Taken from my notes document for Table Five.

The big problem: how do I get Pat and Mae to meet?

Okay, I want Mae and Pat to meet at some point without Mae realizing who she is (at least not at first). First of all, Pat knows how Mae is involved with Jamie, so her going to the bookstore must be intentional. So why does she go there?

Is she just curious? Jamie seems to really like her. He’s been absurdly cheerful the past few days and Pat wants to see what’s up. Why does she care about this? 

She is NOT interested in Jamie romantically. There are no love triangles here. 

It isn’t super normal for a just friend to go snooping on love interests. 

But at the same time, it’s so easy for Pat to just stop by, browse around the shop, and maybe have a short chit chat with Mae. There would be zero fishiness involved. So it’s not that crazy. It’s not like she’s stalking her or anything. 

But I don’t want that to be a thing. I’d rather Pat have a truly innocent reason to go into the bookstore. Something entirely unrelated. So I think I’ll have her go in to buy the next book for her book club. And while she’s there, I’ll have her fess up who she is. I don’t want there to be a risk of awkwardness later when Mae meets her officially and discovers that Pat was being sneaky. That is NOT the kind of book I’m writing.