Page 35 of We Met Like This
“What’s considered a horror-style ending?” Miles asked.
“Basically everyone dies,” I said. “Or at least are horribly maimed.”
Sloane shook her head. “Says the girl who doesn’t watch or read horror. It’s true, a lot of times the main character dies or is hinted at dying. Or sometimes, the monster we thought was defeated rears their ugly head at the last second, promising a return. But what I mean by the opposite of romance is that the horror genre as a whole doesn’t try to leave the watcher happy. Its goal is to disturb and its ending is often just as uncomfortable as the journey it took to get there.”
I smirked and waved my tablet that I’d been reading from at her. “I should’ve known better than to try to tell a film agent what a horror ending entails.”
“Yes, you should’ve.” She pointed at my tablet. “And Rob should know better than to encourage Kari Cross to write anything but romance.”
I rolled my eyes. “Rob does know better.”
“Wait,you’reencouraging her?”
“It’s good,” I whined. “Like, really good. There’s this family, the parents on the brink of divorce, that moves into a town where everyone has pledged to live by a certain set of rules designed by AI to keep everyone safe. If you break one of the rules, you’re kicked out. No second chances. But everyone is happy because the AI designed it perfectly to maximize happiness, so everyone follows the rules willingly.”
“Until?” Miles asks.
“I don’t know. She only sent me fifty pages so far. I need to ask her for more.”
“Horror ending, Margot,” Sloane said. “You’ll hate it. You’re all about the fun meeting and the romantic tension and the big bow tying everything together.”
I let out a grunt, then headed back toward my room while grumbling, “You don’t know what I’m all about.”
“Yes I do!” she called after me. “Love! And so are all of Kari Cross’s readers!”
“Don’t pigeonhole us!” I called back and shut my door.
I knew Sloane had a point. I knew Rob had a point. But I also knew why Kari couldn’t just walk away from this book.
I opened the laptop and signed in to my work email.
Kari,
I understand why you love this book so much. I do too! Have you thought about a pen name? It might solve the problem Rob has. Also, my only note so far is your setting is a bit weak. Why California? The writing makes me feel like you haven’t been here before. Can you set it somewhere you’re more familiar with? Also, I’m ready for more pages.—M
I shut my laptop and slid it off my lap and onto the bed.
My phone buzzed beside me. Kari was fast. But when I picked up my cell to check, it wasn’t an email notification waiting; it was a voice memo from Oliver in the dating app. That was new.
I hit the play button. “Hi. Thoughts on a funeral for a first date?”
The shock of what he said battled with the shock of hearing his voice for the first time in three years. It was warm and comforting. And as if my body remembered exactly what he’d been doing the last time his low, raspy voice was in my ear, my lady parts clenched while the rest of my body was flooded with heat. It was kind of annoying that just his voice could bring back such a visceral memory. As I thought about how to respond to his question, I started analyzingmyvoice. Was it going to do the same thing for him? Did he remember what I sounded like when his hands were on me? It was only fair that he got back some of the same feelings he was dishing out.
I rolled out of bed and flung myself down the hall. “Do I have a sexy voice?”
Both Sloane and Miles gave me matching perplexed faces.
“Hello,” I practiced. “My name is Margot.”
“Well, don’t usethatvoice,” Sloane said. “You sound like a sex line operator.”
“That’s good, right?”
Miles nodded. Sloane smacked his chest.
“What? I just answered her question,” he said.
“Who are you trying to impress?” she asked.
