Page 137 of Guys Can't Write Romance
“We were both right,” Chad admitted with a grin. “But somewhere between her color-coded editing system and my terrible first drafts, something amazing happened. She made me a better writer. A better person, actually. She taught me that structure doesn’t have to be the enemy of creativity, that vulnerability isn’t weakness, and that sometimes the scariest stories are the ones where you risk your heart.”
The room had gone completely quiet, everyone captivated by the genuine emotion in his voice.
“This book wouldn’t exist without her,” Chad continued. “Not just her editorial skills, but her belief that I could write something worth reading. So her name belongs on this award just as much as mine does.”
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “And since she’s still in shock, I’ll read the dedication from the book, which she hasn’t seen yet.”
Daisy watched, barely breathing, as Chad carefully unfolded the paper.
“This is on behalf of my writing partner, Daisy, who lost her dad three years ago,” Chad began, his voice gentle. “To Captain Michael Fields, who’s reading this on his Kindle in Heaven. Your daughter made it! The little girl who would fall asleep with a book in her hands grew up to write one that’s going to be on shelves everywhere. She’s everything you knew she could be, brave, brilliant, and unstoppable. She colors the world brighter just by being in it. Her biggest fan isn’t just proud, he’s right.”
Tears welled in Daisy’s eyes, blurring the lights of the ballroom. Chad’s words reached directly into her heart, speaking to a loss she carried every day, acknowledging it without diminishing it.
“Thank you,” Chad finished simply, folding the paper and stepping back from the microphone.
The audience erupted in applause, many dabbing at their eyes. But Daisy hardly noticed. The world had narrowed to just this moment, just this man who had somehow seen through to her deepest hopes and fears, and had found a way to honor both.
Without thinking or planning, Daisy crossed the short distance between them, grabbed the lapels of his jacket, and kissed him. And as his arms came around her and his lips responded to hers, they held that kiss.
Chapter thirty-six
Boy Meets Girl
Six Months Later...
The line of fans and readers stretched to the bookstore entrance, an impressive turnout for a debut author team at their first Los Angeles book signing. Chad and Daisy sat at a table in the rear of the store, with copies of his book, ‘A Ghost of a Chance,’ stacked in front of them. Having been published just three weeks ago, it had steadily climbed the bestseller charts since then. A viral video of Daisy’s impromptu kiss at the awards ceremony had helped spread the word.
The six months since the Heartstrings Publishing awards ceremony had been a whirlwind. While Chad had only been a runner-up in the contest and didn’t get the publishing deal with Heartstrings, he and Daisy caught the attention of a literary agent who approached them at the after-party. Within a month, they had representation and a book deal; not with Heartstrings,but with a larger publisher who picked up not only Chad’s book, but the romantic comedy he and Daisy had been working on.
They’d spent the following months writing, revising, and navigating the unfamiliar waters of the publishing industry together. While neither of them could quit their day jobs yet, they devoted every spare moment to their blossoming writing careers. And to each other.
Throughout the day, Daisy took mental snapshots of the moment. There was the bookstore’s warm lighting, the adoring readers, the stack of books with their names on it, and Chad beside her as an ever-comforting presence, always happy to share the spotlight with her.
If someone had told her a year ago that she would be sitting there right now, as co-author of a successful romance novel with a boy who once suggested she have her male lead get eaten by a dinosaur, she would have died laughing. And yet here they were, and there was nobody she would rather share this journey with.
As the event finally came to an end, Daisy quickly excused herself, telling Chad that she had to take care of something. But she would stop by his apartment later.
The sunset had colored the sky in crimson streaks as Chad headed up the path to his apartment. After a long day of signing books and posing for photos with adoring readers, he was ready to collapse on the couch and watch TV. As he reached the door, he came to a stop.
A bright yellow Post-It was stuck to the door, with Daisy’s handwriting scrawled across it.
‘Follow the Post-Its,’it said.
Chad looked curiously at it for a moment. Whatever his crazy girlfriend slash writing partner had done, it was sure to be entertaining.
As he stepped inside, he came to another abrupt stop. The entire apartment was bathed in candlelight, with candles placed on the kitchen counter, the boys’ makeshift coffee table, Chad’s card-table ‘desk’, and the bookshelves. He reached for the light switch, when his hand brushed against yet another Post-It. This one read:
‘Don’t turn on the lights.’
And just below it, another Post-It that read.
‘Look at the wall.’
Chad did, and an amused grin spread across his face. All along the wall, at precise intervals, was a line of Post-Its. He walked over to the first one and read it:
‘Step 1: The Meet-Cute. Boy meets girl.’
Chad chuckled as he moved to the next one.
