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Taylor ignored that.

“Oh, and this is the most important thing: Only flirt with people that you actually want to flirt with. Where there’s some attraction, or they seem friendly, or they say something funny, or they’re just very hot, whatever. This is supposed to be fun, and attempting to flirt with people you don’t want to flirt with is no fun.”

Avery stared at her.

“I’m supposed to do all of this and also have fun?”

Taylor laughed.

“You don’t have to do all of it at once! Try to do one or two things, and let the rest come. I’ll remember not to give you too much information in the future; I should have known that you would want to ace it all.”

There was no chance of her being able to do that.

“Okay, we’re here,” Taylor said a few minutes later.

“Where are we? What are we doing here?” Avery asked as Taylor pulled into a parking space.

“So suspicious,” Taylor said with laughter in her voice. “If you get out of the car, maybe we can go see what we’re doing here.”

Avery grumbled a little as she unbuckled her seat belt.

“This isn’t some escape room or magic show or anything, is it? Because if so, I’m—”

“Avery. I know we don’t know each other very well, but do you really think I would take you to amagic show? Especially with no warning? Come on. And no, just the thought of escape rooms makes me claustrophobic. But keep throwing out these nightmarescenarios, please. I’ll start taking notes for the future.” She held a finger up. “Now that I think about it, speed dating would be a good idea.” Avery blanched, and Taylor grinned. “Come on. Let’s go.”

They got out of the car and followed a stream of other women heading in the same direction. Even though Avery had been—slightly—playing up her desire to know what they were doing tonight, she was now deeply curious. Where could these women be going? Was it, like, a jewelry trunk show? No, Taylor wouldn’t bring her to that. A major designer sale? No, again, this was Taylor. And plus, that wasn’t the vibe of the women around here. They had more of a friendly, young librarian kind of energy. Some sort of a…cult meeting? Now she was just grasping at straws.

They turned a corner, and she saw where all of the women were heading.

“We’re going to a bookstore?”

Taylor nodded.

“There’s this writer I like, Holly Brock. She writes queer romances, she has a new book out, and—”

Avery’s mouth dropped open.

“I love her books! Wait, is she here tonight?”

Taylor looked smug again, but Avery didn’t even care.

“She is. I thought it would be a good opportunity for you to do some socializing and light flirting with some like-minded strangers. Ease into all of this. Everyone else here will be excited, and you’ll have a built-in topic for conversation.”

This was much less scary than she’d anticipated.

“A book event,” Avery said. “I think I can do that.”

“You’re welcome,” Taylor said.

Avery looked at the women around them again and laughed.

“Oh, nerdy but approachable, I get it.” She looked down at hersleeveless blue-and-white-pinstripe shirtdress. “I think I fit the brief?”

Taylor patted her on the arm.

“You do. But remember, you have to talk to people, too. You can’t be all wallflower in the corner like I know you want to be.”

How did Taylor know that’s exactly what she wanted to do? Ah, because that’s how she’d gotten into this thing in the first place. She stopped a few feet from the bookstore.