Chapter 29
Oil-painted portraits of ancestors, green velvet walls, and a flat green velvet pillow on each of the folding chairs; Mile High Books must have been designed to look like an opulent hunting lodge library.
Now, at the podium, again, in front of a sold-out audience, again, Tessa would again play her part, and try to lose herself in her starring role as Successful Best-selling Author.
If she failed, her entire family’s livelihood was at stake.
Nothing like mortgage payments and healthcare premiums to distract you from mysterious earrings. Disappearing lockets. And persistent fans. No . Fans were good. End of story.
Was everyone here an authentically friendly face? She scanned the crowd, all women, searching for… for what?
You’ll know, Annabelle said.
Bookstore manager Kenley Hayes—white turtleneck and jeans, tooled leather boots—recited DJ’s carefully worded introduction. Tessa, settling herself and focusing on joy, had no bandwidth now for worry. Toxic earrings be damned.
“Thank you, Kenley. So wonderful to be in Denver,” she began, as she stepped to the mic. “But what’s the deal with that devil horse at the airport?”
Affectionate laughter rippled through the room, and Tessa felt, for now at least, she was back among her sisterhood.
“So let’s start tonight with a photo, okay?” Tessa went on, holding up her cell. “You know I always take a class photo. So I can remember each and every one of you.”
Before she could snap the photo, a hand shot up. Tessa pointed to a woman in the back, black jacket, long braided hair.
“Yes?” Seemed like the woman was so eager to ask her question that she wasn’t willing to wait until after the photograph. Okay , Tessa thought. Go with the flow . “You have a question?”
“Have you heard anything about Locket Mom?”
“Yeah,” another woman chimed in. “Someone must be missing that necklace.”
“It’s been like three days,” a person in the front row added. “You’d think someone would know her.”
Tessa watched a few women pull out their cell phones, apparently checking Tessa’s socials. Locket Mom , Tessa thought. She’d created a monster. Or someone had.
“Well, no, not yet. And I’m surprised by that, aren’t you? I’m still hoping I can return the necklace. But I’ll keep trying, and hope you will, too. So let me tell you about myself, and Annabelle, and the book, and then we’ll take more questions? What do you think?”
She regretted, yet again, having taken the locket from the drawer. Why had she ever decided she could fix the universe?
Got that right, Annabelle said. Not even you.
Another woman had raised her hand.
Tessa pointed again. The woman stood, wavy auburn hair, green T-shirt, clutching her book. She looked hesitant, maybe shy.
“But do you still have it? The locket?”
Tessa blinked at her, trying to separate her raging imagination from reality. This was a perfectly logical question.
“It’s in safe hands,” Tessa said. A woman in the back of the room stood, holding up her hand. So many people were in front of her, Tessa could only see black-framed glasses and a cascade of blond hair.
“Could I ask—did you make a deal with the devil, like Annabelle did? Not the real devil, I know, it’s like a metaphor. But did you?”
What was the deal with these questions? For the past three weeks, she’d first given a speech and then done the Q and A, and everyone who attended these events knew that’s how it worked. But it felt like a dark cloud had begun to lower, making Tessa suspicious of the motives behind every question.
Question-adjacent, she reminded herself.
And stick to the truth when you can. “So funny, people often ask me that, and really, it’s all in how you look at it.
Is Annabelle’s boss ‘the devil’? Or is it her secret fear about owning her right to succeed that makes her call it a Faustian bargain?
That’s one of the main themes of the book. ”
“Yes, sure. But I’m asking about you.” The woman stayed standing. “Did you ?”
Some people turned to look at the questioner, others waited for Tessa’s reply. Okay, then. One more try. “We all make trade-offs, don’t we? Every day? I adore being here with you, even as I know my husband is probably giving the kids pizza again and I’m missing peony season at home.”
The woman narrowed her eyes at her, as if deciding whether to pursue it. Luckily—Tessa hoped—another hand went up. A ponytailed woman in a Broncos sweatshirt. This time she looked at Kenley for guidance, or assistance to get the event back on track, but the bookstore owner just shrugged.
Whatever. She was here for her darling audience, and that dark cloud was of her own creation. Probably.
“Yes? From your sweatshirt, I’m thinking you’re a Broncos fan. Is this about our New England teams?”
The audience laughed with her, but the woman’s expression stayed serious.
“My friend heard you in Phoenix,” she replied. “And she said you didn’t answer her questions about where you grew up. Why not?”
My friend in Phoenix . And Heather at ReadRunner had told her that pushy customer had mentioned “friends in Denver.” And now, here she was. And here was the hometown question again.
I don’t like this, Annabelle said. Move it along.
“I’d love to tell you about that. And say hi to your friend in Phoenix, by the way. I grew up in a nobody-ever-heard-of-it town, and yes, for my family’s privacy’s sake, I don’t like to say where. You understand, I’m sure.”
Tessa went on, then, ignoring their raised hands, telling her book tour stories about the red chair in the library, and Nancy Drew, and Mary Higgins Clark, then her viral video; and as she got back into familiar speech territory, watching the women, so attentive, so affectionate, and so dear, all the hands lowered and the event clicked back into a familiar place, with Tessa in control again.
“Are any of you moms with dreams?” She began the final portion of her speech.
“Whether you follow us on social media with the hashtag, or whether your dreams are your private dreams, kept safely in your own heart, I want you to know that that’s why I wrote this book—to assure you that your dreams are valid, and real, and, no matter when you decide to pursue them, they can come true.
Thank you, so much, for being here with me tonight. ”
The audience stood as one, applauding her, and Tessa almost forgot the stress of the day, her fears washed away. She was the luckiest person in the world, and Sadie and DJ had warned her that life wasn’t always easy and wonderful.
As if she had to be reminded of that.
“We love you so much, Tessa.” Kenley had joined her at the podium. “And Annabelle, too. One last question.”
Tessa’s heart sank as a flurry of hands went up.
“Nope, one question only,” Kenley said. “Don’t you want Tessa to sign your books?” She selected a woman in the back. “Yes, how about you? I was going to say, the one wearing periwinkle earrings. But that doesn’t narrow it down much, does it?”
The woman stood.
“About the earrings,” the woman said. “Do fans sometimes send them to you?”
Tessa stared at her. It sounded like an innocent question. But maybe it wasn’t.