As we walked down Fifth Avenue, I checked my phone. Eva had shared the podcast episode featuring her interview with Jake. I told Jake who sighed but didn’t say anything. Looking online, I could see people noting how he didn’t seem to care about his books or readers anymore. It was hard to read so I put my phone away. I had to ask Jake the question that was burning inside of me. ‘Is it really that bad? What happened that made you feel like romance is bullshit?’ I asked.

Jake let out a sigh. He took a while to respond, and I wondered if he wasn’t going to, but then he sipped his coffee and started to speak. ‘It’s private. But it’s also almost… humiliating. Because I write romance. And the reason why I was inspired to start writing it in the first place.’ He reached out and touched my arm. Like his few touches since we left London, I felt it everywhere. I hastily sucked in a steadying breath. He let go and I felt a twinge of disappointment. ‘I have never been good at sharing myself. That’s why I like writing novels. I can hide behind my characters and their stories, and keep my own story to myself. And the people I’m close to.’

I nodded. ‘I can see that.’ His cool, reserved personality made more sense to me now. He had been keeping part of himself hidden at work. Knowing that made him far less intimidating. Like when you pull back the curtain and see the wizard. ‘Sometimes though, you need to let people in, and allow them to see the real you. If you ever were going to do it, now is the time. If you want to keep writing romance. But I suppose if you’ve stopped believing in it then maybe you don’t.’

‘Do you think I should keep writing it?’ Jake asked.

‘Of course I do! Your books make me happy, and I’m far from the only one. There is so much darkness in the world, we need all the light we can get. If I had a bad day, curling up with one of your stories instantly made it better. Made me feel better. And after what you overheard me saying to Liv, you know that I’m not sure if I’ll ever find love like it exists in romance stories but they make me want to, they give me hope that it is out there, and it makes me not want to settle for anything that’s less than that.’

‘You should never settle,’ Jake said fiercely.

We looked at one another. I was surprised, he looked serious.

‘I still want to hope that it does exist. And help others hope it does too, but I don’t know if I can,’ he added.