Page 148 of Doctorshipped
“We’re going to take a few pictures,” I tell her.
“Okaaayyy?” she says.
We walk to the middle of the crowd, our hands still intertwined. I step behind Jayme and I bend, taking the pose Brooks had a few months ago in those social media pictures. I angle myself so that my mouth will land right below her ear. Jayme seems to catch on, because she tilts her head to give me access to the tender, sweet skin. I’ve finished three of the books in her series now. I’ve got the vampire thing down.
I pretend to bite her. Goosebumps raise along her neck. I hold her upper arms in my grasp and brush a soft kiss to follow the fake bite. She shivers. I squeeze her biceps before letting her go. Her hand finds mine almost immediately and relief floods me.
Cameras go off for my biting, my kissing, our hand holding. I turn Jayme toward me and wrap my arms around her. I enfold her in my cape with me. She giggles and plays along, still unaware of the bigger picture here.
When everyone’s captured enough photos—according to Ella Mae—she gets back on her step stool and holds her megaphone up to direct everyone. “Okay! Places everyone! We’re ready! Face the driveway like we practiced.”
Jayme looks confused. I bend toward her and whisper, “Just follow me.”
We walk to the front of the crowd. The entire town assembles behind us. The music changes to Michael Jackson’sThriller, and we all dance the iconic dance from the classic music video. It took me so many hours to learn these steps. But, thanks to Shannon and Fiona, I mastered it in time for today. And, according to Shannon, Jayme knows this dance from high school.
Jayme catches on, not to why we’re doing this, but she joins in, and we dance the whole dance, our moves synchronized, the whole crowd behind us like one giant dance troupe. Ella Mae has Dexter set up to film the entire thing. Every person here will share it on their accounts.
When we finish dancing, I turn to Jayme, wrapping my arms around her.
“What is all this?” she asks again.
“This is my surprise. Everyone here opened a social media account over the past seven days. They’ve all been dedicating their posts to sharing your books, and reposting your content.”
“You’re kidding?”
“No. I’m not.”
“You organized all this?”
“I started it, but the people of this town ran with it and made it happen.”
“That’s why my follower count has gone up? It was you, not Ella Mae.”
“Oh, no. Trust me. It was Ella Mae. I may have shared my idea. She’s the one who made it happen.”
“What made you want to do this?”
“Want is a stretch,” I say.
Jayme laughs.
“When we met, I made light of your career,” I remind Jayme.
I think back to that day in the airport, how I scoffed when she said she was an author of fantasy romance.
“I didn’t believe in romance, let alone the writing of romance novels which only serve to perpetuate ideas that can’t be real. Boy meets girl. They fall in love. They live happily ever after. In my mind, it was all so misleading and unrealistic.
“At least that’s what I thought until I started dating you. When I met you, I didn’t take you seriously. Over this past month I’ve seen how wrong I was to hold myself back from you. But, I also realized I hadn’t ever shown you how much I admire your writing.
“Your books always have some sort of grand finale where the hero has to prove his love. I took my cue from your books.”
“My books?”
“I’ve read three so far and just started book four.”
She shakes her head in wonder.
“I couldn’t think of a better way to show you I respect your career than to help you achieve your goal. You want that publisher to take notice, so I gathered enough people to cause your account to grow.”
