PRAISE FOR WAITING FOR TOM HANKS “A love letter to rom-coms in the form of a sweet love story.” —NPR “Kerry Winfrey offers readers a fizzy rom-com with all the humor, heart, and the undercurrent of melancholy of the Nora Ephron rom-coms she pays tribute to within its pages.” —Entertainment Weekly “Kerry Winfrey’s feel-good romance is an ideal ode to the genre.” —Oprah.com “An endearing, klutzy heroine elevates this utterly charming romance [and] the plot’s many moving pieces add complexity. Chloe, lovable Uncle Don, and the local coffee shop’s colorful characters provide humor and heart in just the right places.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “What a total delight it was to read this book! A compelling, heartwarming, hilarious rom-com. I couldn’t stop turning the pages!” —New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster “Winfrey’s sweet, hilarious novel is full of klutzy and charming characters, heartwarming moments, and laugh-out-loud one-liners. This quick read is sure to delight readers looking for an escape of everyday life, especially fans of Mary Ann Marlow and Helena Hunting.” —Booklist “This sweet story is a warm, favorite-sweater-wearing hug for anyone who believes that true love doesn’t only happen in the movies.” —kc dyer, author of Finding Fraser “The perfect blend of humor and romance. Waiting for Tom Hanks is a romantic comedy full of heart, humor, and a delicious dose of reality.” —Wandereader “Just try to resist falling in love with this guy, who turns out to be fully Hanks- ian. The deluge of rom-com trivia on Annie’s path to happiness will send you on a Netflix spree, and there’s a great indie music playlist and jokes for D&D enthusiasts sprinkled along the way as well.” —Kirkus Reviews “If you’re on the hunt for the perfect, feel-good summer read, you can call off the search party—Waiting for Tom Hanks is all that and more.” —BookBub “If you love everything about Tom Hanks, you gotta get Waiting for Tom Hanks.” —Frolic JOVE TITLES BY KERRY WINFREY WAITING FOR TOM HANKS NOT LIKE THE MOVIES A JOVE BOOK Published by Berkley An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC penguinrandomhouse.com Copyright © 2020 by Kerry Winfrey Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader. A JOVE BOOK, BERKLEY, and the BERKLEY & B colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Winfrey, Kerry, author. Title: Not like the movies / Kerry Winfrey. Description: First edition. | New York: Jove, 2020. Identifiers: LCCN 2020004900 (print) | LCCN 2020004901 (ebook) | ISBN 9781984804044 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781984804051 (ebook) Subjects: GSAFD: Love stories. Classification: LCC PS3623.I6444 N68 2020 (print) | LCC PS3623.I6444 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020004900 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020004901 First Edition: July 2020 Cover art and design by Farjana Yasmin This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. pid_prh_5.5.0_c0_r0 CONTENTS Cover Praise for Kerry Winfrey Jove Titles by Kerry Winfrey Title Page Copyright Dedication Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Epilogue Acknowledgments About the Author For Hollis. You’re so much better than the movies. Chapter One I can tell what’s going on by the way the customer looks at me. The concentrated stare as I pour her coffee, the anticipatory smile as I put the lid on. This isn’t someone who’s only here for the caffeine hit. No, this is something different. “Have a great—” I start as I hand her the drink, but she cuts me off. “It’s you, right?” she asks, breathless, eyes wide. “From the movie?” I’m always friendly—some might say too friendly—to our customers here at Nick’s coffee shop. It’s kind of my thing. I don’t even mind gruff patrons or rude comments; not because I’m a doormat, but because I’m genuinely not bothered by them. People have hard days, and while they definitely shouldn’t take them out on their baristas, I know it’s not about me. But this . this is different. This couldn’t be more about me. “Um, yeah,” I say, trying to keep my voice down. “It’s me.” “There’s an article about you on People.com,” she says, the excitement palpable in her rushed words. “With . pictures.” I see her eyes dart toward my boss, Nick, who’s tending to the espresso machine behind me. I wince before I can stop myself. “Oh, is there?” I say, and before she can complete her nod, I smile brightly and say, “You know, I would love to chat more, but this is our afternoon rush and, whew, we’re swamped!” She smiles and walks away, so starstruck she doesn’t notice that there’s no one else in line. I let out a long sigh, then pull up People.com on my phone. There it is. “The Real-Life Love Story Behind the New Film, Coffee Girl!” There’s a picture of me, one that I don’t remember taking and certainly didn’t give to People magazine, and there are a couple of pictures of Nick and me here, at work, behind the counter. The saving grace is that I was wearing an especially cute cardigan that day, one with little embroidered flowers and bees, so at least I look good, but that doesn’t take away the strangeness inherent in seeing a picture of yourself that you didn’t even know someone took. But why am I, Chloe Sanderson, resident of Columbus, Ohio, and no one all that special, gracing the pages of People.com? Because my best friend wrote a movie about me. Okay, so Annie maintains that the movie isn’t about me so much as inspired by me, and she’s right. But anyone who knows me and sees the trailer can see the similarities. The movie’s lead character, Zoe (come on, Annie), has a stubbornly, almost annoyingly positive attitude, even in the face of rude customers or family tragedy. She works in a coffee shop. She takes care of her sick father, although Zoe’s father has cancer, while mine has Alzheimer’s. But there are a few key differences between Zoe and Chloe. Zoe is at least four inches shorter than me, with hair that has clearly been professionally styled. She has a team of stylists picking out her artfully vintage clothing, whereas I stick to the Anthropologie sale rack, where all the truly bonkers stuff lives. Oh, and Zoe makes out, and falls in love, with her boss, Rick. The names, Annie. You couldn’t have changed those names? “Put your phone away. You’re working.” Nick is so close I can feel his breath on my face. He smells, as usual, like coffee and this aftershave I’ve never smelled anywhere else, something that feels old-fashioned (like a grandpa) but kinda hot (not like a grandpa). I jump, startled by his proximity, and shove my phone in my apron pocket. Nick and I do not talk about the movie; it’s like the elephant in the room, if that elephant were making out with one of its elephant coworkers. There are a few people clustered around tables, but still no one in line. “Ah, yes, things are bustling,” I say, gesturing at the nonexistent line. “I wouldn’t want to ignore anyone.” “It’s the principle of the thing,” he says, staring at me for what seems like a beat too long. Or maybe it isn’t. The thing is, this ridiculous movie my best friend wrote (wow, that sentence will never stop sounding weird) has really screwed up a lot of things for me. Things I never thought about before, like whether Nick is sexy or whether his smile means something or what his perpetual five o’clock shadow would feel like on my cheek . all of a sudden those thoughts are in my head, and I don’t like it. I’m just trying to work over here, you know? This is my job, and I need this to make money for the business classes I’m moving through at a glacial pace. A new song starts playing: “Steal Away” by Robbie Dupree. “Chloe,” Nick says, his voice a low growl. I straighten an already straight stack of cups to avoid looking at him. Why is he so close to me? Why does his voice naturally sound like that? My mind jumps automatically to the listicle I read on Buzzfeed yesterday: “Ten Reasons Why Rick from Coffee Girl is #relationshipgoals.” Since the movie’s not out yet, it’s based entirely on the trailer, which I’ve watched approximately 9,756 times (give or take a few), mostly late at night when I’m trying to sleep and I feel like punishing myself.