Chapter 11 Adair
ADAIR
“How’s your hand?” Gina asks as soon as we get on the phone.
“Almost a hundred percent better,” I tell her.
“Oh, good.” She sighs with relief. “I loved that idea you texted me about. I just wanted to wait until you were healed so you didn’t think I was pressuring you.”
Warmth fills my chest. Like Olivia, I’ve gotten closer with Gina since we started working together. I definitely consider her a friend rather than just a professional colleague.
“I think doing a time-lapse video of you drawing would be great. If you make it a regular series, you might get some new followers that way!” I can hear in her voice that she’s getting animated.
I’m glad this sort of thing is in Gina’s wheelhouse, because it kind of mystifies me.
She talks for a while about hashtags and algorithms, most of which goes over my head, before changing the subject.
We chat about the budding friendship she’s struck up with Sarah; apparently, they discovered a mutual affinity for true-crime podcasts about serial killers over iced lattes.
Imagining Jack’s response when I tell him that makes me grin.
I think Gina’s about to wrap up when she says, “Hey, while I’ve got you on the phone, Olivia’s going to a big romance book convention this winter.
She and I have been talking about it since the bookstore signing.
Based on the response you got there, we were both thinking it would be cool if you’re able to come to this one, too. ”
I’m flattered. Excitement flutters in my belly. I’d been nervous ahead of the bookstore event, but I actually had a great time meeting readers. “Really?”
“Yeah! Even though it’s months away, I’m bringing it up now because it’s a much bigger event. It would get your work in front of tons more eyeballs,” she enthuses. “You’d get the chance to meet and network with lots of other authors, too, so that would be good for your career.”
I feel my eyes getting bigger. This sounds like something I’d be a seriously dumb bunny to pass up. My illustrations have sold well enough — better than I expected at first — but I know I have a lot of hustling ahead of me if I want to do this full-time after I earn my degree.
“It could be a really good opportunity for you,” Gina says. “So even though you’d have to pay for your flight and hotel —”
“Wait, what?” I interrupt her. “Did you say flight? Where is this convention?”
“Las Vegas,” she says, and all those flutters in my belly turn into rocks.
“Oh. Um…” I’m a little embarrassed, but I blurt it out anyway. “I’ve only flown once. Well, twice, you know — one round trip. I hated it.”
If anything, that’s an understatement. Nothing’s ever going to convince me that human beings belong in the sky like birds. No way, no how.
“Ah, gotcha,” Gina says slowly. “I guess you could drive, but that would take a lot longer. Would Jack be able to take the time off from his job?”
“Jack?” I laugh.
“Well, yeah. He’d come with you, right?”
I sigh heavily. “You saw how he couldn’t wait to be out of the bookstore that night.”
“I just figured it was a new environment for him. Besides, like you said, he’s shy.”
I’m glad she can’t see me cringe. “Yeah, I don’t know about asking Jack. It’s not exactly his thing, you know?”
Gina starts to answer, but a call coming through from Olivia interrupts her. She makes me promise that I’ll think about it. After the call ends, though, I stare down at my phone, my mind somehow blank and whirling in a million different directions at once.
What am I supposed to think about, actually?
There isn’t a lot of ambiguity here. Flying freaks me the fuck out.
Maybe I could white-knuckle my way through if I had Jack’s burly arm to keep a death grip on the entire time.
But the only thought more ridiculous than me cheerfully boarding a plane is the thought of Jack cheerfully boarding a plane… to go do something he’d fucking hate.
I tell myself I’ll think about it later, hoping that if I put it out of my mind, I’ll manage to just forget instead.