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The woman nodded.

“I know, I hate that. These are great, I promise.”

Avery picked one up.

“I’ll have to grab one now before they’re all gone.” She grinned. “Or two. One for my friend over there.”

“Good thinking,” the cookie enthusiast said. “Thank me later.”

Avery put the cookies on her plate and walked back toward the seats. She found two next to a woman wearing a blue dress with an ice-cream cone pattern on it—anyone who wore a dress withice-cream cones on it must be friendly, right? Avery put the plate of food on the seat next to hers to save it for Taylor.

Then she looked around the room again. A bunch of people already had the book in their laps. Were they supposed to buy the books before the event started, or afterward? She had no idea. See, this was why she didn’t like going to events when she hadn’t prepared in advance.

Even though she very much did not like confessing her ignorance about anything to anyone, this question might be a good opening. Time for number three. She turned to the woman in the ice-cream cone dress.

“Do you know if we’re supposed to buy the book before the event starts? I’ve never been here before.”

Ice-Cream Cone Dress turned to her with an eager expression on her face.

“Oh, either before or after works. But there will be a signing line afterward, and it’s usually faster to get in the line if you buy the book first.”

Avery was sure Taylor would make her get in the signing line.

“Oh, thanks, I’d better do it now.” She started to stand up, and then turned to Ice-Cream Cone Dress again. “Will you save my seats? For me and my friend. Is that weird? I’m Avery.”

Oh God, she was so awkward. Was she in kindergarten with this seat-saving thing? This was why she shouldn’t be allowed to do things like this.

But Ice-Cream Cone Dress immediately put her bag on Avery’s seat.

“Of course. Not weird at all. Nice to meet you, Avery. I’m Mallory.”

Avery smiled at Mallory and then turned to find the register. Right, of course, she should have noticed the line of people nearthe register, all clutching books to their chests. Avery grabbed two copies of the book and joined the line.

Speaking of Taylor…aah, there she was, flipping through books in the personal growth section. She glanced up and waved at Avery. Avery smiled at her and waved back.

Fine, this may not have been a terrible plan. She absolutely wouldn’t tell Taylor that, though. Especially after how pouty she’d been in the car on the way here; please, how embarrassing would it be to tell Taylor that she’d been right?

Should she try to do one more? It would feel great to get four conversations over with before the book event even started. Granted, nothing she’d done with any of the first three women could in any way be described as flirting, but still, you had to walk before you could run.

She was grateful that Taylor’s mission for her tonight had been to just talk to people; thank goodness she would get to ease into flirting.

Oh, look! She had a conversation starter for the woman in front of her. She took a deep breath. Time for number four.

“I’ve been thinking about getting those sneakers,” she said. “They’re so cute, are they comfortable?”

The woman turned around, an animated look on her face. She had warm brown skin, and long braids piled up in a big topknot.

“Yes! I’m evangelical about them, honestly. I just moved here, and I wore them all day when we moved in, and my feet weren’t sore at all. That’s the biggest testament to them, don’t you think?”

Avery nodded.

“Absolutely.” She remembered what Taylor had said. Follow-up questions. “You just moved here? From where? I’m Avery, by the way.”

The woman held out her hand.

“Hi, Avery, I’m Beth. I moved from L.A. My girlfriend…well, fiancée and I moved up here for her job; she works for one of the big hotels. She’s over there saving our seats. We figured that instead of staying in and trying to organize things, which I absolutely didn’t want to do, we’d try to get out and do something fun, see the lay of the land in our new home. So far, it seems good. Do you also live around here?”

Beth seemed better at this conversation thing than Avery was. Thank goodness; someone had to be good at it.