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Back As Seen on TV Save as PDF
Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Chapter Six
  11. Chapter Seven
  12. Chapter Eight
  13. Chapter Nine
  14. Chapter Ten
  15. Chapter Eleven
  16. Chapter Twelve
  17. Chapter Thirteen
  18. Chapter Fourteen
  19. Chapter Fifteen
  20. Chapter Sixteen
  21. Chapter Seventeen
  22. Chapter Eighteen
  23. Chapter Nineteen
  24. Chapter Twenty
  25. Chapter Twenty-One
  26. Chapter Twenty-Two
  27. Chapter Twenty-Three
  28. Chapter Twenty-Four
  29. Chapter Twenty-Five
  30. Chapter Twenty-Six
  31. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  32. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  33. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  34. Chapter Thirty
  35. Chapter Thirty-One
  36. Chapter Thirty-Two
  37. Chapter Thirty-Three
  38. Chapter Thirty-Four
  39. Chapter Thirty-Five
  40. Chapter Thirty-Six
  41. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  42. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  43. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  44. Chapter Forty
  45. Chapter Forty-One
  46. Chapter Forty-Two
  47. Chapter Forty-Three
  48. Chapter Forty-Four
  49. Chapter Forty-Five
  50. Chapter Forty-Six
  51. Chapter Forty-Seven
  52. Chapter Forty-Eight
  53. Chapter Forty-Nine
  54. Chapter Fifty
  55. Acknowledgments
  56. Discover More
  57. About the Author

Finn: I could have been better—more sensitive and patient—and I’m sorry for that. If by any chance you, too, have given our ending thought and have your own regrets, maybe we should talk.

A tingling surge spread through my body as I read the piece from the beginning. It was finished, and it was fantastic! And maybe my story with Finn still had some life in it after all.

I opened a new email to Derek with the subject line “As Seen on TV,” attached the story, and pressed Send.

Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Seven

From my kitchen table, I glanced at the bottom right corner of my computer screen—11:57. It had only been two minutes since the last time I checked, which meant three to five more to go before Tea’s newsletter subscribers, of which I was one, would receive our weekly email with links to their newly published stories.

A week and two days had passed since I’d first sent mine to Derek. He accepted it with minor edits within twenty-four hours, and it was to go live today.

“Don’t forget to breathe, Squirt.”

“I’m breathing! You can bet your ass if I suffocate, it’s happening after I see my story in print.”

“No one can say my girl doesn’t have her priorities straight.”

It was only 11:58, and there’d been no sound to notify me of an incoming message, and yet…refresh. It was as if I had no control over my fingers—my still perfectly manicured fingers, thanks to Laura and her magic skills.

“You still there, Kate?” I chomped nervously on a Bavarian pretzel—brunch of champions. I heard paper shuffling, but she’d disappeared from sight. “Kate?”

My mother and best friend were at their individual offices working, while I had the afternoon off from both of my jobs. We were on a three-way FaceTime so we could read the story in sync when the newsletter landed in our respective mailboxes sometime between 12:00 and 12:04.

The paper shuffling stopped, and Kate’s face once again appeared on the screen. “I’m here! Sorry. I’m buried in document review. Trying to multitask.”

“One-minute countdown begins now!”

“Shall I bring out the noisemakers?” Mom joked.

“I got mine!” Kate shrilled.

“Me too!”

I gawked at my computer. Where was my newsletter?

Refresh. Refresh.

“Am I allowed to open it, or are we doing a synchronized thing here?”

Before I could respond to Mom’s question, I gasped at the arrival of a bolded new message from Tea. “Guys.” I pointed to the message, never mind that they had no view of my computer through their phones. “GUYS!” I repeated.

“What?” they asked in harmony.