Will They or Won't They

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Dedication Acknowledgments Other Titles About the Author Landmarks Cover Cover Title Page Contents Start Copyright Print Page List v vi 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 vii 371 372 ii 375 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Will They or Won’t They is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
 Copyright © 2023 by Ava Wilder, LLC
 All rights reserved.
 Published in the United States by Dell, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
 Dell and the D colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 Names: Wilder, Ava, author.
 Title: Will they or won’t they: a novel / Ava Wilder.
 Identifiers: LCCN 2022043769 (print) | LCCN 2022043770 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593358979 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780593358986 (ebook)
 Classification: LCC PS3623.I5376 W55 2023 (print) | LCC PS3623.I5376 (ebook) | DDC 892.8—dc23/eng/20220912
 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/​2022043769
 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/​2022043770
 Ebook ISBN 9780593358986
 randomhousebooks.com
 Book design by Debbie Glasserman, adapted for ebook
 Cover design: Sarah Horgan
 ep_prh_6.1_144052297_c0_r0
 
 
 
 Contents
 
 Cover
 Title Page
 Copyright
 
 
 Prologue
 
 
 Chapter 1
 
 
 Chapter 2
 
 
 Chapter 3
 
 
 Chapter 4
 
 
 Chapter 5
 
 
 Chapter 6
 
 
 Chapter 7
 
 
 Chapter 8
 
 
 Chapter 9
 
 
 Chapter 10
 
 
 Chapter 11
 
 
 Chapter 12
 
 
 Chapter 13
 
 
 Chapter 14
 
 
 Chapter 15
 
 
 Chapter 16
 
 
 Chapter 17
 
 
 Chapter 18
 
 
 Chapter 19
 
 
 Chapter 20
 
 
 Chapter 21
 
 
 Chapter 22
 
 
 Chapter 23
 
 
 Chapter 24
 
 
 Chapter 25
 
 
 Chapter 26
 
 
 Chapter 27
 
 
 Chapter 28
 
 
 Chapter 29
 
 
 Chapter 30
 
 
 Dedication
 Acknowledgments
 By Ava Wilder
 About the Author
 
 
 _144052297_
 
 
 
 PROLOGUE
 Eight years ago
 Lilah Hunter knew better than to get her hopes up. The odds of booking something her first pilot season were slim, and even if she did, the odds of it getting picked up were even slimmer. The week before, she’d made it to the final round of callbacks for a sitcom about a group of hot young singles in some unspecified city, only to find out today she hadn’t gotten it, while en route to the audition she was currently in the waiting room for.
 This one seemed like even more of a long shot: co-lead of a network drama, not just a supporting character or part of an ensemble. Like most roles she was sent out for, she knew almost nothing about the show itself, other than the title (Intangible), her character’s name (Kate), and the name of the other lead (Harrison). She’d read for it twice already, doing her best to piece together a coherent characterization out of the context-free scenes she’d been given. Whatever she’d done must’ve worked, though, since she’d made it all the way to the chemistry round.
 There were six of them there: two other potential Kates and three Harrisons, all pretending they weren’t sizing one another up. At this stage, they knew it wasn’t about their