Page 45 of 500 First Editions (The Romantics #3)
RYAN
THE ANTI-PAGEANT PARENT
“ Y ou excited?” I asked as I slipped into the back room of the Kansas City bookstore where Willow had been stashed as excited readers lined up outside.
The bookstore was hosting a fundraiser for a local animal shelter—Tales and Tails.
Book lovers could meet adoptable dogs and cats, browse the store, and have their books signed by their favorite authors.
There was a silent auction that Willow had generously donated to, raffle prizes, and meet and greets.
It felt good to get out of Manhattan for the day. The drive to Kansas City had been a windows down, Celine Dion affair. I had been eyeing a barbecue joint for dinner that smelled sure to please.
Willow let out a nervous breath. “It’s been a while since I’ve done an event like this.”
“You’re going to be great. Everyone here loves you.”
She nodded, but I wasn’t sure if she got the underlying message. “I just hope I don’t say anything stupid.”
“You won’t.”
Willow cut her eyes at me. “If you remember, the last time I did a panel, I made a fool of myself.”
I cornered her against a mountain of cardboard boxes and slid my hands onto her hips. “I think last time turned out pretty damn good for us,” I murmured against her lips.
Willow tipped her chin up and smiled before meeting me in a kiss. “What would you have done if we didn’t get along? Or if you were actually an ass and we were stuck with each other and miserable for three months?”
“Well, I know I’m not actually an ass. I just had to convince you of that.” I said before I pecked her lips again. “And if you had actually hated me, I would have had to buckle down and work a lot harder.”
“And what if we didn’t have chemistry?” she asked as she wrapped her arms around my neck. “Because, if I’m being honest, I’ve never had chemistry like this with anyone. You can’t fake chemistry. Either it’s there or it’s not.”
“Check-out line,” I whispered against her lips. “I knew from the get-go. There was never a doubt in my mind.”
The door to the back room opened, and Lisa slipped in. “Am I interrupting something, kids?”
I stepped back from Willow and adjusted my glasses. She pressed her palms to her cheeks, trying to tamp down the flames between us.
“Nope. Not a thing,” Willow blurted out.
Lisa’s eyebrows rose. “Well that’s a bummer. Let me go back out so you two can keep canoodling.”
I laughed under my breath.
“We weren’t canoodling!” Willow shrieked.
If I had to guess, I’d say she was still getting used to the idea of this being real. But she was there. I could feel it.
Lisa giggled as she rummaged around her bag and pulled out a tube of makeup. “You have hickeys on your neck. A lot of them.”
Willow glared at me as she snatched it up, then used her phone’s camera as a mirror while she dabbed on the concealer. “Great. Now it just looks like I have weird dark spots.”
“Play stupid games, win stupid prizes,” Lisa said as she took a seat in a spare folding chair. “Although I wouldn’t say this is a stupid game.” She twirled her finger around in our direction. “I love this.”
“I thought you were officially back to work on night shift?” Willow asked. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping? And how did you know we were here? I didn’t tell you.”
“Ryan told me,” Lisa said with a shit-eating grin. “So that I could come yell at you in person for not telling me you had a book event.”
“Did you just get off work this morning?” Willow asked.
“Yes,” Lisa said.
Willow huffed. “Then you should be asleep. Not two hours away at a bookstore so you can watch me talk to people.”
Lisa’s eyes were sad. “I wanted to be here because you know he would have been.”
Instead of hugging Lisa, Willow leaned into my side.
I wrapped my arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “Let us celebrate you for him.”
“Thank you,” Willow whispered as she hugged me, then held on.
Lisa stood. “I’m going to go browse. But don’t think you’re getting out of the picture tradition just because Shep isn’t here. I need a new one for the shelf back at the house.” She squeezed Willow’s arm. “See you out there.”
“Thanks for coming, Lise.” Willow rested her head on my chest as Lisa closed the door behind her.
“He’s proud of you,” I said as I cradled the back of her head, careful not to mess with the curls she had spent an hour on.
“I know.” There was hope in her admission. Acceptance.
We stood in silence, leaning on each other in the sanctity of the moment.
When the bookstore owner poked her head in and said it was time, I wished Willow luck, then headed out first to meet up with Lisa so Willow could make her grand entrance.
“Hiding back here?” Lisa asked when I found her at the back of the crowd.
I stood beside her and crossed my arms. “I’m not a pageant parent. I want today to be about her.”
Folding chairs had been arranged in front of two tufted chairs so people could sit and hear Willow talk. Outside, dogs barked and yipped as they were showered in affection.
Lisa peered over her shoulder, looking out the window. “I should get a dog.”
My gut sank, because I knew exactly why Lisa wanted a pet. “The house is lonely?”
“Yeah,” she admitted.
“Maybe get a cat. They don’t have to go outside if you’re working overnight. You can get one of those timed food dispensers if you’re out of the house.”
She stared into the distance as the crowd settled in. “A cat might be nice.”
“Have you found someone to talk to?”
Lisa snapped her head and looked at me curiously.
“A therapist . . . Grief counselor . . . someone like that. Family’s great, but they don’t always tell you what you need to hear or encourage healthy coping skills.”
“You sound like you have experience with that.”
“I lost my dad when I was young.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I’m not trying to intrude or speak out of turn, but I have a website that has a database of vetted professionals who can help with all sorts of issues.
It’s sorted by location if you want someone in person, but there are virtual options too.
If you need someone to talk to, I can give you some recommendations. ”
She chewed on her lip for a moment before answering. “I’d like that.”
The store owner gathered everyone’s attention and introduced Willow. Lisa and I joined in the applause as my girl strutted out in her favorite Chucks and a pink dress that matched her hair.
I couldn’t help but smile as Willow waved to the crowd.
Lisa and I stood in silent adoration as Willow went back and forth with the owner about her books and what she was working on at the moment.
Willow told stories of her travels and how special it was to be able to live in the settings of her books while she wrote them.
The crowd laughed when she told a story about a little town she had lived in that had a resident pig who escaped his house regularly. I glanced down at Lisa as I laughed, but her eyes were watery.
“Can I get you something?” I asked quietly. The back room Willow and I had been waiting in had been stocked with refreshments and napkins. I could raid it if she needed a tissue.
Lisa shook her head. “I’m okay,” she said as she dabbed her eyes with her sleeve. “I’m just glad that she let me in when Shep and I got together all those years ago. I see so much of him in her.”
I could see it too, and I had never met the man.
Before I could ask a question that had been lingering on the tip of my tongue, Lisa broke the silence. “Did you invite Cynthia or Amber to come today?”
“Yeah,” I said softly, pausing when the owner opened up the floor for questions before Willow went to a table to sign books. “I did.”
Lisa sighed as she looked around. “I’m not surprised Amber didn’t show, but Cynthia should have.”
I didn’t disagree with her. Willow’s own mother should have been there. But she wasn’t. Lisa and I were.
And from the smile on Willow’s face as she beamed at us from across the room, that was all that mattered.