A Fresh Start

Alan chuckled as Grace ate ravenously.

“What, you really took it out of me,” she protested.

“There’s more,” he told her.

“Oh, I know. More of this, more of that body of yours… I intend to have it all.”

Alan laughed and reached for her hand.

“There’s something more, too.”

She raised her eyebrows, not wasting breath on words.

“I heard back from an editor, about your manuscript. I should’ve asked them to get in touch with you directly, but, well, I asked Rachel to take care of it. She wanted me to give you the news.”

“What news?”

Grace felt her heart nearly stop, then beat harder as if it would break out of her.

“They love it, Grace. But you’re in for a long, fairly painful process of editing and refining now. They want to publish it. You’re in.”

Grace let the dessert spoon drop.

“Really? They’re interested?”

“More than interested. And Rachel will negotiate the deal for you.”

Grace sat there, in the most romantic city in the world, with the man she loved and who loved her, and knew that all her dreams were coming true.

Alan leaned towards her, a look of understanding on his face.

“It’s not a dream. It’s real. It’s all real,” he promised.

She believed him.

It was all real, and it was perfect.

The end.