We spend a good few minutes wrangling with nachos. To be honest, they’re a good fit for the very unusual occasion of two people who are blatantly into each other having a meal where they have to pretend they aren’t. They’re not so messy it’s embarrassing, they require just enough cooperation that you’ve got to interact, but not so much it gets sexy.
― Alexis Hall, 10 Things That Never Happened“Worst comes to absolute worst, I’ll just arrange to get whacked on the head again and say that’s brought everything back.”
“That’s not a thing… You don’t undo brain damage with more brain damage.”
― Alexis Hall, 10 Things That Never Happened
This is yet another Alexis Hall book where a decidedly scattered but well-meaning man has his heart stolen by a stern, repressed, sexily gruff perfectionist with enough emotional baggage to fill one hundred ethically-sourced minicabs.
And I’m here for all of it.
Sam (short for Samwise) is the manager of a local branch of a chain of bed and bath superstores. When he’s not trying to save his merchandise from clumsy employees, he’s trying to save said employees from getting sacked by Jonathan, his micromanaging company president. When he smarts off to him during a mandatory in-person training, Sam steps back too quickly, falls, hits his head, and suffers a concussion. He jokes that he doesn’t remember Jonathan and, when he believes that Sam has amnesia, Sam conveniently doesn’t correct him. Somehow, this leads to Sam staying with Jonathan to recover. This gives Sam time to figure out how to preserve his store’s headcount while slowly extricating himself from the amnesia story he’s led Jonathan to believe.
This is ridiculous and charming. Sam and Jonathan are both so stupid, Sam especially. He has his own baggage and his actions make a bit more sense as the story goes on. Alexis Hall writes delightful side characters and the store staff and Jonathan’s family do not disappoint.
In summary, lessons learned include:
- Do not fake amnesia.
- Do not think that your pet, in this case a cat, will remain loyal to you when you move in with your sexy, repressed, cat magnet of a boss.
- Do not believe that your business will wither away in your absence. It might, in fact, thrive without you there.