Free Love Without Rules (Contemporary Romance) by Kate Goldman Page A

Drew.” Sydney giggled as she began to eat. She felt happy. There was no other way to describe it. Just, happy.
     

***
     
    After Drew left her apartment to go to a meeting, Sydney found herself alone, and somewhat bored. She had already finished her blog entry for today. She opened her laptop and decided to browse some of the comments on her latest couple entries. One particular one caught her eye. It was a long comment, and was obvious that it took a lot of time to write. The user statistics showed that it was a newly made account. Interesting…
     
    “Hi, Love Doctor!” Sydney read out under her breath. “If you’re reading this, that would be super amazing. I haven’t been a fan for very long, but I’ve almost been through everything on your site, and I’ve got a copy of your book! Actually, I’ve bought so many copies of your book from my local bookstore that they probably think I’m a little crazy. I gave them out to all my girlfriends, and they told me that once they read your words, it really helped them. So I’m just here to say that you’re so inspirational. I’ve read your book from cover to cover and I’m still hungry for more! Are you going to write another book? I’m sure many of us here on this site want you to! I love you so much!” Sydney smiled happily as she read these words. There was still more to her comment, praising her and asking her to write another book.
     
    She deserves a reply. Sydney thought as she hit the reply button. “Hi! Thank you for being such a great fan. Unfortunately, I will not be…” Sydney trailed off and took her hands off the keyboard. Was she really not going to write another book? She wanted to, yes, but would anyone publish it? Was it possible to find the money needed? 
     
    Sydney held off on replying to the comment, instead picked up her phone and called Daphne, the woman from the publishing house. It only rang once before Daphne picked up. “Hey, hey, hey, Sydney Stone! How are you?” Daphne greeted warmly. “Hope everything is going well?”
     
    “Hey Daphne! Everything is good! Thank you for asking. I know you’re really busy, I just had a quick question.” Sydney could hear a lot of talking and noises on Daphne’s end.
     
    “Shoot!”
     
    “I was just wondering, how much would it be if I wanted to publish another book? Just an estimate.” Sydney admired her manicured nails while she waited for Daphne’s reply.
     
    Daphne sucked in air through her teeth, which put a frown on Sydney’s face. That sound was never good. “Um… Honestly, honey, it’ll have to be a lot of money. Since the first book…” She didn’t want to say it but Sydney knew what she meant. The book was popular only within certain circles, and though she had gotten some new readers for her website, there was still a deficit caused by the TV fiasco. Therefore, the publishing companies thought there was no need to publish another book if there was no guaranteed big income.
     
    “How much is a lot?” Sydney felt afraid to hear the answer. She had a feeling it was going to be an impossibly big number.
     
    “Probably around twenty thousand…” Daphne reluctantly answered.
     
    Sydney sighed. “Alright, thank you, Daphne.”
     
    “Sorry, hon. Anyways, I’d love to stay and chat but I really must return to my work. Bye!”
     
    “Bye…” Sydney mumbled before returning to her laptop.
     
    She noticed that several other readers had commented on that first big comment. They were agreeing with her, that Sydney should write another book. It was so inspiring, Sydney felt that she just couldn’t let them down. So she deleted some of her comment, and rewrote it. “Hey, thank you for being such a great fan! I am currently working on a new book, and I don’t know when it’ll be finished, but please look forward to it!”
     
    The minute Sydney pressed send, she felt like it had been a mistake. Where was she going to get the money to pay for this new book? “Ah,