Sky's the Limit
Copyright© 2026 by aroslav
Chapter 8: Finalist
“PEARL. RUBY. You know I’ve loved you for years. Forever, even. I never expected...”
We were walking home from the business meeting. It was almost two miles from the restaurant to our house, but I just wanted to walk with an angel on either side of me.
“Did you see the expression on Brent’s face?” Ruby laughed. “That should hold him. Especially, now that you’ve been revealed as an owner of TBR. Your position in the association is actually above his since his father actually owns the majority of Argosy Books.”
“You mean ... I mean ... You said...”
“Oh, Sky! We didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. We do love you,” Pearl said. “You’ve been our big brother and protector for so long, we can’t imagine being away from you. We should have talked to you before we just announced you were our boyfriend. Can’t you play along with us for a while? Eventually, Brent will lose interest and stop pestering us. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t feel safe going anywhere.”
“Of course,” I said. Shit! It was all pretend.
“We really didn’t mean to hurt you, but we just feel safe with you. And neither of us has been interested in any boy since we got back from college,” Ruby said, swinging my hand back and forth in hers. “If you have found someone, we’ll back off—we promise. But, honestly, there really isn’t a guy in all of La Alegria that compares to you. You set a high bar.”
“Uh oh,” Pearl said, looking behind us. “Guess who’s following us with his little bitch.”
“I’ll cripple him!” I said.
“Just act the part, okay?” Ruby said. She clutched my head and brought my lips to hers.
It was just an act, right? Man! Ruby can sure kiss like she means it. Pearl pushed her aside a little to claim my lips with hers. Perhaps not as aggressive with her kiss as Ruby, but I was about to pass out from the passion before she freed my mouth.
“Disgusting!” Debbie said as she and Brent caught up with us. “You live together. Can’t you wait until you get home?”
“We leave exercising self-control to you and Brent,” Pearl said. “Get used to seeing us displaying our affection.”
“We’ve been hiding it for years. Couldn’t wait until he got rid of you after college,” Ruby said. “Go live happily ever after in the castle of your lover.”
“Sky! You always loved me and I’ve always loved you. It was all a big misunderstanding. We belong together,” Debbie said.
“I know you’re just trying to make me jealous,” Brent said. “I’ll be waiting when you get tired of pretending.”
“Go away! You’ll never hold a candle to Sky,” Ruby said.
“We’re not pretending any longer, Brent,” I said. “If I see you sniffing around either Ruby or Pearl again, I’ll cripple you. And don’t think you’ll ever get your Waterfront proposal through. We’ll all fight it.”
“Sky, you’re just what we need to reclaim the Waterfront for commerce and entertainment,” Debbie said, suddenly going into her sales mode.
She attempted to dislodge Pearl’s hand from mine. Pearl gripped more tightly. I shook my head.
“Get away, Debbie. We’re through on all counts.”
“All the manuscript ratings are back from the frontline readers, and the web reviewers were cut off at midnight last night,” Pearl said at the company meeting before work on Monday morning. “We have a field of fifteen finalists with room for three category winners.”
“Are you planning to publish just three books from this contest?” Grandma asked. I was happy she was participating with the family as a reader. My father came by his literary bent naturally. Grandma Morris was scary smart and possibly the most well-read person I’d ever met.
“The category winner is guaranteed an advance and publication,” Pearl explained. “But we may publish as many as all five finalists in a category. Of course, we could publish any of the books submitted, even if they don’t become a finalist.”
“Sounds like we have a lot of reading to do,” I ventured.
“We should all clear our schedules for reading in the next couple of weeks as much as possible. We have two final judges in each category as well. These are other professionals in education and publishing. Fortunately, the final judges have only the five manuscripts from their category to read. It’s really exceptional that they will take the time to participate. As soon as Sarah matches the entry number with the email address, each of the finalists will be notified to send in the full manuscript. We set a strict guideline in the contest rules. We won’t accept any manuscript longer than 100,000 words.”
“Thank heavens,” Grandma said.
“Are any of them really worth reading?” Ruby asked. “I read the first 25-page submission of five of the entries and was bored to tears.”
“I read one that was just wonderful!” Marge said. “If it wasn’t part of the contest, I’d make an offer just based on the first twenty-five pages.”
“She read it aloud to me in bed and it had me laughing and in tears, just in those pages,” Pat said. “If it isn’t among the finalists, we need to put it there anyway.”
“I know which one you’re talking about,” Pearl said. “It was the number one-rated by the web audience. It won’t surprise me if it’s the top fiction submission.”
“I probably won’t like it then,” Ruby sighed. “I never like what everyone else likes.”
“What about you, Sky?” Pearl asked.
“I read a few good ones, but none that I’d have ranked that high. Let’s take it to the reading corner tonight.”
I didn’t express many opinions on the quality of other people’s work. Much like Ruby, I felt I was often out of step with popular opinions. Besides, I’d steered away from the reader ranking pages. I didn’t want to stumble upon my own entry.
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