Chapter Thirty-Two

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

ONE-NIGHT STAND TO STRANGERS TO FRIENDS TO LOVERS TO IDIOTS TO LOVERS – Invented by Mason álvarez-West and Sawyer Greene, probably.

One year later…

S o, Sawyer,” Claire said, her smile lighting up Sawyer’s laptop screen. “The Coffee and Composition community imploded when I announced this interview. It felt like we didn’t hear from you for a while, and then, bam , film deal; bam , new book announcement. You have some very loyal readers, and they’re hungry for news. You’ve clearly been very busy since Why We’re Not Together . Could you tell us what you’ve been up to the past few years?”

Sawyer nodded, licking her lips as she took a deep breath. Staring straight into the tiny laptop camera, she spoke directly to her readers.

“Thank you, Claire. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that I still have readers after all this time. Because yes, I’ve been busy, but most of the past few years have been me trying and failing to write. I started a handful of projects that didn’t make it anywhere. We talk a lot about how writing is such a lonely craft, and I thought that meant I had to do it alone , and my writing suffered for it. But, recently, I’ve learned that asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, and I wouldn’t be able to do all of this without the people I love supporting me and pushing me to do the things that scare me. It wasn’t until I started letting people in again that I realized how much joy it brings me to share my stories, and I’m so excited for readers to discover Otherwise, Engaged . I hope it was worth the wait.”

Claire held up her advance copy, dancing in her chair with it. “Oh my God. I will happily die of anticipation for two years if all your books are this good. Otherwise, Engaged ripped my heart out, shredded it, and then put it back in place.” She held the cover closer to the camera to read off the back cover. “When Dom’s mother loses her yearslong battle with cancer, the last thing on his mind is romance—it hasn’t been on his mind in a while, actually. But when his mother’s will leaves him her ring, the message is loud and clear. He proposes to his longtime girlfriend, Harlow, and receives a loaded silence in answer. The past few years have been hard on them both, and their relationship took a back seat. Harlow promises to give him an answer before their seven-year anniversary, and Dom vows to win her back by doing every rom-com cliché he can think of. Only, when the flash of the grand gesture fades, Dom realizes that unless they can rekindle the spark they once had, instead of a happily ever after, they’re headed for an in memoriam montage of the love they lost.” Claire hugged the book to her chest. “This is a romance so it’s not a spoiler to say that watching these two fall back in love was one of the sweetest things I’ve ever read.”

Sawyer flushed. “Thank you.”

“And rumor has it, there’s some real-life inspiration behind it?”

She flushed deeper, shaking her head at the wall. Ever since the dedication of the book had leaked, the rumor mill had gone rampant.

For Mason, if I had to (briefly) get stuck in an elevator with anyone, I’m glad it was you

“Dom and Harlow’s story is the antithesis of ours, actually.” Sawyer laughed. “The last thing Mason and I wanted when we met was a meet-cute. We did our best to fight our feelings, while Otherwise, Engaged is about two people fighting to find them again.”

Claire nodded, pivoting. “And in other big news, your previous book Why We’re Not Together is being adapted, and I know I’m anxiously awaiting casting news, which you’ve teased on Instagram could be announced soon?”

Sawyer smiled, crossing her fingers to the camera. “At the end of this week, I think.”

“Any chance we’ll be seeing a certain Dr. Santiago on the list?”

No matter how many times they denied it, this rumor wouldn’t die. They’d managed to keep their relationship a secret for a few blissful months, but once Mason was in LA, where paparazzi were much more common, it had been less a question of if they’d catch them canoodling in public but when . And when Guiding Light announced it had bought the rights for Why We’re Not Together , it didn’t take long before everyone knew who the “mysterious blonde” on his arm was.

Sawyer would never admit it out loud, but she missed being Mysterious Blonde. If the investors had any lingering hesitations about Mason’s love life jeopardizing production, they kept it to themselves, especially since Kara and other A-list exes of Mason’s had expressed interest in working with Guiding Light. It was unconventional, but hey, nothing about their relationship had been normal thus far. Why start now?

She mimed zipping her lips and throwing away the key. She’d learned to simply embrace the rumor mill at this point and let it run its course. Claire took the hint and dropped the Mason topic. Sawyer had initially resisted allowing interviews to ask about him, not wanting people to think she was riding his coattails, but there was no denying that without him sending her book to Alissa, there wouldn’t be a movie deal. And while she’d initially come on board with the idea kicking and screaming, she was excited for it. Mason was her biggest cheerleader, and she was proud of that.

Claire asked a few more questions about the movie, and Sawyer gave her usual answers—there wasn’t much she could tell at this point. It was still in preproduction. The movie industry moved about as slow as publishing. They played a this-or-that game with Sawyer’s characters from her four books before wrapping up with some general writing craft talk.

After the interview, she chatted with Claire for a bit before their time was up.

Sawyer flicked off the ring light, sinking back into her chair and smiling up at the ceiling. She’d done it. She’d specifically chosen Claire’s bookstagram for her first interview. She’d worked with her before, and she’d never faltered in hyping up Sawyer’s backlist, even when it looked like she’d never release another book.

A soft knock sounded, the door opening slightly. Mason poked his head into the spare bedroom of their LA apartment. You done? he mouthed.

She nodded, opening her arms. “All done.”

He crossed the small space, scooping her up out of the chair. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he dropped her onto the bed, smothering her beneath him. “You did it,” he breathed into her hair.

“I did.” She smiled against his neck, running her fingers through his curls, which she hadn’t let him cut since wrapping on Diagnostics , and was now quite long. He would say he was growing it out for a role, but she claimed sole credit for inspiring that artistic direction.

He peered down at her, a fondness in his expression that had her melting further into the plush bedding of their second bedroom that doubled as her LA office. He glanced back over his shoulder. “You turned off your camera, right?”

She smirked. “Yeah, why?”

He grinned down at her, tickling her sides. “Good.”

“Mason!” She squirmed under his touch. “We don’t have time, we have to go—” she protested half-heartedly, already taking off his shirt.

“We’ve got time,” he insisted.

They did not have time, but they were late for most things these days. Thankfully, it was LA, so they could always blame it on traffic. Her apartment back in Chicago was far enough from everything that the excuse usually worked there, too.

Long distance hadn’t made things easy, but they made the most of their time together. And when they were apart, Mason wrote her love letters with instructions on the outside of when to read them. “For when you miss me” or “for when you (eggplant emoji) miss me” or “for when you forget how ridiculously talented you are.” She’d given him a special ringtone in her phone, so even with their chaotic schedules, a two-hour time difference, and her unpredictable writing spells, she never missed his calls, and they started and ended each day with an I love you .

Miraculously, they made it to the space Guiding Light had rented out only ten minutes late. Everyone was still milling about, and they tried to slip in inconspicuously. It might have worked, too, had Alissa not cried out the moment they stepped through the door, pulling them into hugs and simultaneously ushering them over to their seats on the far wall.

Sawyer exchanged a guilty look with Mason as Alissa called everyone to order. “They were totally waiting on us,” she murmured.

“Worth it,” Mason said, cracking open the water bottle at his place setting and taking a sip.

Sawyer straightened the pen in front of her, her attention landing on the name card before her. S AWYER G REENE, W RITER, E XECUTIVE P RODUCER . Her eyes drifted to Mason’s placard next to hers. M ASON W EST, E XECUTIVE P RODUCER . She smiled to herself, hoping the rumor mill wouldn’t be too disappointed that Mason wouldn’t be acting in a Guiding Light production until the next film on Alissa’s rapidly filling docket.

Mason squeezed her hand under the table. “You ready?”

Glancing up at him, at the pride and hope in his eyes, she felt her shoulders relax, and flipped her hand over to squeeze back.

She still didn’t know whether she believed in soulmates or happily ever afters, but she believed in him, and she believed in them. And for now, she was happy. Incandescently so. When she thought back on the series of events that had led them here, she didn’t think of a piece of restaurant printer paper they scribbled their first list on—no feelings and no sex—the rules that they’d wasted no time in breaking. She thought of the piece of paper that was framed next to it in her Chicago apartment. “Mission: (un)Romance” where, at the bottom, she’d scribbled “end date???”

She hoped the answer to that question was never.

But for now, she smiled, staring into the eyes of the man who’d taught her to love again and seeing that same love reflected back at her, and nodded. “I’m ready.”