Page 8 of Just For Me
“I just love your books,” she gushed as she shoved three books at me.
“Thanks,” I said, pretending not to notice the way her hands ‘accidentally’ brushed mine. “Who am I making these out to?”
“Make them out toJillian, my biggest fan.”
I kept the smile on my face, but inside, I balked. ‘My biggest fan’ (at least according to my grandfather, who wasneverwrong) hadn’t bothered to come.
I opened the first book and wrote what she wanted, then did the others as well. She started asking me some personal questions, but Gina stepped forward from where she’d taken up position slightly behind me and put the kibosh on that pretty quickly as she kept the line moving right along.
I caught Gina’s eye and silently communicated my appreciation. Again. The afternoon wouldn’t have gone nearly as smoothly as it had if it hadn’t been for my sisters. True to their word, Gina and Sofia had shown up early and helped set everything up. The end result was far better than anything I could have come up with. Gina had even had the brilliant idea to have long-stemmed red roses for the first one hundred people in line (graciously provided by our Uncle Carmine’s flower shop).
They’d stuck around, too, for which I was profoundly grateful. I had no idea just how much work went into a signing. One or both of them was with me at the table the entire time, handing out books and swag, keeping the line moving, bringing me coffee and water and generally having my back so I could “just smile and look pretty”, as Gina put it. She took plenty of pictures, too, to post to both the bookstore’s website and my official author site, both of which she’d designed and maintained.
Their support meant a lot, even if I knew at least part of their motivation could be chalked up to good, old-fashioned curiosity. They wanted to meet the woman who my grandfather had decided was ‘the right one’ and decide for themselves if she passed muster. I wasn’t surprised; the women in my family were as protective, if not more so, than the men (and that was saying alot).
Regardless, I appreciated the effort, and made a mental note to book them both some time at that posh spa they loved so much.
I breathed a sigh of relief whenNonnofinally flipped the sign to ‘closed’ and locked the doors. I’d signed a couple hundred books at least, and the bookstore’s stock of Nick Penn books -—even the old ones -—was all but depleted. If nothing else, the event had been a nice boost for my grandfather’s business.
“I thought she’d-a come.”
He looked almost as disappointed as I felt. His clever scheme to put the wrong Nick Penn book in Kat’s bag hadn’t panned out. He’d thought for sure she’d be so eager to get the new book, she’d rush down to the store today to get another copy before they sold out.
She hadn’t. It bothered me more than I cared to admit.
“Don’t let it get to you, Nicky,” Gina said as we started cleaning up. “There could be lots of good reasons why she didn’t come.”
“I know.” My mind had been running rampant with them all day.
“Oh, that reminds me,” Sofia said, picking up one of the new books she’d tucked away and handing it to me. “Can you sign this?”
“Are you a fan now, Sofe?” I teased. I didn’t know if she or any of my other female relatives read any of my books, and to tell the truth, I didn’twantto know. Some of the things I wrote got pretty intimate and came from parts of my heart and soul I didn’t particularly care to share with my immediate family members.
She rolled her eyes. “It’s not for me. It’s for Vinnie.”
That had me laughing out loud. “You expect me to believeVinniewants a copy of my book?”
“Don’t be an idiot,” she chastised, but she was smiling too. “He doesn’t want it for himself.”
“Who then?” As far as I knew, our brother wasn’t dating anyone. He loved being a cop, and put all of his time and effort into being a good one. Much to our mother’s frustration, he often said there wasn’t enough of him left over to sustain a serious relationship, but this latest development suggested that maybe he was finally open to exploring the possibilities.
“A woman he met last night. And before you say anything, it’s not what you’re thinking. She’s a mugging victim. He brought her into the ER while I was on shift.”
My laughter immediately ceased. “Ah, hell. Is she okay?”
Sofie nodded. “Yeah, she will be. She was pretty banged up, though.”
For as much as we ragged on Vin, he was a good guy, the quintessential white knight. It wasn’t unusual for him to go out of his way to help someone. But he’d never done anything like this.
“So what does that have to do with me?” I asked.
“Apparently she’s a big fan. She had your new book with her when she was attacked. She gave up her purse easily enough, but she went ballistic when the guy tried to take the book. Took a nice punch to the face and a brick wall to the back of the head because of it, too.”
“Gesù Cristo,”I winced. I wanted readers to like my books, not get hurt because of them. “It’s just a book.”
“Yeah, well, it was pretty important to her. Anyway, the book was ruined, and Vin thought it might be a nice gesture to bring her a new one. She’s all alone, and he was planning on heading over there to check up on her later.”
“Yeah, sure, okay,” I said. I grabbed my pen. “What’s her name?”
