Must Love Books

by Shauna Robinson

Oh, to have the ability to vomit through a telephone receiver.

Best line of the month!

“That would bode well, would it?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. “Give me a higher advance because of racism?” Nora shrugged. “Someone once told me you never know until you ask.” “Hey.” He pointed at her in a show of amused sternness. “Do not use my own advice against me. I did ask; I just didn’t drag race into it. You know why.” “I do,” she said, feeling seen for the first time in a while. It was rare that she got to have this sort of shorthand about race with someone. After her years at Parsons, it was rare to be around someone who wasn’t white.

“And maybe…” It was pressing her luck, but she didn’t care. “Maybe when your book is out, we can celebrate.” She hoped by then she would have her life a little more figured out, or at the very least, the haze in her head would be gone. Andrew deserved her feelings front and center, not hidden in a fog. She wanted him to meet that side of her, the happy, non-hazy Nora who didn’t show up at his doorstep on a whim or hide from his sincerity. Maybe by then she would be herself again, and he would get to meet her.

She suddenly felt self-conscious. “Cute or stupid?” she asked. “You say it like they’re mutually exclusive.”