People We Meet on Vacation

First-person narrator Poppy Wright pretends to be a flirtatious stranger in order to get her heartbroken friend Alex Nilsen back into the dating game after his breakup with Sarah Torval. Alex, who considers Poppy overly loud with a terrible taste in bars, would prefer to be at home with his cat Flannery O’Connor. Still, his affection for Poppy means that he overcomes his change-fearing nature enough to go on vacation with her once a year. This summer, they traveled to Sanibel Island, where it has rained so much they have not been able to go to the beach as they originally planned. Instead, they have been spending time in bars and their rental bungalow. Although there are no explicit romantic advances between the pair, Poppy is conscious of sexual tension when their knees touch.

Poppy, who moved to New York from Ohio, dropped out of college and built her social media influence until she landed her dream job as a travel writer at Rest + Relaxation magazine. While she achieved all of her career goals and got to travel the world, she confesses to her friend and fellow social-media influencer