Time Magazine's 100 Best Novels Novels & Stories

Don't overthink it. "And everyone in the industry thinks I'm single. I can't suddenly pop up with a husband." Her excuses were airtight. Not a crack to slip through. If I pushed back now, I'd just look petty. So I dropped my gaze and started replying to urgent work messages. Then Alec swaggered over, flopped down next to me like he paid the bills. "Not many guys these days live off a woman's money," he said, full smirk mode. He slid me a business card.

"And there's supposed to be one that's just down the path, which would be the perfect place to observe the eclipse." "You're 21, Meena. You can't honestly tell me you believe in fairies!" So I tell my younger sister of nine months. I have yet to have caffeine, and unlike my Irish twin, I am NOT a morning person. I'll take the soft tones of moonlight over the blinding sun any day of the week!

It was all he'd ever wanted. The seal of redemption at last arrived from a source very much out of the blue: TIME Magazine. They included Clarkson in their "100 Most Influential People." The piece was written, much to everyone's surprise, by an old political rival, a brusque senator who had hitherto exchanged blows with Clarkson over shipping bills.