The Seat Filler: A Novel

by Sariah Wilson

  I furrowed my brows, not understanding what he meant. I noticed the box’s perforations had already been broken, and I lifted up the top.

  Inside there was a ring with a diamond so big I could see my reflection in it, surrounded by a band of blue sapphires. I gasped and then looked up to see that he was down on one knee, on the same gross floor I’d once had to sit on.

  “Juliet Nolan, I love you and I want to make a life with you. So does Magnus. Will you marry me?”

  There was so much elation and hope and giddiness that for a second I couldn’t answer. I just stared at him, wanting to freeze this moment in my memory.

  A bewildered expression settled on his face. “If you’re not ready, we can wait.”

  “Oh, I’m ready. I’m ready now.”

  His concern turned into sheer delight. “I’ll call the plane and we can be in Las Vegas in a few hours.”

  That made me laugh. “No, when we get married, I want everyone we love to be there.”

  “I can make that happen right now.”

  He could. He would absolutely round everyone up and get them all out to Vegas if that was what I wanted. I set the box of candy down on the floor and then put my hands on both sides of his face. How could I love him this much? “I know you can. You make dreams come true. Like this one.”

  “So . . . is that a yes?”

  I kissed him briefly, teasingly, and leaned back in my chair before he could respond. “I have some conditions.”

  “Oh?”

  I nodded, trying to look stern. “My answer will depend on the kind of socks you have on right now.”

  He lifted up his pant leg. They were zebra striped.

  “Good. Also, I’m going to need a blue-and-white wedding cake with the words Mazel tov written on it.”

  “You’ve got it.”

  “And maybe you could wear your Malec costume again.”

  He smiled. “Your wish is my command,” which was Malec’s most famous line, and he said it in Malec’s voice, and it made me giggle. “Anything else?” he asked.

  “Just love me forever, and my answer will always be yes.”

  “Done.”

  Then I joined him on the floor and finally and truly kissed him. The man who was going to be my husband. Who would make all of my dreams come true.

  Who already had.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Thank you for reading my story! I hope you liked getting to know Noah and Juliet and enjoyed them falling in love as much as I did. If you’d like to find out when I’ve written something new, make sure you sign up for my newsletter at www.sariahwilson.com, where I most definitely will not spam you. (I’m happy when I send out a newsletter once a month!)

  And if you feel so inclined, I’d love for you to leave a review on Amazon, on Goodreads, with your hairdresser’s cousin’s roommate’s blog, via a skywriter, in graffiti on the side of a bookstore, on the back of your electric bill, or any other place you want. I would be so grateful. Thanks!

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  For everyone who is reading this—thank you. I can’t tell you how much your support means to me—it is often quite literally the thing that keeps me going when the writing is hard. Hoping that you will enjoy and laugh and swoon and that for a short, brief amount of time, I maybe made your burdens a little easier to bear.

  This book was inspired by meeting Adam Driver at the SAG-AFTRA Awards in January 2020. So first and foremost, thank you to Adam Driver for, you know, being Adam Driver and letting me have that amazing experience.

  Thank you also to everyone who contributed to Adam Driver becoming the man and actor that he is—including his parents, the Juilliard School, and the United States Marine Corps. A special thank-you to members of his team (especially to Bryna Rifkin and Jordan Schlesinger of Narrative PR) who helped arrange the experience. Thank you to Amy Komorowski for making him even prettier and posting pictures of your excellent work. Another thank-you to Arts in the Armed Forces and the amazing charity work that they do, with special thanks to Lindsay Miserandino. A portion of the proceeds of this book has been sent to AITAF so that they can continue to bring art to those who protect us.

  The biggest of thanks-yous ever to Alison Dasho—I can’t tell you how much I appreciated your immediate support and enthusiasm for this book and for all of your amazing insight and for having adorable daughters. Your words to me after reading the first draft of this story—I’ll always remember them. I’m thankful every day that I get to work with you and the entire amazing Montlake team (Anh Schluep, Lauren Grange, Megan Meier, Kris Beecroft, Jillian Cline, Andrew George, Erin Calligan Mooney, and Jessica Preeg). Thank you for being on my side and fighting for me. And an Adam Driver–size thanks to Charlotte Herscher, who always finds a way to make my stories even better and helps me to dive into what I actually meant to say. Your brilliance and advice are always so appreciated. I’m also thankful this book was a “light edit.” It’s much more fun that way. We should do that every time.

  Thank you to the copyeditors and proofreaders who find all my mistakes and make me follow grammatical standards even when I don’t want to. A special shout-out to Philip Pascuzzo for this absolutely delightful cover. I can’t even tell you how much I adore it.

  Sarah Younger: thank you for letting me call you after I met Adam Driver and gush to you about it and for being completely on board when I said I wanted to write a book inspired by those events. It was super late in New York, but you let me be thrilled about the experience and recognized how it made me excited about writing again. You are the best cheerleader ever, and I’m so thrilled that you’re in my corner.

  A big thanks to the team at Dana Kaye Publicity for all of their support and getting me to do all the publicity type things I don’t like doing. I’m so excited to be working with you!

  I have to give a shout-out to all the people who supported me online both in my fandom and through that meeting with Adam Driver—to @AdamDriverFiles, especially Ang for walking me through what would happen and what I should say/do (which I promptly forgot), and to the Adam Driver Fans subreddit for your expertise and enthusiasm. Thanks to everyone on Twitter and Instagram who liked my video and pictures of meeting him and read some of my stories as a result. Love to all the Adam Driver (rats), Ben Solo, and Reylo fans out there—thanks for making me feel like my fangirling is not all that strange. #BenSoloDeservedBetter #BenSoloLives Also sending love to the people in my Facebook reader group—it was so much fun putting up pictures of things that were happening in my story in real time and having all of your giddy excitement for this book. I’m so glad you finally got to read it, and thank you so much for all your suggestions, some of which found their way into the story! You guys are the best!

  For my children—I hope you know how much I love you, and I’m sorry for how often you’ve had to listen to me talk about Ben Solo and Star Wars and how terribly his story ended.

  And Kevin, I love you a million times more than I do Adam Driver.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Photo © 2020 Jordan Batt

  USA Today bestselling author Sariah Wilson has never jumped out of an airplane, has never climbed Mount Everest, and is not a former CIA operative. She has, however, been madly, passionately in love with her soul mate and is a fervent believer in happily ever afters—which is why she writes romance. She grew up in Southern California, graduated from Brigham Young University (go Cougars!) with a semi-useless degree in history, and is the oldest of nine (yes, nine) children. She currently lives with the aforementioned soul mate and their four children in Utah, along with two cats named Pixel and Callie, who do not get along. (The cats, not the children. Although the children sometimes have their issues, too.) For more information, visit her website at www.SariahWilson.com.

 

 

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