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He turned and Archer followed his gaze as well.
Brielle stood behind Pembroke, her plastic bag hanging limply from one hand.
Chapter Eleven
As if findingPembroke and having to deal with her acting like Brielle had stabbed her in the back somehow wasn’t crazy enough, then there was the matter of the older woman she sat next to who asked her if she worked for the store. When Brielle said no, she asked her if she wasreallya fan of her son’s work because she looked almost as out of place as she did—Brielle hadn’t known what to do other than to say “yes,” silently thank god that the presentation started quickly so the woman stopped talking, and then jump up almost the moment it was over to hide in the corner of the store to avoid any more questions. She just wasn’t ready to speak at length toArcher’s mother.
She’d spent a while staring at Archer from afar, watching him interact with his fans and light up with such a smile, she almost forgot she’d ever seen him as anything but cheerful and charming. She felt like an idiot just slack-jaw staring, though, so she quickly ran to buy a copy of every one of Archer’s books for sale there (the line was much better after the presentation than before) and took her spot back in the corner, burying her nose in the book that most caught her eye—the one about the guy in the wheelchair. She noticed as soon as she opened it that Archer had written, not just drawn, that one, so it made her even more eager to devour it. She kept looking up to see Archer sketching, smiling at fans, and laughing. She knew she didn’t imagine the women and maybe even a few men flirting with him. She couldn’t blame them. She wondered if half of them were only here because he was hot, not just a good artist.
But soon, she was actually genuinely engrossed in the book. She kept turning the pages, reading about Todd and his squirrel and knowing how odd that sounded in her head, but it was really a gripping tale. When she finished, she looked on the side of the book for a volume number and was disappointed that there wasn’t one, so the chances of a sequel seemed slim. She put the book down and pulled out her phone to Google more information, but she saw a text from Gavin.
His date had gone poorly… To say the least.
Brielle wondered if hearing about Pembroke would cheer him up.
She texted him back.So sorry. I need to hear more details. Bad timing, I know, but I’m out and I ran into Pembroke. She’s acting weird.
Brielle could see Gavin start typing almost immediately.How so?Brielle felt bad that they weren’t talking about his problem, but she supposed Lilac would be there for him later. She wasn’t responding to the group conversation right now.
She ran from me, Brielle typed, her frustration causing her to type a little harder than usual.Literally tried to escape from me after we made eye contact and I called her name. Then she wouldn’t talk to me. She said she’d gotten my messages but thought I wouldn’t want to talk to her anymore.
Brielle was getting more annoyed the more she thought about it. A girl bumped into her without even saying sorry and she decided to head to a less congested part of the store to finish her conversation. She spared one last glance at Archer—he still had a bit of a line left, including, she noticed, Pembroke herself—and retreated toward a hallway leading to the bathroom.
Gavin sent a frowny emoji.She’s hiding something.
What?Brielle typed.I don’t get why she’d even think I’d be mad at her. For not answering my messages? I didn’t think I was being ignored. I assumed she was busy. Although now I KNOW I was being ignored.
Where are you? How’d you run into her?
Brielle entered a wink emoji.Sort of on a date? With Archer. He invited me to a comic book signing he’s doing in town. Pembroke’s apparently a fan.
OMG!! How could you not tell me you were on a date?
I may have been exaggerating. It’s not an official date. We’ve never been alone once the whole evening. His nurse even drove us and… I sat next to his mom.
Awkward.Gavin paused.What’d she have to say?
We didn’t talk much. She doesn’t even know who I am or that I know her son personally. I just wasn’t ready for that conversation.
Go introduce yourself. It’s going to be more awkward later once he introduces you and she realizes you sat next to her without saying anything.
Brielle typed a line—You’re assuming there will be a time when he introduces me…—and then erased it. A big part of her was hoping, maybe even assuming, there’d be a time like that anyway.
I’m going to wait, she typed instead.I know the types of questions she’d ask and I can’t deal with any more moms judging my career prospects or lack thereof.
That bad with your mom, huh?
You don’t know the half of it, she typed. But she knew that made it all sound so much more dire than it was.Anyway, I should try to catch Pembroke before she leaves. Any advice?
Gavin typed for a bit and then paused.Just tell her I miss her and if she gives you more attitude, I’m going to drive back up there and shake some sense into her.
That eager to escape Chicago already?
You don’t know the half of it.
She and Gavin probably were overdue for a heart-to-heart. But there was so much going on. She typed her farewells and decided to make her way back to the line to see if she could catch Pembroke before she left. She took only a few steps toward Archer’s table, though, before she saw… Daniel.
Daniel. In a comic book store. He’d never had the slightest interest, had made fun of Brielle for even halfway entertaining Pembroke’s excited ramblings about the latest release of this or that issue.
