Love Letter

Ian:

I had the first rough draft of my novel written and ready for Jimmy just on time.

"I don't know about this," Jimmy had said at our meeting the week before.

"What don't you know?" I asked, knowing he would go along with anything I wanted.

"She seems like a good person. I have been inspecting her work on my own, and she has been flawless so far. I don't know if I want to lose her as an editor." He says.

"You will not lose her. She will not quit. Plus, it may take her a while to even figure out it is me," I say back.

"You dumbass – I guarantee she will figure it out by the second chapter," Jimmy said.

"You haven't even read it," I say back to him.

"I know, but she is one smart cookie," he says, chuckling while he leaves for his next golf appointment. Even Lynne had gotten Jimmy's not so jolly lately to fall for her personality. He met with her a handful of times, and he was already more worried about her than he was for me. The last five months had been hell, but I was still in the fight. I received a text from Jimmy that morning.

Jimmy: she received the rough draft and email. Good luck, kid.

Jimmy was a sucker for romance, and I knew he wanted me to win in this deep down. He had asked what I would do if she asked me to reveal my true identity to the public. I had responded by saying, "I would do anything to have her talk to me again."

On the other hand, Amanda thought I was crazy, saying, "You are crazy... You do not need to go to such an extreme. You are just going to show that you lied again. She doesn't even know you are River Cannon" she said to me.

"It is Cannon River... And how do you know?" I asked.

"She just thinks you are some guy that wrote a story about her, trust me... She does not know you are River Cannon," she said, saying my name wrong again just to annoy me.

Amanda's opinion was that I would turn Lynne away even more. That all I needed to do was talk to her. But Lynne didn't need words to convince her she needed action, and that's what I was doing. It was already put into motion, and it was too late to back out now.

I am sitting in my office in my New York apartment when I send my first email out to Lynne:

Miss Bettendorf,

Jimmy has told me he has picked you as my new editor. I look forward to hearing your notes on my first chapter tonight. Please do not hold back your true feelings. The novel is still in the development stage, so any notes you could give to me as an editor and reader would be appreciated. We can always change it now, but it is too late once it is out there.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts,

C.R.

It was a few minutes later when I received her first email back.

Mr. River,

Please call me Lynne. I am sure we will get to know one another throughout the process of this novel. I look forward to reading the first chapter tonight and sending you my thoughts on them. I would rather read it at home instead of in the office. Take it in as if I am reading it off the shelf for enjoyment. I will share all my thoughts as best as I can. It is always easier to be the critic instead of being criticized. If I offend you in any way, I assure you it is only to help.

Thank you,

Lynne

I expected her to divulge that she was a Cannon River fan, but she didn't. I reread her email a hundred times, thinking she had actually edited a top-selling author's novel. Her response was calm and collective – no star-struck in it at all. Impressive.