Epilogue
Kate dared a peek out from the makeshift curtain the bookstore had put up over the storage room they’d converted to a green room. The shop was small, but it was absolutely packed, with a line of people waiting outside and still twenty minutes before the launch started. Kate dropped the curtain back in place, doing a nervous little dance.
“You’re fretting,” Jake said, lounging in an old tweed chair tucked in one corner beside a stack of boxes filled with copies of her book. Copies she hoped to sell out of by the end of the day. He flipped through one he’d pulled from the top box, even though he’d read the manuscript at least half a dozen times to give Kate notes on her scene with the cougar attack.
“Of course I’m fretting, there’re, like, a hundred people out there,” Kate said, pacing back and forth. “What if they hate it? What if they’re mad at me for ending the series? What if they blame you because we’re finishing the third Wandering Australian book instead? What if they don’t like where I’ve left Loretta? What if they never buy another book from me again? What if I’m run out of town on a rail?”
“I’ve never understood that phrase,” Jake said, setting the book down and crossing the tiny room to take her by the arms and still her pacing.
“It comes from colonial times,” Kate said, still jittery. “If someone was suspected of being a British loyalist, they were tarred and feathered and tied to a wooden fence rail and carried out of town.”
“Sounds very unpleasant,” Jake said with a half smile.
“I imagine it was uncomfortable, yes,” Kate said.
“Kate,” Jake murmured, lowering his head.
“Yes?”
“If you wanted me to tie you to something, all you had to do was ask.”
He captured her gasp with a kiss so slow, thorough, and consuming that by the time he let her catch her breath she’d entirely forgotten what they’d been talking about. Or what she was worried about. Or, possibly, what they were even doing there.
“Mmm, more,” she said, pushing up on her toes and dragging him down.
The curtain took that unfortunate moment to twitch open, admitting Spencer, Kennedy, and Juliette. Jake pulled back, his gaze promising all that and more later, before smiling pleasantly at the newest arrivals.
“You smudged her lipstick,” Juliette said, clearly annoyed as she pulled a tube and a tissue from her pocket. “You couldn’t have waited until after we took the publicity photos?”
“Good afternoon to you, Juliette,” Jake said. He turned his attention to Spencer and Kennedy. “And how was Bali?”
“Amazing,” Kennedy said, swooning into Spencer. “Your recommendations were spot on. We couldn’t have had a better time. Except poor Spencer stepped on a stingray the second day we were there and spent the rest of the trip in a cast.”
Jake grimaced. “Bad luck, mate. Those things pack a punch.”
“Yes, they do,” Spencer said, noticeably limping. “But it gave me plenty of time to read your latest proposal and sample pages, Kate, and I think you’ve really got something.”
“Really?” Kate asked, feeling her face go warm. She had three—and, hopefully, four—bestsellers under her belt, but somehow that didn’t stop her nerves from jangling at the idea of sharing something new with someone else. Jake had already read her latest manuscript half a dozen times and told her how much he loved it, but Spencer was a much more difficult judge of her work. “Do you think Loretta fans will go for such a…”
“A bumbling idiot?” Spencer asked in that no-nonsense tone that she knew wasn’t meant to be insulting, but she still took as an insult.
“I was going to say a work in progress,” Kate replied flatly. The idea had come to her on the yacht ride back from Hempstead Island after her own less-than-Loretta attempts at solving a murder. A sleuth who was a true everywoman, who got by not on badass one-liners and hard-soled boots, but on persistence and sheer dumb luck. A heroine Kate could truly relate to.
“I think she’s brilliant,” Jake said, putting his arm around her shoulders and giving a squeeze. “She just needs a book or two to see it for herself.”
“I loved it,” Kennedy gushed. “I can’t wait for it to be our flagship title next season.”
“Will there be a next season?” Kate murmured to Juliette. The rumors of financial struggles and layoffs hadn’t died down since the wedding.
“Of course there will,” Juliette said, finishing her final touches on Kate’s lipstick. The glint in her eye was unmistakable as she lowered her voice so only Kate could hear. “It’s a new era, and I’ll be the one to usher it in.”
“I pity anyone who tries to stand in your way,” Kate said.
There was a knock on the wood and the curtain lifted briefly, admitting a taller, leaner version of Jake with darker hair that still curled despite the product he’d clearly applied liberally.
“Charlie the doctor!” Kate exclaimed, smudging Juliette’s efforts to fix her makeup.
“Kate the author,” Dr. Charlie Hawkins said. He wore a pair of black- rimmed glasses that lent him an air of gravitas, making it clear he was the elder brother.
“You made it, mate,” Jake said, slapping him on the back.
“You said it was an emergency,” Charlie said, frowning. He held up a prescription bag. “I have the Xanax, but she looks fine to me.”
“That’s because I applied my own special brand of medicine,” Jake said with a wink.
“Did you say Xanax?” Juliette asked, striding over. She snatched the bag, tearing it open and pulling the bottle out. “Perfect.”
“I wouldn’t recommend she take one if she’s got a public presentation to make,” Charlie said, holding out a hand to stop her.
But she twisted out of his reach, popping open the bottle. “Please, it’s not for her.” She dumped a pill out and knocked it back, no water, making direct eye contact with Charlie as she swallowed. “So, you’re Charlie the doctor, huh? Interesting.”
“You are… not who those were prescribed for,” he said.
“Report me to the board,” she replied, dropping the bottle in the bag and shoving it back in his hand. “If you two didn’t look exactly alike, I wouldn’t believe you were brothers.”
Jake and Charlie sighed in unison. “We get that a lot.”
Kate looked between Juliette and Charlie, a small smile growing as she glanced at Jake. “Charlie, you should join us for drinks after the book launch. Everyone’s going.”
“Who is everyone?” Charlie asked, watching Juliette in bemusement as she stalked back over to Kate to finish her ministrations.
Jake dropped an arm over his brother’s shoulder. “You’re in for it now, brother.”
“In for what?” Charlie asked, utterly confused. “What’s happening?”
Jake shook his head, smiling at Kate as she cut her eyes to the side and smiled back. “Just embrace the chaos, brother. Embrace the chaos.”