Getting Austin: a rom-com novella

Tess is single, thirty-seven, and has had multiple sclerosis for seven years. Recently she’s had to stop working and begin using a cane. She’s also been having a recurring dream that seems to be mocking her single status and her failed relationships with men. She broke up with her last boyfriend because he was panicked by her diagnosis. Since then she’s gradually given up trying to navigate the dating scene with her condition, and she’s begun to think she’s less physically attractive now that MS has slowed her down. Enter Austin, a 32-year-old grocery employee and law student who helps her recently widowed mother with yard work. When Tess meets him she’s instantly attracted, and the two soon seem to have a budding friendship. Troubled by her dream, Tess decides that rather than a relationship, she just needs the physical part to boost her feelings of desirability. Her mom thinks she needs to talk to a counselor, but Tess has another idea. She sets in motion a plan to “”get”” Austin – or rather to get him to sleep with her. She enlists the help of her married younger sister Emily, who tells Austin that Tess wants him to ask her out, which is not what Tess wanted. The whole plan goes downhill fast as Tess ends up “”hanging out”” with Austin, who isn’t picking up on her romantic signals, causing Tess to throw in the towel. Emily criticizes Tess for her handling of her relationships over the years, and Tess becomes sullen, wishing she could talk to her father, who always gave her sage advice. But Tess soon learns that attraction isn’t so biased, and that like MS, love is unpredictable. —- ISBN: 9798864823507