“Your brother is coming here?”
“Yeah, an overnight visit,” I replied quickly, not wanting to get derailed before I made my point. “Anyway, I owe you. For taking me on as a student, driving me to New Jersey to get thrown off a horse, and for forcing me to do that.” I pointed over my shoulder to the courts behind us. “For all of it. You’re an amazing teacher and coach.”
He smiled but only with his mouth. The rest of his expression was wary. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
We both watched Marti do her thing, marking every raised surface like she owned the entire city. I thought about my time with Owen, how he’d changed me, and an idea started to take shape.
“Hold on. You should write abook. About coaching,” I said excitedly. “I could be your beta reader, since I have insights into how it feels to be your student.”
“A book?” Owen tilted his head. “For who?”
I squinted into the distance as I considered it. “Depends on your message. If you want a big audience, you could adapt your content to business. Like, ‘Everything I learned about human connections was forged across a net.’”
He chuckled. “A bit clunky, but I get what you mean.”
“No, better idea; you could make it forsalespeople! Relationship-selling stuff. That’s a huge audience. You could tie it in with speaking engagements,” I said, getting ahead of myself as usual. “What’s your social media like? Publishers love nonfiction writers with huge platforms.”
Owen snorted. “Do Ilooklike I use social media?”
“Point taken. That’ll be an issue, but you can set one up when you go out on submission. I can help you with that. My agent doesn’t rep nonfiction, but I can see if she has a suggestion for you. The first step is putting together a thorough outline, which I wish I could help you with but I donotuse an outline. To my eternal frustration.”
“Yeah, how’s writing going for you?”
I shook my head at him. “We’re not talking about me for a change, but to put it briefly, it’s shitty. I mean, my sidepiece book is going amazing, but Austin is treading water.”
Literally. I’d left off in a chapter where he was skinny-dipping in a pond on his property and Abby was supposed to catch him there.
“Hold on, what sidepiece book? You’re writing two at once?”
I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t mentionedThe Archer’s Paradoxto him. Since he was a fantasy reader, it probably was the sort of thing he’d enjoy. And he’d likedRogue Cowboy, so I knew he could appreciate my writing style.
“I am,” I replied. “A new genre for me. Romantasy.”
His mouth went into an upside-down U shape as he considered it. “Okay. That tracks.”
I turned to gape at him. “Seriously? You really think so?”
“Sure. You do a great job with tone and setting, which are important in fantasy. And the villain inRoguewas evil but still redeemable, which is important if your love interest is a bad guy turned good.”
“How did you know?” I asked, then waved my hand in the air and shook my head. “No, stop. This isn’t about my book.”
“Books,” he corrected.
“Whatever.Youare going to write a fabulous, self-helpy book, right?”
“I’ve never considered it until this very minute.”
“Well, get on that, because it’s a brilliant idea, and you have a willing partner to help you along the way.” I paused. “Just like you did for me. Which is why you need to write the book. Because you help people uncover their inner greatness.”
“Wow, and here I thought I was just teaching dinks and drops.” We paused at a busy intersection. “Where are you headed?”
I glanced around to see where we’d ended up. “Uh, honestly, I was just walking with you two.” I bent over to pet Marti. “I need to get to work.”
“Yes, you do. Good luck withbothbooks, and I guess we’ll talk after the holiday?”
“Definitely.” I started backing away from the pair. “Have a great Fourth.”
“Safe travels. People get crazy, so be careful.” Owen’s dark eyes were locked on me like I was leaving for good. “Hope you and Kai get a chance to connect, but if not, I’ve got you.”
