You did it! We figured this one out! It is a truth universally acknowledged (by me for certain) that the Bitchery pretty much knows everything, and really, it's true. Scroll down to see the solution for this HaBO - and many thanks!
This HaBO is from Deborah with a bit of a different request:
Sometime between 1985 and 1995, Jayne Ann Krentz published a very short story (flash-fiction length) in a newspaper. I think.
It was an incredibly dry piece about a reconciliation between two lovers. As I remember it, protagonist A (most likely the heroine) is lounging on a beach when protagonist B walks up to lounge next to her and they exchange an obscure, mature, non-accusatory dialogue that never reveals the source or length of their disagreement or even asks for forgiveness, just acknowledges that they would now get back together. My fuzzy memory wants to fill in all kinds of details, like maybe they had been engaged when they broke up, that protagonist B had tracked protag A to the beach (but in a “I knew where you’d be” sense, not a “I’m a crack private investigator” sense…the point being that they didn’t have a disagreement in their hotel room just 5 minutes before heading to the beach), that the break was longer than a day but less than a year. But I don’t recall the story providing any concrete details.
This isn’t listed among Krentz’s publications on her website. I’ve tried the archives of the NYT and stretched the search capabilities of my public library’s online databases.
Ideally, the amazing Bitchery would give me the story’s title, the publication it appeared in, and the publication date so I could track it down. But I would settle for confirmation that this thing really existed and I’m not imagining it.
Can we find this long lost story?
@Deborah: was the story possibly published in Good Housekeeping or Redbook? They used to run romance-themed short fiction. Perhaps their archives might hold a clue.
Is it “Congratulations, You’ve Just Won” from USA Today?
Mandy, whether or not that turns out to be the right one, I’ve just read it now and really enjoyed it, so thank you for sharing that link!
@Mandy That is some awe-inspiring Google-Fu right there. How on earth did you find that thing? Seriously, inquiring librarians want to know.
@harthad I’m a librarian, too! I searched for it in the News & Newspapers database on ProQuest. Once I had the title of a short story she published during that time, I Googled it to find the full text.
@Mandy – WOW! That’s it. At least, I can’t imagine JAK produced two short stories in newsprint with this beach/reconciliation thing going on. I remembered it as much less detailed about the relationship than it was. (I mean, you might think I would have remembered the whole “you’ve won a vacation” shenanigans.) And I got the pub date range wrong, too. *eyeroll*
You are remarkable. Thank you! And thank you, SBTB, for publishing my HaBo.
@Deborah oh yay! Happy to help and tick this professional accomplish off my list!
*accomplishment. Thanks, autocorrect.
Don’t care all that much about the HABO but LOVED the thread. Go librarians! Ya’ll sure made me smile.
I was just going to ask whether it could have been in Good Housekeeping. That’s where 5/6 yo me really learned to how to read. I’ve often wished that there was a database of those stories…
Amazing HABO find, and the story is really cute, too!
@Deborah, I have to thank you for this request. What a wonderful story. I love how they worked on communication.
That story is *classic* JAK. If you put it in front of me and asked me to guess who wrote it, I wouldn’t even need three guesses.
Who was it that likes a recycled JAK scene? This has overtones of one of the Eclipse Bay books. Although even more it has an 80s feel, what with the merger and all.
Congrats on this quick find Mandy!
@LJO: I’m with you! I’m probably a little older, but when the topic turns to “your first romance read,” I know in my heart that it was in the pages of my grandmother’s Good Housekeeping subscription. I know that’s where I first found Danielle Steel, among others, long before she became the megastar she’s been now for decades.
But I join everyone else in a standing ovation for Mandy’s incredible sleuthing!
@amyc
That story is *classic* JAK.
I know what you mean. I’m not sure I would have guessed the author blind, but knowing it’s JAK, I see all her touchstones in play: the Hawaiian/tropical getaway, the trendy/upscale food references, the presumably entrepreneurial protagonists (if their marriage was to be accompanied by a merger, then they must own their own businesses), the gender stereotypes (his priorities were all business-oriented, her priority was wedding planning; his alpha male protectiveness), the banter. The protagonists’ names could have been pulled from any of her 1990s contemporary single titles, and the phony vacation set-up could have come from a Stephanie James 1980s Silhouette Desire.
Who was it that likes a recycled JAK scene?
If you’re referring to the comments in this earlier HaBO, that was me as well. I’m wallowing in pre-2000 JAK right now, which is what brought this short story to mind. I was going mad with frustration. So grateful the Bitchery is staffed with talented librarians, generous with their time and resources!
Thanks everyone! I’m a fairly new librarian (class of 2020*), and this is making me feel Real. 🙂
*that’s probably why I remembered how to search that database… it hasn’t been too long since I took an information resources class!
I do miss that sweet, sweet database access from being an MLIS student, no lie. Access is SO variable in Libraryland. All about them dolla dolla bills, y’all.