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He grunted. “All right, then…”
When he turned to leave, it was me grabbing his arm this time to stop him. “I’d love for you to sign them.”
“No.”
“And feature you as a local author.”
“No.”
“And for you to do a reading.”
“Not going to happen.”
“Oh, it will. I’m pretty damn persistent.”
He cocked a dark eyebrow at me. “And I’m pretty damn resistant.”
“For some reason, I find that hard to believe,” I said dryly. “When you’re ready, you’ll do a reading and everyone around here will be thrilled when you do.” I said that with a lot more confidence than I actually had.
“You don’t give up, do you?”
“I just said I’m persistent. Did you miss that part?”
Chase grunted again but he didn’t move to leave. He continued to stand there. But once again he was spinning his wedding ring. He probably did it out of habit without realizing it.
I glanced at the clock. My internal battery was drained and I considered cleaning up in the morning, but I knew, once I came downstairs tomorrow, I’d regret not cleaning up tonight.
“Okay, well…” I began in an effort for him to get a clue about leaving.
“What were you reading?”
Whoa. Was he actually trying to start some real dialogue? If so, that might be worth losing out on some sleep and Timber missing out on his walk. I could put my dog out back in the small area behind the store I had fenced for him.
“You only heard the last couple of sentences, but I was reading from the book I’m currently writing.”
His eyebrows stitched together and the corners of his mouth tipped downward. “You never said you were an aspiring author. The flyer said tonight’s reading would be from Everett J. Williams’ latest book.”
I pinned my lips together to keep from laughing at the way he begrudgingly said that. When I had control of myself, I answered, “It’s not like you gave me a chance. And, honestly… the way you act around me, I didn’t think you’d care. But I’m not an aspiring author, I’m actually published.”
CHAPTER 6
Chase
“I’m not an aspiring author, I’m actually published.”
In the two times I had been in the store previously, and also when he came up to my cabin, he never once mentioned he was also published.
“I’m an author, too,” were four words he could’ve said at any time. He didn’t. But he could be right… If he would’ve told me, would I have even cared?
I’d been living up on the mountain for a month now and was starting to feel things I hadn’t in a long time. That meant I was no longer as numb as I had been.
It could be from the fresh air and exercise I was getting. I figured if I got back to taking care of my body, my mind might benefit, too.
And that was one reason I came into town tonight. I had a twinge of guilt over my selfishness of buying up all of my own books so no one else could read them. Mostly for fear of my identity being revealed.
Another reason for stopping in at the bookstore was to see if Everett J. Williams was the one actually doing a reading from his book. I wanted to meet him and tell him how much his books were helping to pull me out of a very long funk.
I’d been disappointed to find it wasn’t the author himself. I should’ve known that someone else would be doing the actual reading instead.
However, Rett’s statement got my attention. “What do you write?”
“Mysteries.”
I frowned. I read mysteries. “Which ones are yours?”
He pointed to the stack of books on the counter next to the box of my own books I returned. “The ones that are signed.”
I forced my expression to remain neutral since that wasn’t the answer I’d been expecting. “You’re Everett J. Williams?” Apparently I hadn’t been paying attention and, instead, had been caught up in my own problems too much to notice the obvious signs.
He shrugged. “In the flesh.” He gave me a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Obviously, he didn’t like me and I totally understood why.
I reminded myself that I wasn’t in Eagle’s Landing to make friends, so it shouldn’t matter if Rett liked me or not. I was no longer ten years old and needed validation from others. I was an adult wanting people to respect my privacy. It was that simple.
In turn, I’d respect the privacy of others.
However, in addition to being a jerk to him, I was also a complete idiot and my view of the world around me had been so narrow that I completely missed the fact that the name Rett could be a shortened version of Everett. My excuses could be that I hadn’t known Rett’s last name and his photo wasn’t on the back of the paperbacks, or that I hadn’t done any research on the author of the series I was currently reading and enjoying.
