A good book will end with a satisfying conclusion, something that will stick with the reader for ages, make them cry, smile, anything. If you know what's good for you, you will stop reading. You will remember the book Not a Bestseller as an odd yet humorously delightful coming-of-age story about a boy, ending with a resolved conflict about a water bottle. This ending is satisfying. Delightful. Memorable.
But I'm a bad liar. I warned you: real life makes a terrible story. If you keep reading? Your faith in humanity may never be restored. You should end the book at "Goodbye" and fan fiction yourself a fairytale. Believe in happy endings as I once did.
Are you still here?
Look, if this book was called A Bestseller, I'd change fate. I'd have Kyle show up at that gas station. I'd have my family dinner. Julia and I would trade friendship rings or something. I wouldn't try to throw you off course with some stupid plot twist.
If I had that kind of power, the power of a real writer, I'd end my story now.
But you've stuck it out with me this long... You deserve to know the truth. What happened after the gas station.