“Look at that smile,” she said as she laid a hand against Sawyer’s face. “I just want my daughter to find a nice girl that makes her happy. For the past year or so, she just hasn’t been herself. And it’s been way too rare that I’ve seen this smile.”
They were quiet for a moment. Sawyer slipped her glasses back on, and then Jenna said softly, “That doesn’t seem to be asking for too much.”
“I don’t think so either,” Sawyer’s mom said, looking at Jenna. “And laughter is important.”
“It is. I agree.” Looking down at her plate, she added, “A sense of humor is such a turn-on.”
“Yes. Sawyer’s father makes me laugh every day, I swear.”
Sawyer picked up her own glass. “He’s pretty funny, it’s true.”
“Is your family local, Jenna?” Sawyer’s mom asked.
“They are. I have two big brothers and my parents, and we all live within about fifteen minutes of each other.”
“Fantastic. Family is so important.” Sawyer’s mom set down her chopsticks, clearly done eating.
“I agree,” Jenna said. “And I wish mine was tighter.”
“You’re not?” Sawyer’s mom looked at Jenna intently.
“I’m close to my brothers, but my parents are elderly—I wasunexpected—and they—” She cleared her throat, and Sawyer could see her weighing how much to admit. “They’re not great with the gay thing.”
Sawyer’s mom grasped Jenna’s forearm. “Oh, honey. I’m sorry.”
Jenna shrugged, clearly trying to shed the subject. “Thanks. It’s okay, though. I’m used to it at this point.”
Arnold began snorfling in his sleep, and Sawyer felt an immediate sense of relief at the distraction. For Jenna’s sake. All three of them turned his way and laughed softly.
“Shall we move to the living room where it’s more comfortable?” Sawyer asked. They were on the second bottle of wine, and she held it up.
“I’m not driving and I’m off tomorrow,” Jenna said, holding up her glass for a refill. “Hit me.”
“Iamdriving, so I’m going to stop there,” Sawyer’s mom said, and Sawyer told her she’d get her some water. When she came out carrying the glass, her mom and Jenna were on the couch, so Sawyer chose to sit on the floor by the fire where she could pet Arnold’s brown-and-white fur.
For the next half hour or so, they talked about more books, and it didn’t escape Sawyer’s notice that Jenna was well-versed in other genres as well as romance. She was familiar with several of the authors in Sawyer’s pile and pointed out a couple she’d read.
“How did you get into blogging?” Jenna asked. She took a sip of her wine, the soft brown of her eyes focused on Sawyer.
Sawyer continued to stroke Arnold’s side as he absorbed the heat from the fireplace. “Well, I’m a technical writer by trade. I help write things like instruction manuals, PowerPoint presentations, website pages, things like that. And I’m good at it. But exciting? Invigorating? Not usually words I link to my job.” She laughed softly and sipped her wine. “One day, about three years ago, I read a book by a very popular thriller writer. It had been so hyped up online, everybody was talking about it, and,” she paused for dramatic effect before announcing, “it sucked. I hated it. I hated everything about it. The writing style. The way the female main character was portrayed. I guessed the twist at about chapter three. I just…expected more from this guy. You know?”
“So, you wrote about it,” Jenna filled in.
“So, I wrote about it. I had a website at the time, and I did occasional book reviews and it was fine. Midline popular. I had maybe fifteen hundred followers.”
“Not bad.”
“Not at all. But this review seemed to hit on something a lot of people were thinking, I guess.” She shrugged, not wanting to sound like she was tooting her own horn. But her mother picked up the story.
“It went viral,” her mom said, clearly proud of Sawyer. “It got…how many views, honey?”
“Just under five hundred thousand.”
“Wow,” Jenna said, her eyes wide. “That’s incredible.”
“Got me a lot of followers,” Sawyer said. “And after that, I had authors and agents reaching out, wanting to send me advance copies so I could review their books, too.”
“And that’s how it happens,” Jenna said with a laugh. “Welcome to social media in America.”
