“I can’t watch this,” Raj said, grimacing. He lifted the remote. “Can I?”
“Please.”
In an instant the television blinked to black. Raj tossed the remote to the couch and closed his eyes.
“Raj? You okay?”
“Not at all,” he said. “You?”
“Me neither,” she said, holding her elbows. “That was weird.”
“Really weird. I’m never watching television again.”
She laughed uncomfortably and after a moment Raj did, too. Then he slowly reached out and took her hand and pulled her into an unexpected hug, despite the turkey juice sticky on her arm.
“You’re not a ghost,” he said.
“No?”
Lydia smelled his clean skin and felt the warmth and comfort of his body. And though she wanted to close her eyes and feel the promise of this moment, she couldn’t help but look beyond his shoulder, hoping to see for one last time the girl he’d just erased from the screen.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My deepest thanks . . .
To my kind and nimble agent, Kirby Kim, who rescued me from his slush pile, dusted me off, and led the way forward without a flinch; to Cecile Barendsma, Brenna English-Loeb, and the rest of the team at Janklow & Nesbit, whose expertise and professionalism are unmatched.
To my editor, the talented and generous John Glynn, who patiently guided this story into the light; to Laura Wise, Nan Graham, Roz Lippel, Jeremy Price, and the rest of the team at Scribner, whose commitment to artistry and excellence is a gift to readers everywhere.
To the organizations that have helped me in so many ways along this path, especially Tattered Cover, Brookline Booksmith, Yaddo, Centrum, the Vermont Studio Center, Write on the River, the D.A.M. writers’ group, Artist Trust, and the University of Idaho’s MFA program; and to my many inspiring students and comrades at Big Bend Community College.
To Aja Pollock, who combed every word with her brilliant eye, and to Sean Daily at Hotchkiss & Associates for working to get this book onscreen.
To the individuals whose feedback and support, at various times, helped to shape this book and fuel my persistence, especially John Bartell, Matt Blackburn, Mary Blew, Steve Close, Brian Davidson, Pete Henderson, Jamie Horton, Mary Ann Hudson, Jim Johnson, Greg Matthews, Minh Nguyen, Lance Olsen, Rie and Fran Palkovic, John Peterson, Joe Rogers, Nat Sobel, Julie Stevenson, Eric Wahl, Jess Walter, Judith Weber, and my all-time second favorite librarian, Lance Wyman.
To my teaching mentor, John Carpenter, who dropped everything to tell me about guns.
To Mark Barnhouse, whose books on the history of Denver brought me back in time.
To the nefarious Sullivan clan, in all your sprawling glory, for the laughter and love that you spread; and especially to my mom, Ann Sullivan, who took me to my first writing conference when I was in grade school, and who wrote stories in the bathtub because that was the only place she could find any peace and quiet.
And most important, to Libby, the one true love of my life, for all that you are, all that you create, and all that you give; and to Milo and Lulu, our bright little bibliophiles, who used to sit in my lap as I wrote and now are making their own stories in the world.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
© LUCID CONCEPTS
MATTHEW SULLIVAN received his MFA from the University of Idaho and has been a resident writer at Yaddo, Centrum, and the Vermont Studio Center. His short stories have been awarded the Robert Olen Butler Short Fiction Prize and the Florida Review Editors’ Award for fiction and have been published in The Chattahoochee Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Fugue, The Evansville Review, 580 Split, and elsewhere. In addition to working for years at the Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver and at Brookline Booksmith in Boston, he currently teaches writing, literature, and film at Big Bend Community College in the high desert of Washington State. He is married to a librarian and has two children. Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore is his first novel.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by Matthew Sullivan
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First Scribner hardcover edition June 2017
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2016046292
ISBN 978-1-5011-1684-1
ISBN 978-1-5011-1686-5 (ebook)
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore Page 27
