If the Shoe Fits (Meant To Be #1) by Julie Murphy

He shakes his head. “I didn’t think it could be that simple. Surely, I wouldn’t just meet the girl of my dreams on a flight and then that would be it. I just…wanted to be the son who saved the day. But I can’t be that for them. For some twisted reason, I thought that if I couldn’t save LuMac for my mom, then I didn’t deserve you. But if I’m going to save LuMac, it has to be because of my own vision. Not my mother’s.” He reaches up and pushes a loose hair back behind my ear. “I just didn’t see you coming. I didn’t know someone like you could exist. Cindy, being with you makes me feel like I can come up for air.”

“Are you sure you’re not in love with Addison?” I ask.

He scoffs and rolls his eyes.

“Well, you didn’t kick her off when you had the chance.”

“Oh,” he says, “I swear the network—your stepmother included—was about to behead me if I didn’t keep her. Then Anna fessed up, and I figured, what the hell? I’ll give them this one thing to make them happy.”

He gathers my hands in his, and I look up to meet his gaze and lose myself in his deep brown eyes.

“But the real question is, are you sure you can get romantically involved with your competitor? That won’t be a conflict of interest?” I ask.

He leans into me, nipping at my bottom lip. “I think I can handle the pressure, but I can always check with HR real quick.” He holds his phone up to his ear, not moving an inch from me. “Hello? HR? This is your boss. I’ve got a hot new girlfriend, and she works for a competing brand. Oh? What’s that? You don’t care. Okay, good.”

“I’m less concerned about HR and more concerned about your mother,” I tell him.

“She and I have had some time over the last few weeks to talk through a lot. She’s a bigger fan of yours than you think,” he says, and parts my lips against his as his arms coil around me. “Are you really leaving?” he asks into my mouth. “Right now?”

I nod. “I’m running late, actually.”

“I’m very good at missing flights…and disappearing. I’m good at that too.”

“You feel like disappearing this weekend and meeting me in Italy?” I ask, my lips brushing against his as we kiss with every syllable.

“My disappearing act has been known to go on the road.”

“I’ll be back in two weeks,” I tell him. “But I guess we’ll have to see if you make it past the first elimination.”

“The competition stands no chance,” he says as he pulls me tightly against him.

“Oh, and I’m moving to Brooklyn.”

“Well, that’s it,” he says with a playful smile. “We’re over.”

I still don’t know if I believe in fate and if everything happens for a reason, but I do know that the best thing I can do is find purpose in everything, as well as joy, like Mom wrote all those years ago. Whether it’s living as fully as I can to honor my parents or if it’s just being thankful for the friends and connections I found on a silly reality television show. Anything can have a purpose. Anything can have a meaning if you make the choice to give it one.

I grin into his lips. “Henry?”

“Mon petit chou?”

“What’s in the shoe box?”

“Shoes, of course. A very memorable pair of shoes.”

“And they’re really for me?”

“If the shoe fits,” he whispers.





I’m still pinching myself over the fact that I got to write this book. As a child, I spent so much time obsessing over Disney princesses, but especially Cinderella. The slippers, the dress, the carriage, the music, the Fairy Godmother. It was all so magical. Having the opportunity to reimagine this iconic tale with a modern-day twist, and with a heroine like Cindy who is plus size (and much closer in size to the average American woman than the original Cinderella) and navigating grief while finding her purpose and even falling in love has been a dream come true for me. Just like the original says, “A dream is a wish your heart makes,” and this dream wouldn’t have come true without some truly amazing people.

Thank you so much to my editors, Jocelyn Davies and Brittany Rubiano. Jocelyn, thank you so much for having faith in my vision for this modern fairy tale and for imparting endless Bachelor wisdom to me. Thanks to you, I’ve upgraded from casual observer to an involved citizen of Bachelor Nation. Brittany, I’m so grateful for your kindness and patience, especially as I tried to figure out how the heck to write a book during a global pandemic. (Lots of homemade bread, Zoom, and old seasons of The Bachelor.)

To my agent, John Cusick, thank you for always being my partner in crime and for wearing any hat I need you to on any given day. (Though I shouldn’t be surprised. You have excellent fashion taste.)

The whole team at Disney has been so warm and welcoming. Your enthusiasm for me and this book has been absolutely overwhelming. Thank you especially to Tonya Agurto, Kieran Viola, Jennifer Levesque, Cassidy Leyendecker, Seale Ballenger, Lyssa Hurvitz, Dina Sherman, Elke Villa, Holly Nagel, Tim Retzlaff, Danielle DiMartino, Monique Diman and the rest of the Sales team, Sara Liebling, Guy Cunningham, Jody Corbett, Jacqueline Hornberger, David Jaffe, Dan Kaufman, and Ariela Rudy Zaltzman.

I am in love with the cover for this book and the great deal of attention spent on bringing Cindy and Henry to life. Thank you to Marci Senders for your vision and to Stephanie Singleton for your art.