She blinks. “I beg your pardon?”
“Wildfire Summer. Have you actually read it?“ I’m shaking, but my voice is steady. “Or are you just repeating what other people have said? Or maybe what you’ve simply heard it contains.”
“I don’t need to read pornography to know it’s inappropriate.”
“It’s not pornography.”
“It has explicit scenes.”
“It’s still just a romance novel. And if you haven’t read it, you really have no business judging it.”
Judith’s eyes narrow. “I have every right to question what gets published about my town. You used Sierra Rose Ridge as the backdrop for pornography, Sadie. You took our history, our landmarks, our stories, and wrapped them in smut for profit.”
“I changed the names. The characters are fictional. The plot is fictional. I wrote a love letter to a place I care about.” My hands are fists at my sides. “That’s not exploitation. And it’s certainly not a whore house.”
Judith pulls a hand to her chest like she’s shocked by my language. Mateo stifles a laugh.
Jess doesn’t.
Judith turns her attention to my best friend. “Who are you?”
“Jess.” She doesn’t stand. Doesn’t offer her hand. Just looks up at Judith with the kind of smile that saysI’ve dealt with worse than you. “Sadie’s friend.”
“From out of town, I assume.”
“Portland.”
“How convenient.” Judith’s tone sharpens. She looks back at me. “Flying in reinforcements for moral support?”
“Flying in to support my friend, yes.” Jess leans back in her chair, completely unbothered. “Is that a problem?”
“Not at all. However, I do wonder if Sadie’s told you everything. About the kind of content she’s been writing. Using our town as the setting for explicit sexual material—“
“She wrote a book,” Jess interrupts. “A fictional book. Set in a fictional town. With fictional characters. That’s what authors do, Judith. They write fiction.”
“Fiction based on real places.”
“Fictioninspired byreal places,“ Jess corrects. “There’s a difference. And unless Sierra Rose Ridge trademarked its layout, its legends, and its general aesthetic—which I’m guessing ithasn’t—Sadie has every legal and creative right to write whatever she wants.”
Judith’s smile tightens. “Have you actually read your friend’s book?”
“Cover to cover.” Jess doesn’t hesitate. “Twice, actually.”
“And you don’t find the content inappropriate?” I take a sip of wine just as Judith continues to interrogate my friend.
“Inappropriate?” Jess laughs. “I masturbated to it. Chapter fourteen specifically. Multiple times.”
I choke on my wine. Isabel’s and Dean’s mouths drop. Macy’s eyes go wide. Mateo’s fighting a grin.
Jess turns to me. “It’s a great scene.”
Judith’s face turns an alarming shade of red. “That is—this is exactly what I’m talking about. This kind of vulgarity—“
“Is perfectly normal,” Jess says like she’s commenting on the weather. “Romance novels exist because people enjoy reading about love and sex. Sadie wrote an incredible, sexy love story. And yeah, it has explicit scenes. That’s what romance readers want. If you have a problem with that, maybe the issue isn’t Sadie’s book. Maybe the issue is you and your hang-ups about sex.”
“I do not have—“ Judith sputters. “This is about standards.”
“Whose standards?” Jess leans forward. “Yours? Because from where I’m sitting, you’re the only one making this a problem. Sadie wrote a book that people love. It hit number three on Amazon. Readers are obsessed with it. The only people complaining are the ones who haven’t actually read it and are just clutching their pearls over the idea that, god forbid, a romance novel might contain romance.”
