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why it won’t
work in my apartment but it works in Puerto Rico, but anyway, I just
spoke with my editor Amy. She absolutely loved the book. She’s
emailing out a contract to me immediately.”
    “ That’s
great, Maria. I’m so happy for you.” Brad smiled. This
is why he liked this job, the personal interaction, knowing he was
really helping people.
    “ Yeah,
but there’s one small problem.”
    Uh,
oh. Here it comes. His sex scene sucked.
    “ Oh
no. Maria, I’m so sorry. Did she hate what I wrote?” He
saw Alyssa glance up from her screen and look concerned.
    “ Yeah,
that’s the problem. What exactly did you write?” Maria
asked.
    Uh,
oh. “I apologize. I could barely hear you yesterday. The
connection sucked and then you were gone. I tried to call you back
but you were out of service. It sounded like you said to rewrite the
scene and email it to your editor because the internet was down on
the ship. So that’s what I did. I meant to just fill in the
words that were missing in your sex scene, but I ended up having to
rewrite it. I’m so sorry, Maria—”
    “ Wait
a minute, Brad. Calm down. I’m not angry. I had a feeling it
was something like that. What I asked you to do was send it as is to my editor, explain the situation and ask her to give me time to
rewrite it when I got back because the internet on ship was down,”
Maria explained.
    “ Oh
my God. I am so sorry. I feel horrible, but I’m glad I didn’t
blow the deal for you.” Brad was feeling worse with every
passing moment.
    He
heard Maria laugh. “No, Brad, you didn’t blow the deal.
In fact, you clinched it. Amy loved the first love scene, the one you
wrote. It’s the other ones that I wrote she didn’t like.
She wants me to rewrite them. Brad, I have to ask you a huge favor.
I’ll pay you, I’ll give you anything you want, but would
you consider being my critique and writing partner? It would just
mean that you help me edit the other sex scenes and make them as good
as the one you wrote.”
    “ Maria,
you don’t even know me.”
    “ I
know enough, Brad. I know you drove over at 2:30 in the morning dead
on your feet just to help me out. I know you’ve gone above and
beyond your job for me. And I know you can write.”
    He
blushed at the compliments. “I’m not a writer.”
    “ Obviously
you are. At least my editor thinks so. Besides that, Brad, you’re
a man. She says she loved how the first love scene got into the male
character’s head. That was my first clue something was up. I
deliberately didn’t have the love scenes from the male’s
point of view, but that’s exactly what she liked about it. And
she said you did a great job with the female perspective too.”
    He
glanced at Alyssa, who’d moved over and was perching on the
edge of his desk. “Well, I had a little help from a friend with
the female perspective.” Alyssa smiled at him. “But won’t
your editor mind that I’m helping you write this?”
    “ Not
at all. People use critique and writing partners all the time.
Besides, after you rework the scenes, you’ll be sending it back
to me this time, not my editor, so there’s really nothing for
you to worry about. I’ll change anything I don’t like
before sending it on to her. Brad, I’m really at a loss here.
I’m not sure I can write the male point of view alone. I never
got around to telling you this before but the cruise I’m on,
it’s a cruise for alternative lifestyles…” Maria
began. “Do you know what that means?”
    “ Um,
no, not really.”
    “ I’m
a lesbian, Brad.”
    “ Oh.
Uh, okay.” He wasn’t sure what the appropriate response
was when someone came right out and said that. Especially someone he
barely knew.
    “ So
now you know why I need help from the male point of view. Brad,
please. I’m begging you. Can you rework the scenes for me?”
    He
let out a big breath and glanced at Alyssa. It would give him an
excuse to enlist her help. They could work together after work