“Is it a Pomeranian?” Penny asked with a wink, and Kate laughed. The five of them chatted books for a while longer, and Kate left the conversation with a pile of business cards and an invitation to submit.
“Gosh, thank you so much, Penny. I can’t believe they all asked to see the book.” Kate tucked the business cards into her pocket. A warm glow of confidence filled her chest.
Just as Penny was turning to go, Loretta came rushing in, dressed in white head to toe and with her hair up in a neat chignon. “I’m so sorry I’m late!” She bussed Penny’s cheek and then Kate’s. “So glad to see you two met! Penny is a darling. Am I right or am I right?”
“You’re too kind, Loretta,” Penny said. “Glad you could make it. Jeremy was asking about you.”
Loretta rolled her eyes. “Is he talking about that dog he had to add to his book again?”
Penny nodded. “Apparently, he wants to have PETA intervene.”
Everyone laughed at that, but once again, Kate had that feeling of being on the periphery. It was as if all the people in the room knew some special language or had a secret code, maybe because they were both in a club she wanted to join—published as herself, not as a race car driver or actress or heiress. Or her ex-boyfriend.
Penny and Loretta began talking about their author blogs, trading tips on increasing followers, and Kate almost added to the conversation. Loretta turned to her. “Do you have a blog, Kate? Instagram? Snapchat? You simply must if you’re going to be an author today.”
“Well, I have a blog…sort of. But it’s not really under my name.”
Loretta let out a long-suffering sigh. “I don’t know how you do all this ghost stuff. I would positively die if it was me.”
“Well, Kate’s going to be working on her own novel,” Penny said with a bright smile, “so pretty soon, we’ll be reading her words of wisdom, I’m sure.”
“That will be nice…when it happens,” Loretta said.
With an early morning meeting with Trent on her schedule, Kate had a valid excuse to leave before Loretta’s well-meaning barbs pierced the happy balloon from the conversation with Penny. She said goodbye and shrugged into the fleece jacket.
“Oh, Kate, that’s a darling jacket you’re wearing,” Loretta said. “Although it doesn’t do a thing for your pretty dress.”
The backward compliment made Kate bite her tongue. “Thanks.”
“Who’s is it? It looks too big to be yours.” Loretta leaned in close and studied the embroidered logo. “GOA. What is that?”
“It’s an apparel company.” With Loretta this close, and Penny’s expectant gaze, all waiting for an answer, Kate snapped out the first thing that came to mind. “It’s my boyfriend’s jacket.”
“Well, would you look at that.” Loretta flashed a grin at Penny. “Our Kate has a beau.”
Kate kept yet another eye roll to herself and waved at both women as she headed out of the restaurant. What on earth had made her say she had a boyfriend?
Saturday morning.
If there was anything that said Trent was working too much, it was the fact that he was sitting in his office on yet another Saturday morning, along with a rather grumpy Sarah, who also had to come in that day to work on a couple of projects.
“I could have been bingeing something on Netflix, feet up, husband at my beck and call because I’m carrying a human in my stomach,” she grumbled as he passed by her office.
“Will this ease the pain of working on the weekend?” Trent held out a box of breakfast pastries from a local bakery. “I have these and a full pot of fresh decaf coffee in the break room.”
Sarah’s gaze narrowed. “Did you order more flavored creamer?”
“For my favorite PR person who is working on Saturday to help pull off a perfect book launch party? Of course I did.” Trent hadn’t thought of it on his own—Jeremy had texted him this morning and warned there’d better be cinnamon-roll flavored creamer in the break room and a box of treats for Sarah, or the Saturday workday would be more like a concert for grumps.
For some reason, Trent couldn’t seem to remember anything he had to do. He’d been distracted over the last week, increasingly so, which made no sense. Even when he’d been standing in the line at the bakery this morning, he’d debated and second-guessed his order at least a half dozen times. He’d always prided himself on being able to run in multiple directions at once, multitask while he did it, and still meet every deadline. The only thing that had been added to his schedule was the book, and the book…
Came with Kate Winslow.
He’d done his best to avoid in-person meetings with her ever since the bowling night. He’d done phone calls, emails, texts. If anything, the distance had made him think about her more, not less.
When she’d emailed him at one in the morning, he’d found himself wondering if she was up late working or lying in bed, thinking of him. When he’d seen a voicemail from her on his phone after lunch, his pulse had done a little hop. When he’d sent her a text, he’d spent an inordinate amount of time waiting for the three flashing dots that meant her reply was on the way.
“Only because you brought me those little muffins I love so much,” Sarah said, “will I tell you about this great opportunity for you for tomorrow.”
He groaned. “Not working again. I need to see the sun once in a while.” When he’d started GOA, he’d vowed to give the employees plenty of time off to pursue their outdoor passions, to never keep anyone here from sunup to sundown, and to always build in some fun. His parents had worked themselves to death for that nursery, never taking vacations, rarely having a free weekend. Trent had told himself his company would be different—and it was, for everyone but himself.
“What would you say to a little photo op…” she held up a hand at his quick rejection of the idea, “…while you’re hiking the Moulton Falls trail tomorrow?”
That cut off Trent’s refusal. A hike? When was the last time he’d had time for that? And to combine it with work…the thought almost brought him to tears. That alone said he needed to get out more. “Why is this a photo op?”
“You know my friend Carissa?” Sarah waved off Trent’s headshake. “Doesn’t matter. She’s a photographer who specializes in outdoor action shots. She’s going to be there tomorrow, doing some engagement photos. The weather this week has been so great, and there’s only a dusting of snow on the lower part of Bells Mountain, so it should be postcard-perfect. I asked her if she could take a few of you for the website, the book, the social media, and she said she’d love to. She’s a huge fan of GOA.”