“I’m going to go,” I declared.
“You just got here,” she replied.
Shaking my head, I clarified, “No, on Saturday. I’m going to go to the book signing. I have to see her. I need to talk to her, Avery.”
“Ryker, I think that’s an excellent idea,” Avery started. “But given that you two might have a lot to discuss, I’d recommend waiting until the end of it. She’s got a huge following, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a lot of her readers there.”
That was good advice. I wanted to talk to Scarlet. The last thing I wanted to do was cause a scene or make her upset before something so important.
“Right. That’s a good idea,” I replied.
“And I’ll go with you,” she offered. “I’ll drive myself separately because who knows what might happen between the two of you, but I’ll be there in case you need me.”
“Avery, that’s really kind of you, but I can’t ask you to do that,” I insisted. “It’s unnecessary. I’m sure it’s going to be fine.”
“Okay, well, you kind of don’t have a choice,” she shot back. “For two reasons. First, I’ve been dying to meet Scarlet Morgan ever since I read her first book.”
“Give You Up,” I interrupted.
Avery jerked back in her seat. “How do you know that?” she asked.
“I read it,” I answered. “I bought all twenty-six books on Friday night, and I’ve already read the first seven.”
Her eyes rounded. “Are you serious?”
I dipped my chin.
“Wow… you do have it bad for her, don’t you?”
I shot Avery a look of indifference. I wasn’t going to argue that point because she was right.
When I didn’t say anything, she went on, “Well, the other reason I’m going is that you’re my friend.”
I started to open my mouth to speak, and she held her hand up in front of her.
“Don’t even ruin the nice thing I said by being a grump, Ryker,” she ordered. “You are my friend, whether you like it or not. And I don’t care if you don’t want to admit it by saying the words. I know you care about me as your friend the same as you do everyone else who works here. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have tried to comfort me that day at the track. To top it off, I know it wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but you stepped in and talked to Knox when we had our issues. I can’t say what would have happened between Knox and me if you hadn’t pushed him to see things from a different perspective. Hell, if she didn’t have to work this weekend, Kendall said she would have come to the signing, too. And she doesn’t even read Scarlet’s books! So, pout all you want. I’m your friend, and I’m going. Because that’s what friends do for each other.”
“Kendall? Why is Logan’s woman involved in this, too?”
“Because you stepped in and talked some sense into Logan when they had their rough start,” Avery answered. “So, we both decided you deserve the same from us because there’s no way Logan or Knox are going to do it.”
Arguing with Avery wasn’t going to get me anywhere, so I decided to give in.
Alright, alright,” I muttered. “You can go. But we arrive separately.”
Avery grinned at me.
“Do you have a game plan?” she asked as I started to walk away.
I shook my head. “I was just going to wing it,” I told her.
“Wing it?” she repeated.
“Yeah.”
“Ryker,” she said. I could immediately tell I was in for a lashing just by the tone in that one word. A second later, Avery let me have it. “Ryker, you do not wing it when you’re about to confront the love of your life for the first time in years!”
I narrowed my eyes.
“I didn’t say she was the love of my life,” I retorted, mostly because I had no other rebuttal.
“You didn’t have to,” she replied. “Your bad attitude did.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, what do you want me to say? I have no idea how she’s going to react when she sees me. She might not want anything to do with me,” I reasoned. “It’s been so long. What we had just might be far beyond repair.”
“That’s not possible,” Avery argued.
“She didn’t call me like we decided she would,” I shared. “Maybe she just doesn’t feel the same anymore.”
“You know that’s not possible either, right?”
“What makes you say that?” I asked.
“Um, well, first of all, the dedications are all to you,” she started. “I don’t know what that means, but I’m guessing it’s significant. And there’s her new series that’s coming out soon, too.”
“New series?” I asked.
Avery turned her chair away from me and toward the computer. She typed on the keyboard, turned the monitor in my direction and pointed at the screen.
“Her new series is a three-book series called The Only You Series. The titles are: Not Over You, Still Need You, and Always Love You. Tell me that has nothing to do with… oh, I don’t know… you!”
Not over you.
Still need you.
Always love you.
I closed my eyes and sighed. I sure hoped it was about how she felt about me. At the same time, all I could think was that if those books had been written after she’d used our last conversation to write twenty-six other books, maybe this series was her way of saying how she felt now.
It made me slightly more hopeful than I’d been all weekend.
“What time are we arriving?” I asked Avery.
“The signing is supposed to end around two o’clock,” Avery noted. “I’d say we should arrive between one-fifteen and one-thirty just to be on the safe side.”
“That works for me,” I replied. The sooner I could get to Scarlet, the better I’d feel.
Avery grinned at me. “I’m so excited.”
“I’ve got to get to work now,” I declared, not wanting to get my hopes up more than they already were.
“Fine. But you need to figure out what you are going to say to her,” Avery advised.
I nodded and assured her, “I will.”
With that, I walked out into the shop and got to work.
“I’m going to see Scarlet on Saturday.”
At my declaration, I watched as both of my parents’ bodies went rigid. I didn’t know why, but I felt like I needed to talk to them before attempting to do what I was planning. I’d always been close with them, and they watched me struggle back when things ended with Scarlet.
In some ways, I think they felt responsible for what happened. In their eyes, if they’d had different jobs or been wealthier, they wouldn’t have had to witness the dark years that followed.
I never blamed my parents. They gave me a good life, and I was always thankful for the lessons they taught me. Money wasn’t everything. Because I could look at Scarlet and see how all the money in the world didn’t do anything for her.
Money left her lonely more often than not as a kid, and the older she got, it was used as a means to control her.