Chapter 53 Sarah
SARAH
Phew. What a day.
I leant back in my office chair and breathed out a satisfied breath. I’d got so much done today.
As well as creating a calendar of social media posts to promote the retreat and going over the marketing materials our designer, Stella, had created, I’d also come up with a list of ideas to boost the library’s revenue for Jess.
Plus, I’d checked the analytics, and the reel that Ben and I created had blown up over the weekend.
The amount of comments we’d received was insane.
They were mostly like the ones I’d seen on the train to the airport on Friday:
‘Girl, there’s no way I’d be turning a hottie like him down if he asked me out.’ And many different variations of ‘He is FIT!’
Reading them today hit different because all of these women fancied Ben and I’d actually slept with him. Multiple times. Talk about a confidence boost.
But then imposter syndrome struck and I started wondering why Ben had chosen me. Was it just because he was horny and I was available and willing?
I mentally slapped myself as I remembered that the reason wasn’t important. It was just a bit of temporary fun.
The strange thing was that there were also some comments insisting that we were a real couple. Like: ‘There’s no way they aren’t together!’ and ‘If they aren’t boning already, it’s only a matter of time.’
Looked like our followers had seen the chemistry between us before we did.
Anyway, the important thing was that there’d definitely been a dramatic uplift in web traffic and online orders. Celeste even said that some new members had been asking for the TikTok guy.
Whenever he covered breaks in the library, there were always women swarming around him. Looked like that fan base had now massively increased.
My stomach tensed and I scolded myself. I couldn’t start getting jealous. It was over. End of story.
Jesus. It was amazing that I got any work done at all with these thoughts swimming around my head. It’s a good thing that I hadn’t seen Ben today or I would’ve been even worse.
‘Hi!’ Jess burst into the office. ‘How was your day?’
‘Very productive!’ I said.
‘Glad to hear it! I forgot to tell you earlier that I got some writing advice from D.D. Desire.’
‘That’s amazing, thanks!’
Jess pulled her phone out of her jeans, unlocked the screen and started scrolling.
‘I made some notes, but I wrote them when she was speaking, so they’re not very clear. Let me see…’ Jess squinted at the screen.
‘Hold up, let me grab a pen and write all this down.’
‘Probably for the best. I’d offer to send you this, but these notes are all over the place.
Right, so yeah, when I told her you were finding it difficult to get started and find a good idea for a meet-cute, she recommended that you don’t put so much pressure on yourself.
She said that she knows it sounds harsh, but you’re a debut novelist—no one’s waiting for your book to come out yet, so allow yourself the freedom to let the words come when they’re ready.
And when they do, just write. Don’t overthink or second-guess whether the words are good or not, because once you’ve got a story written, you can come back and edit those words later. But you can’t edit a blank page.’
‘Makes sense.’ I nodded as I tried to scribble down everything Jess said.
‘Sorry. Am I going too fast?’
‘A little, but it’s okay. Carry on.’
‘Right, where was I? Oh yeah, she said that when you’ve finished your first draft, don’t worry if it’s not amazing because everyone has an SFD.
Bollocks! What did that mean again?’ Jess rubbed the side of her head like she hoped the action would magically release the answer.
‘That’s it! An SFD is a “shit first draft”.
That’s when she repeated the importance of getting the words written first because then you can spend as long as you need to make it better. ’
‘That’s good to know. Sometimes I spend ages trying to make it right and then I’m so convinced it’s shit that I end up deleting everything.’
‘Yeah, she said not to do that. ’Cause even if those words don’t work for that book, you could use them for your next book.’
‘It’s hard to think about writing a second book when I can’t even come up with any ideas for the first one.’ My shoulders slumped.
The past couple of weeks, I’d tried to think about writing again, but I was so deflated by my lack of inspiration that I just told myself it was a waste of time.
Plus, I’d reasoned that I’d be too busy, what with the wedding coming up and the fact that I needed to up my game at work.
But now the wedding was over, I didn’t have any more excuses.
I needed to knuckle down. I couldn’t give up on my dream.
‘That brings me neatly onto the final point she made,’ Jess continued, and I sat up straighter.
‘She said that if you’re struggling for ideas, remember that inspiration is everywhere.
It could be a conversation you overhear in a café or on a train that sparks an idea or even something you’ve experienced yourself.
When you think of anything interesting, she suggested that you jot down a few notes and sometimes that can spark one idea which can then lead to another and another and before you know it, you’ve got pages of thoughts to use as the basis for your book. ’
‘Wow!’ I said as I scribbled down the last sentence. ‘That’s such great advice, thanks. And please thank D.D. too when you next speak to her.’
‘Will do.’
‘Actually, have you thought about asking her to teach a class at the retreat? I know we’re focusing on readers’ retreats, but maybe we should do something for authors too. If we had a session from a bestselling author, it’d sell like hot cakes.’
‘Yeah! Great minds think alike! I mentioned it and she said she’d give it some thought because she’s busy trying to write book three in the series.’
‘There’s gonna be a third book?’ I squealed.
‘Hopefully. It’s not confirmed yet, so keep it under your hat until then.’
She hadn’t even written it yet and I already couldn’t wait to read it.
Thinking about D.D.’s books reminded me that Ben still had my copy of Office Delight.
He’d read more on the plane and raved about it, and at the time he’d said that he’d hoped to continue reading that night once he got home. But obviously we’d found another way to spend the evening, so he hadn’t got around to it.
At least I knew what book to give him next. The sequel: Illicit Delight. I’d have to lend him my copy, though, because it didn’t matter how many we ordered for the library, they were always out on loan.
We generally recommended that people buy their own copies anyway because we knew either they’d want to annotate the pages to death or that the books would come back so worn that it was hard to loan them to anyone else.
I wondered if Ben would read the book tonight and what he’d think.
I’d love to know what Ben was doing right now.
Ben.
‘Sarah? Sarah!’ Jess shouted, snapping me out of my thoughts. ‘You were miles away!’
‘Sorry.’ I shook my head, hoping that it’d remind me what Jess had just said.
‘You were thinking about Ben, weren’t you?’ She cocked her head and raised a suspicious brow.
‘No!’ I lied. ‘Just about, y’know, I was just wondering if he’d read any more of Office Delight, that’s all.’
‘What, so you could ask him to reenact some of the scenes?’ She grinned.
‘Just because that’s what you and Theo did, there’s no need to brag!’ I laughed, trying to disguise the fact that she was right.
Jess told me that she and Theo particularly enjoyed the desk scene.
A jolt of electricity shot straight to my core as I imagined Ben banging me on this desk.
Jesus.
I had it bad.
How was I supposed to stop thinking about him when all of these flashbacks of him going down on me and how good it felt having his dick inside my pussy kept popping up in my head?
It was starting to feel impossible when I wished I could press rewind so I could do it all over again.
‘So I did a social media plan for the retreat today,’ I said, deliberately changing the subject. I needed to stop thinking about Mr Orgasm Giver.
‘Great!’
‘I know you said you hadn’t decided about the frequency yet, but I was thinking we could start with doing three a month?’
‘Sounds perfect!’
‘And I thought I could set up a Google Form or something where we can invite readers to start registering their interest in attending now.’
‘I like the sound of that too, but won’t they want photos of the finished place, so they can see how it all looks?’
‘In an ideal world, yes. But I think a lot of readers will already trust the Romance Library brand and be willing to sign up without photos. They won’t have to pay or anything at this stage, just register their interest so we have a list of warm leads to market to once the retreat is complete.’
‘Okay, great.’
‘I’ve asked Stella to make some tweaks for the dedicated web page and the marketing materials.
And I was also thinking that once the retreat is almost finished, we can offer our best members a free one-night stay in exchange for feedback, photos and reviews to help with the marketing to paid customers too. ’
‘Excellent idea!’
‘So that’s where I’m at with the retreat marketing, but I also had a few other ideas for simple ways we could boost revenue.’
‘You know I’m always going to like the sound of that. The money we got from the investors will only go so far, and I want to be able to demonstrate that we’re showing initiative to earn that money back.’
‘Course,’ I said, waking up my computer and tabbing to the page where I’d written down my brainstorm notes. ‘So firstly, I was thinking we could start offering a bookish afternoon tea experience in the café and the bar too once it’s open.’
‘I love that!’ Jess’s eyes brightened. ‘We could do a selection of our bookish cakes and the cock cookies as well as scones and other stuff.’
‘Exactly! I can speak to Maddie and see what’s possible.’
‘Perfect! I’m sure it won’t be an issue and I bet the margins are great for afternoon tea. The ones in London charge a fortune for what’s basically a couple of sandwiches cut up and a few little cakes. I’m sure we could do better than that.’
‘Definitely! And we could include a book in the price or something that we could get publishers to donate for free or something to introduce readers to new authors.’
‘Oh my God, yes!’ I added. ‘And the other thing I thought we could do was to start offering bookshop challenge packages for birthdays or special treats where we encourage boyfriends or girlfriends to treat their loved ones to a one or two-minute dash where they get to pile as many books as possible into a trolley in that time. Great for us as we get to sell a load of books in seconds. And we can offer extras as a bonus to everyone who books, like a free Romance Library T-shirt or other swag.’
‘That’s genius! I don’t know what you had for lunch today, but you’re on fire!’
‘Thanks!’ I said, my heart swelling with pride.
‘I think I was just blocked before. I’ve been so worried about making sure I did a good job here and stressing myself out that you’d think I wasn’t good enough and you’d made a mistake by hiring me to work full-time that I got in my head too much and it stopped me thinking clearly.
I doubt it was what I had for lunch. I reckon all the amazing sex I had this weekend freed my mind and helped me to relax a bit more. ’
‘Multiple orgasms will do that to a girl!’ Jess laughed. ‘In all seriousness, though, I’m glad you’re feeling more relaxed.’
‘Me too! I didn’t want to let you down.’
‘You could never do that! You helped us get this library off the ground. You’re an important part of the team. You always have been. And you’re brilliant at what you do. I wouldn’t have given you the job otherwise.’
‘Thanks, hon.’ I smiled, feeling so grateful that I had not just a fantastic boss, but a brilliant friend. ‘Love you.’
‘I love you too.’
‘Speaking of love, how’s the wedding planning going?’
‘It’s still not,’ Jess sighed. ‘It’s all so complicated.
I just want something simple. Low fuss, just me and Theo and a few close friends witnessing us declare our love for one another.
I don’t need a fancy expensive venue or a big meringue wedding dress.
Just something that reflects us. Is that too much to ask? ’
‘No, it isn’t. Adrian’s wedding was lovely. It was small and low-key, just on the beach. It was so them.’ I paused as a light bulb went off in my head. ‘I’ve got it!’ I jumped out of my chair. ‘It’s perfect!’
‘What is?’
‘I’ve got an idea for a wedding that will suit you and Theo perfectly!’
‘Well, come on, then!’ Jess leant forward, excitement filling her eyes. ‘Don’t be shy! Tell me what it is!’