Prologue

Nora Stephens frames her life through familiar romance tropes and recognizes herself as the archetypal “city person” who gets dumped. While hurrying to a lunch meeting, she takes a call from her boyfriend, Grant, who announces he’s not returning to New York after an appendectomy extended his Texas trip. He’s staying to help run the hotel his company tried to buy and is seeing Chastity, the owners’ daughter.

Nora suppresses emotion, choosing professionalism over drama, and heads into the meeting late. She meets editor Charlie Lastra, whose dour demeanor matches his reputation. Charlie immediately calls Nora’s client Dusty Fielding’s new novel “unreadable,” criticizing its sentimentality, caricatured cast, and the realism of the Sunshine Falls setting.

Nora defends the book’s commercial potential and disputes his points, pushing him to specify what he likes. Charlie insists he wants early Fielding—the quieter The Glory of Small Things—which he believes he could sell. The tension escalates as they spar over taste and authenticity, order goat cheese salads, and both accept martinis, trading barbs that reveal mutual disdain and a wary professional interest.

That night, Charlie emails a curt rejection but invites future submissions. Nora fires back with a dark joke; he responds in kind, and they volley brief sign-offs until Nora scores the last word. She ends the night settled and composed, signaling that the breakup hasn’t derailed her, while a prickly rapport with Charlie is established.