Jane Actually

started the car yet and was looking at him and thinking his guilty look was very cute.
    “I’m leaving Chicago tomorrow morning and continuing the book tour and attending several Austen events. Are you going to any?”
    “Uh, yeah, there’s a small writer’s conference in Colorado Springs in July.”
    “That’s near Denver, right?”
    “Near enough. It’s about the middle of the month. But it’s not an Austen event, it’s a conference for …” and now Stephen looked embarrassed. “It’s a conference for romance writers.”
    Oh that’s so cute,
Mary thought and wished she had Jane with her to witness this man’s charming discomfort. She did her best not to convey how cute she thought his admission. She started the car and exited the car park to cover her smile. Once in traffic, she said, “Wow, I wonder why we’re not sneaking down for that. Maybe Melody doesn’t want to cross into the romance genre, but you’d think Jane would be a fit. So you’re a romance writer?” She asked the last as nonchalantly as she could, without any accusation in her tone.
    However his reply made it clear he was touchy about the subject despite her effort to keep any judgment from her tone.
    “I’m a liberal arts graduate student obsessed with Jane Austen and medieval literature so I thought I should try to find an outside source of income. And I started writing … well a historical romance … it just started out as fun and …”
    “Hey, you don’t need to justify what you need to do to make money. I’m selling my body to support my acting school classes, which I’ve pretty much abandoned for an uncredited role as a Regency spinster. And I don’t know how long this gig will last, but I’m having a great time and making great money. But when it comes down to saying what I’m doing … I’m basically a …”
    She couldn’t bring herself to say it. She was stopped at a red light, three cars back from the intersection, worried about her admission and its effect on him and shamed even more by the admission to herself.
    Play-acting as Jane Austen’s avatar sounded so high-minded and she had been doing it so long that she had almost forgotten the misgivings she had when she signed up at the avatar agency.
    She could have just as easily been an avatar for a far more unsavoury character and asked to do unsavoury things. Of course she was making enough that she could go back to school for another semester, but eventually she’d either have to make it as an actress or be someone else’s avatar.
    Then she felt Stephen’s hand on hers, and he said, “Don’t say that, you’re …”
    But his words were interrupted by the car horn that sounded behind them. She realized then that the light had turned green and there were no cars in front of her. She moved her hand from where it rested on the emergency brake to the wheel, breaking contact with Stephen’s hand. She hoped he wouldn’t perceive it as her taking her hand from him and shot him a smile, which he returned.
    The revelations of their mutual desperation, however, kept their conversation to a minimum until she brought him to a bus station where he said he could catch a bus straight to his home. As he was preparing to leave the car, she said, “Maybe we could get together then, when you’re in Colorado Springs?”
    “I’d like that.”
    “And maybe you can meet Jane. I mean you did meet Jane at the signing, but …”
    “I know what you mean, I’d like that, but … I’d like to see you again even more.”
    She saw the sincerity on his face and said, “Liar. But it’s a very nice lie. I’ll expect an email from you.”
    “You can expect a call. Would tomorrow be OK?”
    “Oh God, now I’m sounding pushy.”
    “No, no, tomorrow night? After 8 pm? It’s just if you call earlier … well Jane would be there and …”
    “After 8 pm, then. I can talk to Jane Austen another time.”
    1 Teaching assistant
    2 The “L” or “El” refers to the trains operated by the Chicago Transit Authority. Much of the train system is above street level.

How considerate
Stephen tells Dr Davis he’s met Mary
    S tephen kept trying to keep the grin off his face, but being a man with little ability to dissemble and being naturally outgoing, he knew he was failing miserably. Normally by this point of a faculty meeting he’d be getting sleepy or would be staring vacantly out the window, but his slight smile apparently made him appear, if not interested in the