitted he wrote it for me until I made him angry enough to blurt it out. I can’t see him confessing it to his mom.”
“Well, you said he loved the process, and now he’s announced to his whole family that this is the first book in a series. It might take a while, but he’ll finally accept the idea of a different small press and a different editor.”
“Yeah. He has to, but I hate that this impacts his special moment.”
“Because you love him and want him to be happy.”
“God help me, I do. But if I sacrifice my career to give him his, that’s no good.”
“I gotta hand it to you, sis. You really know how to screw up a romance.”
“What do you think I should do?”
“Nothing.”
“You know I’m really bad at doing nothing.”
“If I had a brilliant suggestion I’d tell you, but it looks to me like anything you do will only make it worse. You’ve given him a solution — a different small publisher. You can even tell him which editor to send his book to.”
“I already have someone in mind. She’s excellent and she’d love his sense of humor.”
“He can’t ask for more than that.”
“Well, he can, but it’s the best I’ve come up with.”
“Then you need to leave him alone and hope that he eventually sees the wisdom of your suggestion. Also, for therecord, I’m sorry. You two would have made a great couple, but you’re right. There’s nothing in Wagon Train for you.”
“Even if there was, if I give up my job at Square Glasses and move here, he loses his connection to the kind of small publisher he’s looking for. There’s just no way I can be the editor for his book. It was never going to work out.”
Sara pulled the van into a parking space in front of L’Amour and More and shut off the engine. “Again, I’m sorry, sis. This sucks for both of you.”
“You said it.” She held her sister’s gaze. “Thanks for listening. And for inviting me on the tour.”
“We’ll have fun, I promise.” She glanced past Lani’s shoulder. “I’ll bet that’s him.”
“Him?”
