Page 25 of Riding the Waves

“I’m with you there,” Lizzie said with a smirk.

“It’s a good cover, but it doesn’t fit the book.” Scarlett took the laptop back and closed the lid. “We’ll go with the illustrated one.”

“I think the hot man cover will sell,” Lizzie said. “Since we’re in the business of selling books, this needs to be more of a discussion.”

“The story is too sweet,” Scarlett said.

“What about if we talk to Tricia about possibly tweaking the story?” Emily suggested. “Because that’s a really strong cover.”

“No.” Scarlett rolled her eyes. “We’re not doing that.”

“I don’t think she’d even go for it,” Lizzie mused.

“I knew I shouldn’t have shown you the man chest. You two can’t think clearly if there’s an attractive guy around.” Scarlett packed her laptop into her bag as though she were about to leave. “How about I get an expert to weigh in? I can drive over to Tara and see what she thinks. Tara owns a bookshop in Newton Abbott,” Scarlett explained to Amy. “Sometimes if we can’t agree on something, we get her opinion.”

“I guess if you really think the illustrated cover is strong enough, I’m happy to go with it,” Emily said.

“I’ll see what Tara thinks anyway,” Scarlett said, standing.

Lizzie’s brow wrinkled. “I thought you had a lot to do today.”

“I do, which is why I should go now. We don’t have much else to discuss, do we? I haven’t finished going through the shortlist yet.”

“Me neither,” Emily said, then turned to Amy. “Lizzie curates a shortlist from all the manuscripts we receive, then we decide which of those we want to publish.”

“I could send them to you, if you want?” Lizzie offered. “It might be interesting for you to look through the submissions. It’s always good to have another opinion when we’re trying to decide.”

Scarlett huffed. “You just think she’ll have similar opinions to you because she was also taken by the cute guy.”

“I have no idea of Amy’s taste in books,” Lizzie said.

Amy wasn’t even sure of her own taste in books, since reading hadn’t been something she had much time for in recent years. “I’d love to have a look through them. If you’re sure that’s okay.”

“You won’t have time to read through them all,” Emily said. “But you only really need to skim read the first chapters and see which appeal to you. It would be good to know which ones make you want to read more.”

“It sounds like fun.” It didn’t sound remotely like work, and Amy could definitely imagine spending her days doing more reading.

“So we’ll meet on Friday after lunch to discuss the books?” Scarlett asked, tapping her foot impatiently.

“Yes. We can message about the cover for Winter Wishes later.” Lizzie recrossed her legs. “Also, if you’re going over to Tara, Amy might like to go with you. It’s a gorgeous bookshop.”

“A field trip sounds good.” Amy smiled at Scarlett, who looked suddenly like a deer in the headlights.

She swallowed hard. “I’m going right now.”

“I’m ready,” Amy said. “How far is it?”

“A long way,” Scarlett said. “Almost an hour’s drive.”

Amy shrugged. She didn’t have anything else to do. “You don’t mind me tagging along, do you?”

“It’s fine,” Scarlett said flippantly.

As Amy picked up her bag, she said goodbye to Lizzie and Emily. Lizzie told her she’d email her a link to the shared folder for the manuscripts and would see her on Friday, if not before.

CHAPTER 12

Amy had to hurry to keep up as Scarlett strode down the stairs and out through the cafe.

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