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“Do I really have to?” she whispered to Taylor.

Taylor shrugged.

“Like I said, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

Now Avery felt like an asshole for all the whining she’d been doing since she got in Taylor’s car. Taylor was doing this for her to be nice, and she’d just complained the whole way.

“I know, I know. Okay. Let’s go.” She took a step and then stopped again. “I do better with specific measurables. How many people do I have to talk to?”

“ ‘Specific measurables.’ ” Taylor shook her head slowly. “Good Lord, you need my help. Okay, fine—five people.”

“Five!” Avery tried not to shriek. “I thought you were going to say, like, two! Maybe three!”

“Five,” Taylor said firmly. “And you get extra credit for any more than five.”

Extra credit? Avery liked the sound of that. She was the queen of extra credit.

Avery took a deep breath.

“Okay. Okay.”

“But saying ‘hi’ or ‘excuse me’ or whatever doesn’t count,” Taylor said. “Five actual conversations. And here’s one more tip: a compliment is a great conversation starter.”

Avery took her phone back out and addedcomplimentsto the list.

Then she took a breath and walked into the bookstore. There was already a good-size crowd there with some women sitting down, some milling around the store, and others gathered by a table along the side wall. That must be the snack table. If she knew one thing about parties, it was that people often gathered around the food.

Granted, this was a bookstore event, not a party, but she was pretty sure the same principle applied. She walked over to the snack table and turned to ask Taylor if she wanted anything, but Taylor was no longer next to her. Avery glanced around the bookstore, until she finally saw Taylor by the new-fiction shelf. She gave Avery a thumbs-up and an encouraging grin. Oh, so Taylor was going to make her do this all by herself? Great.

Avery took a glass of prosecco, and then put some cheese and crackers on her plate. The other women by the snack table were all in cute colorful dresses and cardigans. Did they all know one another and decide to dress alike? Or was that the unwritten uniform for book events? Or maybe there was a dress code, and Taylor hadn’t told her? Taylor didn’t seem like the type of person who would care about a dress code.

Okay, now she was just spiraling. She was supposed to be talking to people, remember?

“I love your dress,” she blurted out to the woman standing next to her. Oh God, that was awkward. The poor woman looked startled, probably because Avery had almost shouted at her. But Avery hadn’t lied, shedidlove her orange and pink maxi dress.

“Oh, thank you,” she said. “I just got it. I feel a little overdressed, but I love Holly Brock’s books, so I thought it was a great first occasion for it.”

Taylor was right, people did love compliments.

“I love her books, too. I’m really excited for this one,” Avery said. “Um, also, hi, I’m Avery.”

Yep, introducing herself to a stranger who probably wasn’t at all interested in talking to her felt just as weird and awkward as she’d anticipated.

“Hi, Avery,” the woman said. “I’m Pam. Nice to meet you.” And she smiled at Avery—in a stiff way, yes, but it was still a smile.

“Nice to meet you, too, Pam.”

Pam walked off with her drink, and Avery took a deep breath. She’d done it. One down.

She glanced in Taylor’s direction, and Taylor winked at her. Avery felt a little tingly inside. She threw caution to the wind.

“Those cookies are so cute,” she said to the woman across the table. Two in a row!

“Oh my God, they’re so good,” the woman said. “I’ve already had one, and I’m hoping they’re going to bring out more so that I don’t feel guilty for taking two.”

Avery laughed as she looked down at the book-shaped cookies.

“Okay, thank you, because sometimes the cutest baked goods taste like nothing, and it’s so disappointing.”