Chapter 7: Miss Rhode Island

I Faith:

“But why?” I said. “Why did you do that?”

“Because I don’t care about competing,” Zane said. “I only care about writing.”

The rest of the attendees were gathering, filling their cups with thin, tannic coffee, their plates with bunuelos, corn cakes, tortilla omelets. They crowded the tables with laptops, tablets, notebooks, many of them opened, some of them already humming with new writing: the unbiased temples where blank pages, blank screens, are worshiped; the high, rising totems of ideas.

“And why would Cooper tell me that - why would he lie to me?”

“It’s very obvious to me,” Zane said. “To impress you, to get your attention; because he is in love with you.”

“I doubt that very much. He knows that I have no interest in him that way. Never have.”

“And why not?” Zane said. “He is very handsome, very rich, you have a lot in common. He is a Published Author.”