“I think I’ve had the idea. Or I finally remembered the idea you handed to me.” She threw in a quick smile. “It would be a great setting for a new series. Something I can really sink my teeth into. As long as you don’t think it’s untoward. It would be pure fiction, of course. I would just draw, er, mild inspiration from the goings-on downstairs.”

“Do you mean you won’t have a sexy, silver-fox book shop owner as your main character?” Annie pushed her chair back.

Jane burst into a chuckle. A second later, Annie stood in front of her. Jane heard the water boil behind her, but she didn’t care. “Maybe she would make an interesting side character. I don’t know. I need to consider it.”

Annie grabbed her hands and pulled Jane close. “I think it’s a great idea,” she whispered in Jane’s ear. She let go of Jane’s hands and folded her arms across Jane’s back. “I’ve been waiting for that glint to return to your eyes.”

Jane stood in Annie’s hug for a few silent moments. It was just an idea for a story, yet, to them—very much to the both of them—it was so much more.

When they broke from their embrace, Jane asked, “It’s not too much? Or too on the nose?”

“No, because I know you.” Annie’s smile softened. “Remember when you started writing the Broken Hearts series and what inspired that?”

Jane had to think for a second. She’d written that series for so many years, and had strayed so much from the original idea, she could hardly remember what had sparked it in the first place. Plus there was the excitement of this new idea and the layers upon layers of enthusiasm to dig through to get to the germ of the series she had ended a while ago. Then it hit her. She had used the Broken Hearts series to write something off her as well. No one not in the know could ever guess just by reading the books, but Annie knew—and so did Jane, of course.

“Beth Walsh,” Jane said, and, perhaps for the very first time, when she said that name, she didn’t feel like being swallowed up whole by the ground beneath her feet.

Annie nodded. “If this is something you need to write off you, just like you did with Beth, then I know it’s going to be great. Because it’s what you do best. Turn your emotions and your fears and all that goes on inside that pretty little head of yours into gripping tales of exquisite lesbian drama.”