Loan Some: A Novella / Megan McLachlan

It’s been a bad week for Vera. She lost the job she loved as a librarian and ended a comfortable and seemingly reliable relationship. So when her eye catches a job ad for a company that boasts “a library of characters for every occasion,” impulse (and the word “library”) compels her to respond.

Shortly thereafter, Vera has accepted her first assignment from Loan Some, a business that rents out people who play parts at special occasions. Need a mourner at your funeral or a pretend girlfriend to make your ex-wife jealous at a comic book convention? Look no further.

The rules are strict: hide your identity, and no fraternizing with the clients. But as Vera begins relaxing into her new role—or rather, litany of roles—she finds herself attracted to several men, including the charming and flirtatious Greg Goodman as well as Cole, the sizzling nephew of the Loan Some CEO.

Vera’s comfortable, if unusual, existence comes to an abrupt halt when she finds herself face-to-face with the woman she’s been tracking for the last thirty-or-so years—the mother who abandoned her.

Will Vera be able to maintain her alias amid the family she never knew she had?