Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
“I’m going to start calling agents this week. Let’s see what’s around.”
“Sounds good.” I really hope we don’t end up in Brooklyn.
There’s a beat of silence before Melanie says, “What happened with you and Daniel De Luca? Did you just fall out of love with him?”
I shrug. “I grew out of silly fantasies. Like most people.” I fake a cough. Melanie has never grown out of her Harry Potter obsession, and I love her for it.
“Why, though?” Melanie asks. “Why do we have to grow up and become sensible?”
There’s a simple answer to that: Because life isn’t a fairy tale.
“So, London men,” Melanie continues before the silence can grow uncomfortable. “You’ll have to do lots of due diligence and report back.”
I straighten, pulling back my shoulders. “I don’t need anyone else.”
Jed and I met in college. It was his realistic approach to life that had attracted me. There were no butterflies, no blind passion or days spent lost in conversation. Our relationship wasn’t like in the movies; it was better because it was real. Practical. Focused. We wanted the same things out of life: a Manhattan apartment, a place in the Hamptons, a fat 401(k). I wanted a life where I never had to worry about anything. I wanted a stable, dependable man who would fit into a stable, dependable life.
Except the stable, dependable man I picked decided he wanted a much less stable and dependable ballerina sister of a mutual friend. They’re moving to Iowa together to run a farm, which leaves me to go get my stable, dependable life on my own.
And that’s exactly where London is going to lead: saving my job, getting a place on the management fast track, and securing the future I want for myself.
“Don’t you think it’s a little . . . unusual to stumble across a Daniel De Luca convention?” Melanie asks. “And not just stumble across it but be staying in the same hotel that’s hosting it? Maybe it’s fate.”
“It’s coincidence,” I reply.
“Right, but a strange one. And it’s in London, for Pete’s sake. How often do you travel for work? Never. And the one time you do, you’re staying at a hotel that’s celebrating Daniel De Luca? It’s . . .”
“Totally random?” I suggest.
“It’s fate, I’m telling you. It’s the universe throwing you a rope. You need to cling on and see where it takes you.”
“Cling on?”
“Lean in is probably a better way of putting it. I can’t help but think you being at this hotel, surrounded by . . . memories . . .” She pauses, and we both take a breath. “Enjoy it. Maybe take a tour. Or just go to a couple of locations on the map. You might find what you’re looking for.”
“Like a job?” I suggest. “Or the life I was meant to have with Jed?”
London won’t give me my old life back, but it might help me keep the job I need for the new solo life I’m left with. At the moment, it’s the best I can hope for.
Chapter Two
If I count from the time the plane touched down, I’ve been in London twenty-seven hours and six minutes. In that time, I’ve seen at least three hundred and fifty-six thousand images of Daniel De Luca. Being in my hotel is like living in fourteen-year-old me’s brain.
And it’s terrifying.
There’s also something comforting about it. My mom’s death threw me into adulthood with such force, I never looked back. But being here is making me do just that. Every time I turn around, I come face-to-printed-face with my teenage crush. And even though I don’t believe the universe is sending me a sign by having a Daniel De Luca convention in the hotel I’m staying at, I’m going to take Melanie’s advice and lean into it. Not because it’s a sign, but because . . . maybe it’s a sign?
I have so many happy memories of my mom and his films that I may have snuck my Daniel De Luca map into my bag along with my phone, water, and sunglasses. The hotel is walking distance from the office, and I want to check the route in advance of Monday morning so I know what to expect—and what shoes to wear. I imagine London is a lot like New York when it comes to shoe-swapping to and from the office.
I have the entire afternoon, and I need to shrug off my jet lag so I can show my boss how perfect I am for the management fast track. At least that’s my excuse for heading for a short detour through Green Park. I feel a little guilty, because I’m here on a work trip, but I justify the detour by reminding myself it’s the weekend. A particular scene in Daniel De Luca’s first ever big movie was shot in the park; as a teen, I’d longed to go to the place where Daniel’s career took off. He didn’t have top billing in Love Me Like a Boss, but he played opposite the queen of rom-coms, Julia Alice, and it launched him into superstardom.