“I will!” Indira says with more energy than anyone should have at this hour. I’ve never been a morning person, and I barely slept last night, thanks to a toxic combination of worrying about Josie, feeling sorry for myself, and however much sugar is in an entire box of Munchkins.

Indira reaches into the fishbowl and chooses a slip of paper. She reads aloud: “ ‘If you were to get dropped into a romance novel, what would you want to experience?’ ”

“Let’s make this a speed round,” I say. “Eliza, want to start?”

Eliza sits up taller in her seat. “I’d love to get dropped into the Bridgerton world…just for a few days. Then I’d want to come back to our world, where women have at least some human rights.”

We continue moving around the circle:

Cinderella: “No question: secret billionaire with a heart of gold.”

Indira: “Put me in the Omegaverse and give me a lady werewolf.”

Nora: “I’d choose the third-act breakup.”

Everyone stops and stares at her, aghast.

“That’s bananas!” Eliza says.

“Why would you want to experience the saddest part of the whole book?” Cinderella asks.

“Seriously,” Eliza agrees. “That’s my least favorite part of a romance.”

“But the dark moment is an important part of story structure,” I say, although I agree it can be painful to read.

“And it’s important for character growth,” Indira adds, nodding.

Eliza scoffs. “It’s emotionally manipulative and predictable.”

“Not when it’s done well!” Indira says, her voice rising.

“All right, all right,” I say, but then Nora raises a hand.

“May I?” she asks, and I motion for everyone to listen.

“You’re all right, in a way,” Nora says. “Falling in love is something that happens to you, sometimes even against your will—like being struck by lightning or catching the flu. But staying in love? That’s a choice.”

She pauses, glancing around our circle. Everyone is quiet, digesting her words.

“Maybe don’t think of it as a third-act breakup,” she says. “Think of it as a decision point. Will the lovers allow themselves to be torn apart by outside circumstances or their internal fears? Or will they fight for each other?” She smiles. “That’s a decision anyone in any relationship will have to make, over and over again.”

“Huh,” Eliza says thoughtfully. Cinderella seems to be digesting it, too.

I’m up next, and our senior staffer has given me a hard act to follow, so I say the simple truth: “Friends to lovers.”

Cinderella rolls her eyes and mutters something about enemies under her breath, but I bite my tongue. The last thing I want is to call more attention to myself and Josie.

Especially given the news I’m about to share.

“Moving on,” I say. “I wanted to share an update about the competition.”