Page 71 of Austen Persuaded

It was Sofia, I realized, turning my head toward the voice and immediately regretting it as my neck screamed in response. I opened my eyes slowly to find two pairs staring at me. Sofia and Kylan were crouched with the car door open, and I was slumped at an unnaturalangle in the backseat. “I—” I croaked before clearing my throat. “I am sorry, I must have dozed off for a minute or so.”

Sofia’s rich laugh filled the small space. “More than a minute or two. We let you sleep a bit longer. But it’s time for you to go run the book club meeting now.”

“It’s almost 7 o’ clock,” Kylan said, sounding irritated. But when I met his eyes, I saw something that didn’t look like irritation. It looked like … something. I had no idea. Interest? Was he showinginterestin me? My brows furrowed in confusion, and then my spirits deflated. If anything, it was probably interest in Sofia. They’d let me sleep a while, so who knows what they’d been doing in the meantime.

I rubbed my eyes, sitting up slowly, when his words suddenly clicked. “Seven? You guys let me sleep this long? I have to set up!” I said frantically, wild eyes darting around as I launched myself out of the car.

“Relax, Annie. We got you, girl. We saw Sai arrive a while ago and told her to set up. And then we told her little boy crush Zach to go help her,” Sofia said, smirking. “She should be thanking us.”

I couldn’t help but grin at the idea of that. I hurried toward the door, the other two on my heels. Kylan overtook me just before reaching the door, opening it for both of us.

“Such a gentleman he is, Annie,” Sofia said to me, but her soft smile and shining eyes were on him. Gritting my teeth, I forced my eyes forward, toward the gathering book club crowd.

“You’re late,” Sai declared with her usual scowl as I claimed the empty seat next to her.

It was 6:59, so not quite late, but it wasn’t worth arguing about. “Sorry, Sai. Thanks for setting up. You did a great job.”

Sai mumbled a sullen-sounding “Thanks,” but I thought she was biting back a grin. Could Sai be won over with praise? I’d been wondering if Sai might want to co-lead the book club with me or at least facilitate some book discussion meetings herself, but I wasn’t sure how to bring it up.

Maybe I could ask her when she’s—

“Annie?” Carlina whispered loudly from a few seats away. “I think we’re all here.”

My face felt warm. How long had I been lost in my thoughts? It was 7:04 now, and everyone was looking at me expectantly. I cleared my throat and pretended to look at my small notebook. “Yes, right. Sorry about that, I was just … thinking about the, uh, effects of women’s fiction on our society. I …”

What the hell am I saying? I sound like a total idiot.

“Well, let’s dive into part 2 of the book discussion following up from last week, shall we? Mental health is certainly a theme in this book, both with the main character and her mother. How do you think the setting of this book—outside the U.S.—affects how the issue of mental health is handled here? Or maybe it doesn’t?” Fortunately, I always came prepared with question prompts written beforehand, exactly for situations like this where my brained ceased to work.

I’d almost forgotten to prepare the questions though. What with beta reading Viviana’s book, tux fitting appointments, and long hours at work on some impending manuscript deadlines and contract negotiations, the past two days had given me almost no time to think, let alone sleep. I could’ve asked Viviana for an extra day or two, or even more, to read her story, but I hated to go back on my word, especially given that we’d just reconciled in our friendship.

Carpooling to the bookstore with Sofia and Kylan had been thelastthing I wanted to do, but we were all working late at the office that evening—and every other evening that week—and Sofia had insisted on driving us, since we’d all planned to return to the office after the book club anyway. I was too tired to argue against it, so I’d reluctantly agreed. Despite my embarrassment at falling asleep in the back seat of Sofia’s car, a little part of me was relieved. It was kind of my worst nightmare to ride as the third wheel as the two of them chatted and flirted and laughed in the front seat. And flirt they did. A vile sensation filled my stomach at the thought. There was a growing awareness that Kylan might actually be interested inSofia and that—worse yet—I would have front-row tickets to their courtship.

Courtship.

I almost let out a laugh, but my eyes felt too heavy.

This isn’t a Jane Austen novel.

But if it were, I’d be the sad, lonely one … the—

“What do you think, Annie?” Kylan’s voice suddenly cut through my disjointed thoughts. His eyes were curious, his expression serious.

Panic set in. I had not been following the discussion at all. “I think … well, I always—” Some non-word sounds came out, and I desperately glanced at the clock over his head. It had been nearly 40 minutes, and I’d been spaced out the entire time. “It’s actually a great time to take a break. Let’s return in five minutes, everyone, and then come back to discuss some more and decide on our next book, OK?”

As soon as I stood up, Sofia and Sai were rising with me.

“Annie, are you OK?” Sofia asked, her brows furrowed. “You seem a little distracted. Or maybe really tired. Are we working you too hard? You can tell me, you know.”

When I shook my head and started to respond, Sai raised an eyebrow. “Are you high?”

I sighed. “No. I … all right, I’m a little tired.”

Sofia crossed her arms. “A little? You fell asleep in a 5-minute car ride on the way here.”

“Maybe more than a little.”

“OK, I’m bored now. I’m going to sit back down,” Sai said, pulling out her phone and sneaking a glance at Zachary, who was sneaking a glance at her.

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