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“Oh sure. Of course.” She ducked her head and focused on sweeping the flour out of the pantry. It was such an odd feeling to have so many people here know who she was and to ask her to sign their books. “I’d be glad to.”
“I figured you would.”
“Why didn’t she ask me herself?”
He shrugged. “I think she was a little intimidated. You being so famous and all.”
She shook her head. “Oh, stop it. You know I’m not famous.”
“I don’t know that all. Faye makes you sound like a celebrity, and I’ve seen your books on the shelf at the grocery store. That seems pretty famous to me.”
“I’m just a regular person trying to get through the day, same as anyone else.” Except half the time she was terrified someone would find out she didn’t really know what the heck she was doing. Although, if she were honest, that’s kind of what led her to this ranch in Montana.
The thing she most feared, that readers would know she didn’t know what she was talking about, had happened. And the world hadn’t stopped spinning. Her career hadn’t been ruined.
Her editor had just sent her out to get more experience.
Maybe she didn’t have to be quite so scared, after all.
Kaylee noticed a light coming from the living room when she got up to go to bathroom later that night. It was close to midnight, and Luke had said he was going to bed hours ago.
It had taken them close to an hour to clean up the mess from the raccoon then Luke had gone out to do his chores and she’d retreated to her room. Sitting on her bed, she’d chuckled to herself as she tapped at her keyboard, hammering out a new scene for her book where Sassy and Duke faced off against a raccoon.
She padded quietly down the hall. Luke was there, sitting in the recliner, Cooper snuggled against his leg. The golden retriever looked up, but Luke’s attention was fixed on the book he was reading.Herbook.
She couldn’t believe it. Luke was sitting out here in the middle of the night readingherbook.
She let out a tiny gasp, but it was loud enough for him to hear, and he peered at her over the top of the paperback. “You okay?”
She nodded, searching for her voice. “Are you?”
He let out a sigh. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“So you got up and decided to read my book?”
“Well, I got up to get something to eat, but I saw your books sitting there and thought I’d give one a try.” He leaned forward and stretched out his arms. “It’s pretty good.”
“Oh gosh.” She didn’t know what else to say.
“I mean it.” He held the book sideways, and she could see he was already half-way through. “I was just gonna read a couple of pages, but I couldn’t put it down. You’re a great writer, Kaylee.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. “That means a lot.” His words touched something in her.
“I can see what Faye is talking about, though. There were a couple of places I noticed that made me think you hadn’t actually been around many horses or cows before.”
She lifted one shoulder. “Apparently there are some things you can’t just Google.”
“Apparently there are some you can. You get plenty of things right.”
“Now that I’ve been around some horses, I feel like I’m totally blowing it with the way I portray them. I’m really excited about going to the rodeo tomorrow night and getting to see some actual barrel racing in action. I may even take a few of my own videos instead of always trying to search for them on YouTube.”
“That will be good. But we really need to get you upona horse so you get the authentic experience of riding one.”
She swallowed, her palms already going clammy at the thought. “I don’t know.”
“I do.” He gave her a curt nod. “It’s happening. Tomorrow. Be prepared.”
She wrung her hands in front of her. “Now, I’ll never be able to sleep tonight for worrying about it.”
