Page 108 of The Perfect Rom-Com

You were expected to attend and support a book launch tour, running from July 18 to August 1, and any spontaneous events thereafter. You have failed to perform such duties and left without notice. Reasonable efforts of communication on the part of the literary agency were made, and you have failed in this regard as well.

If you do not attend the final event of Amelia Benedict’s tour, we regret to inform you that you will be charged with failure to comply and face criminal punishment.

See attachment below for information regarding tour date and time.

We look forward to seeing you in attendance.

Jack Sterling

Senior Acquisitions Agent

Sterling Literary Agency

I’m breathing fire.

“Teacher?”

Saliha draws me out of myself, and I look at their faces. Follow the trail of their expressions back to my hand on the board. See why the students are staring at me that way.

The board is covered in practice sentences with action verbs but for the single circle of area directly in front of me, where apparently I had been swirling the eraser over and over until it was one perfectly clear space on a board otherwise covered with words.

Hastily I set the eraser down.

“Teacher,” Socorro begins, “are you ok—”

“Unhinged?” Fen puts in, finger on his dictionary.

“Yes, I am fine. I got news that is—” I’m trying to find the word, but the pesky ball of flames in my chest is making it difficult.

“Demented?” Socorro interjects, pointing to another word.

“Unfortunate,” I throw out, before he can start on a round of insults. “I just found out some . . . unbelievable news . . . and I’m having a hard time processing it.”

“What are you going to do?” Miho says in her polite, careful voice.

“Do?” I suck in a breath. Look down at the email. “I don’t know. I suppose . . .”

I can’t be sued.

I really, really can’t be sued.

The words feel like sticky tacky in my mouth. “I suppose I’m going to go to”—I read the attached location—“The Bright Show.”

My stomach churns.

The biggest, most viewed morning television show in all of history.

Chapter 24

The building is huge.

Tunnels and turns that make no logical sense. Signs everywhere. People everywhere.

Throw in my nerves and I’m an absolute wreck.

Gloria has dressed me in the smartest ensemble of my entire life. When she heard what had transpired, it took roughly two minutes of stunned silence before she broke out of her frozen position, grabbed her purse and my elbow, and announced shrilly, “Well, if you’re going to go, you’ll need a revenge outfit!”

Apparently, the goal was to remind everyone behind the scenes that I was the brains and the power behind this massive machine in motion, and that while they put me under their thumb through this humiliating venture, the reality is that I was taking my “big brain” and “creative genius” (her words, not mine) with me and never stepping in Jack’s sights again.