"Hello, ladies!" Jordan said cheerfully as the group approached the table.
"Hi," one said curtly, which seemed a little odd for someone who was a fan.
"Excuse me, are you Charlotte Stone?"
She looked up to see four women standing next to their table with copies of Charlotte's bookHarper's Fairin their hands, and a slow smile began to creep across her face. They weren't Jordan's fans. They were hers.
"Yeah, that's me."
The women started giggling with excitement. "We love your writing!" one of them said. "We decided to have our book club here tonight so we could have a fancy dinner in the city like Harper."
"Do you think you can sign our books?" another asked as they all flashed their copies.
This would happen to her on occasion in New York, which is why she always carried a pen with her. But it was the first time anyone in Detroit had asked her to sign anything and she was totally not prepared.
"Do you need a pen, Charlotte?"
She turned to see Jordan with a big smile on his face, sticking his hand into his back pocket and pulling out a fancy black-enameled Mont Blanc pen.
"Thanks." She grabbed it, a flash of electricity shooting up her arm as her fingers grazed his. "Where would you like me to sign, ladies?"
They all opened their books up, each asking for it to be addressed to them. One even gushed, "I can't wait for the sequel!"
"Don't worry, it's coming," Charlotte replied cheerfully, knowing exactly how to play her crowd.
The women continued to talk with excitement and tell Charlotte their favorite part of the book or the cocktails they ordered that night based on what they thought Harper would like.
"Um, I know we've taken up a lot of your time already, but could we get a picture with you too?" one of the women asked.
"You can't say 'no' to that," Jordan said as he stood up and walked over to the women. "Which one of you has a camera I can use?"
"Oh, here's my phone," one of them said, handing it to him.
They all crowded around Charlotte, one even taking the seat Jordan had vacated. "Smile, lovely ladies!" he instructed as he took the photo. The group did as he told them before handing the phone back to the woman in charge. "I hope it turned out OK."
"Oh, it totally did!" she said. "Thank you so much."
The women repeated a few more thank yous and finally turned to walk away.
"Who was that guy with her?" she could hear one mutter when they thought they were out of earshot.
"Jordan King. He's my daughter's favorite player on the Pirates. She thinks he's hot."
"She's totally right."
Charlotte picked up her fork and turned to find Jordan had taken his place next to her again, a goofy smile on his face as he grabbed his napkin from the table.
"Sorry about that," she said quietly. "And thank you for being so nice to them."
"No problem at all," he said with a bit of pride in his voice. She couldn't tell if he was proud of the compliment or proud of her. "And never be sorry for that. I thought it was pretty cool to see you with them."
"Really?"
"Charlie, I'm a hockey player in Detroit. I get recognized all the time," he explained. "I find how a person treats their fans says a lot about who they really are."
"So what did that say about me?" she asked as she took a bite of vanilla ice cream.
"You're happy when you're around people who are genuine, and you're happy to share your talent with people." He reached out and grabbed her hand, his thumb grazing her skin as he drew small circles on the top of her hand. He looked intently at her, practically drowning her in the blue of his eyes. "I know you can tell when people aren't being genuine with you. So let me tell you that I've honestly had a wonderful time so far tonight."
