Page 57 of Where You Go (Whisper Lake 5)

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“I toldyou you had nothing to worry about,” Rasha assured Liv as they drove past the line of people waiting outside the bookstore.

The Duke’s Destiny, which was the final book in her Rogues of Riverglen series, had come out three days earlier and it was performing better than any book she’d ever published. She’d been scared, since it had taken so long for her to finish, that people would have moved on and forgotten about her series—but if sales and today’s turnout were any indication, that was not the case.

Liv tried to count people as they drove by, but there were too many. For some reason, she always thought that no one would show up for her signings. She had nightmares about it sometimes. That’s why she brought Rasha every chance she got. It was a no-brainer that her friend would be with her at this event since it was in town.

She’d originally planned on just going to the event with Rasha, but earlier today her bestie had surprised her by showing up at her house and telling her she’d booked them a hotel room even though they both lived less than twenty minutes away from where her signing was being held. The hotel was just down the block and Liv said they could walk to the signing but her bestie had insisted on getting an Uber to the venue. Rasha told her that someone needed to spoil her, and until she found a permanent man for the job, she’d be her stand-in.

They’d spent the morning in the suite getting ready together and honestly it brought back high school prom memories. It was just good, old-fashioned girl time and Liv hadn’t realized how much she’d needed it. They talked about boys, well mainly Grady but Rasha had also shared a fairly swoon-worthy story about her hubby Jayden.

She’d had a particularly tough day with Tierra and when he got home, he told her to go take a bath, relax, and have a glass of wine.

When she got out of the bath, the entire house was cleaned, Jayden’s mom had Tierra and he said that she had two options, they could stay home and watch reality TV in bed together or he would take her out for dinner at her favorite restaurant.

Rasha opted for number three, she ravaged him on the kitchen island, then they went to dinner, got dessert to go and went home and watched Love Island.

She was a have your cake and eat it too kinda gal.

Liv loved Jayden and Rasha together. They made a good team. They really got each other; they were best friends. The more time that passed from when her relationship with Jordan ended, the more she realized she’d never had that with him. She wondered if she might have that with Grady, if things were different. If their relationship wasn’t fake.

The car came to a stop and the butterflies that had been hanging out all day were back. This time they weren’t fluttering because she didn’t think people would show up, now they were there because they had.

Liv was a typical shy, introvert. Any sort of social interaction gave her hives. Sometimes, literally. It was probably why she and Rasha had hit it off. Rasha loved the spotlight. She could talk to anyone and everyone and never run out of things to say. Liv was much more comfortable in the background observing.

During signings, observing in the background wasn’t really an option. She had to be front row and center. The attention was focused on her, which was about as comfortable as wearing pantyhose in a sauna. But it was part of the job. Not that she was complaining. She loved her readers and loved interacting with them. All of her issues were about herself, not about her readers.

“Hi Harper!” Susan, who worked at the bookstore and had been her point of contact for the signing, waved as Liv and Rasha stepped out of the car.

“Susan this is my friend Rasha.” Liv made the introduction.

“Nice to meet you, Rasha. I love your dress.”

“Thank you,” Rasha smiled.

Rasha was wearing an emerald green silk saree with a heavily embellished border. Her dark, straight hair hung down to her waist and she was wearing a red lip that really popped. Rasha loved getting dressed up and jumped at any occasion to go full glam.

Liv would have worn sweats today if that was appropriate. Since it wasn’t, she’d gone with a simple blue maxi dress with thick straps. The bold color photographed well and complemented the cover which was good because more and more readers wanted selfies as well as signatures in their books. Rasha had helped Liv with her hair and makeup. She’d given her a cat-eye and nude lip and had blown out her hair, curling the ends giving it a beach wave. The ombre that Jessa had done was still holding up two months later. That was one of the benefits of only coloring the ends of your hair, roots growing out didn’t matter.

“Come right through here, we have a space set up for you.”

Rasha and Liv followed Susan into the storage room which they had set up as a makeshift green room. There were some snacks and water bottles set out on a table and two comfy chairs that had been placed in the corner with a rug between them. All of the boxes and supplies had been pushed to one side of the room.

Susan fanned out her arm toward the chairs. “If you want to hang out here, we’re going to get started in about fifteen minutes. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thanks so much,” Liv smiled.

“Thank you!” Rasha enthused.

Susan left and Rasha checked in on Liv, “How you doin’?”

“Good.”

Liv lowered down in the velvet orange armchair and pulled her phone out of her purse to check it. Again. She hadn’t heard from Grady since this morning. He’d sent her a text wishing her good luck and telling her everything was going to go great. She’d sort of hoped that he would have asked to come, but he hadn’t.

It had been two months since Bridgette’s wedding, and she hadn’t seen Grady in that time. She’d planned an overnight trip last month to go back to Whisper Lake but had to cancel at the last minute. She hadn’t invited Grady to come see her because her grandad wasn’t doing well. Things had been getting increasingly stressful and more difficult at home. She felt like she was at her breaking point. It was too much for one person. She felt guilty for leaving Anna with him tonight, but she didn’t have a choice.

She had to be at the signing. She needed to do everything and anything she could to promote the book. She needed the sales because it was getting to the point that she wasn’t going to be able to care for him on her own. And her mother was no help. If anything, she was just another person that Liv had to take care of.

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