Page 118 of Holding on to Chaos
They mounted the steps, and Eva spied an infinite row of shoes neatly lining the porch. Mrs. Nordemann pushed the door open. Laughter, music, and the smells of potluck beckoned them inside.
A collective squeal went up when Eva stepped barefoot across the threshold.
“The guest of honor has arrived,” Mrs. Nordemann announced as her guests flocked into the foyer. “Now, let’s give her some breathing room. Enid, would you mind getting Eva—or should I say Ava—a glass of wine?”
A rickety woman who had to be knocking on ninety shoved her way through the crowd of oglers.
“Red or white, Eva?” Mrs. Nordemann asked briskly.
“Uh, red?”
“Red, Enid,” Mrs. Nordemann shouted after the woman. “Come on in. We’re set up in the parlor,” she said, ushering Eva through the grand opening of the front room. It was jammed full of tables, chairs, sofas, and ottomans. Women’s purses and dog-earred stacks of Eva’s bookStrings of Destinyrested on every flat surface. Thankfully, given the number of bodies in the room pumping off body heat, the hearth was empty. Even still, it felt like it was eighty degrees in the room.
“She looks flushed,” Eden, in leather leggings and a long blood red shirt announced. “Someone fan her.”
A dozen hands holding everything from magazines to napkins flashed in front of her face.
“Um, Eden? Ellery? Could I see you two alone for a moment?” Eva asked, staring daggers at her friends.
“Sure!” Ellery led the way through the throng and up the grand staircase to the second floor. She pushed open a nine-foot door that creaked like a haunted house. “This is Jillian’s private sitting room.”
It was done up in so many pink prints that Eva felt a little dizzy.
“What the hell am I doing here?”
Eden and Ellery shared a glance. “It’s Book Club.”
“I gathered that from the kidnapping van. Why was I snatched off the street and brought here against my will?”
Eden shot Ellery a look. “I thought you were going to send her the invitation?”
“I’m a bride-to-be! I’m juggling eight thousand details. I thought you were going to send her the invitation.”
“Oops,” Eden sighed. “Must have got our wires crossed. I blame Uranus.”
“So, this was not a kidnapping?”
The women shook their heads. “You’re the guest of honor at this month’s Book Club. We read your book, and now we want to pick your brain about it. Plus, we thought it would cheer you up after that whole your mom stealing your stuff thing,” Ellery announced.
“Do you often accidentally kidnap authors?” Eva asked rubbing her eyes.
“No, of course not!” Ellery said, taking offense.
“Well, there was that one time with—”
“Ixnay on the napkidding-ay,” Ellery hissed, making a slashing motion across her throat.
“So, I’m free to leave?” Eva asked. “You’re not holding me hostage?”
“Of course, you’re free to leave,” Eden promised.
“I mean, that would totally devastate your die-hard fans downstairs. Probably damage your readership a bit. Mrs. Nordemann runs a book blog with like fifty-thousand followers. She’s like a small-town Oprah. So I wouldn’t piss her off if I were you. But you can leave at any time,” Ellery said with a diabolical grin.
Eva sighed. “Let’s go find my wine.”
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Book Club in Blue Moon was an experience. It had the festive feeling of a book signing with the alcohol equivalent of a commercial bar.
