Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
AUDREY
Audrey’s return to work was smooth by contrast. There were no social media emergencies in her absence, and the pre-scheduled posts she had all did great. She knew the brand’s audience well and it seemed that all her hard work had paid off.
Her next few tasks were to work on influencer campaigns for their new product line of glitter eyeshadow sticks, and it was a little surreal to be negotiating contracts worth almost double her salary for a single video.
Despite that, she knew she could not be doing anything other than what she was doing now.
She much preferred being behind the camera than in front of it.
Near the end of her workday, she received an SOS text message from Brianna. She hated that Brianna seemed clearly distressed, but Audrey was pleased to see she was one of the people the librarian turned to for help. Audrey hoped she was the only one.
Her thought was interrupted by Brianna’s name flashing across her screen.
“Wow, you must be really panicked to be calling me. We usually only text,” Audrey said, skipping the usual pleasantries.
Brianna gave a nervous giggle. “I guess it’s that obvious. I’m really spiralling over here.”
“Okay, give me a half an hour, and I’ll be at your place with dinner.”
There was a long pause on the other end, and Audrey had worried she overstepped until Brianna said, “Really?”
Audrey’s heart hurt on behalf of the woman she liked. She wasn’t entirely sure what Brianna had been through in the past, but it was clear she’d rarely had someone really take care of her. Audrey wanted to be that person for her, if she would let her.
“Yes, really. Pizza?”
“Please,” Brianna said, and it was decided.
“Okay, see you in a bit, gorgeous.”
Audrey was about to hang up when Brianna came on the line again. “Can you bring your laptop?”
“Whatever you want.” She didn’t hesitate to agree.
At the pizza place, it occurred to Audrey she didn’t even ask what kind of toppings Brianna liked on her pizza. She decided to get a half-cheese, half-pepperoni pizza just in case, plus a few different dipping sauces.
It was likely excessive, but when it came to Brianna, it seemed right.
Audrey buzzed up to the apartment and knocked on the door.
The door swung open, and Audrey was staring at Brianna for the first time in days.
She wanted to kiss her immediately, but her instinct was tampered by the panicked look on Brianna’s face.
It was not something she enjoyed seeing, and she wanted to smooth out the wrinkle on the librarian’s forehead.
“Hey, beautiful,” Audrey said and stepped inside. She handed the pizza box to Brianna, who walked it over to the kitchen while Audrey removed her shoes and winter jacket. She grabbed her tote bag from the floor and brought it over to Brianna.
“Here’s the laptop you asked for.”
“Thank you so much.” Brianna grabbed the bag and dug out the laptop. “I really needed this. I need to do some research, and, of course, I seem to have lost my laptop charger in the move.”
“You’ve gone a month without using your laptop?” Audrey asked as she followed Brianna to the couch.
Brianna sat down and opened the laptop but turned it back to Audrey when the password-protected screen came up. Audrey quickly typed in her password and handed the device back to the librarian.
Brianna avoided the question, looking something up on the computer.
Audrey didn’t want to pry too much or press her to answer, because she could tell that whatever had Brianna so distracted was clearly important.
Instead, Audrey stood and went back to her tote bag abandoned in the kitchen to grab her current read.
She had read a chapter or two when Brianna exhaled next to her, seemingly done, or at least more calm about whatever it was she was working on.
Audrey felt a tap on her arm, and she turned to find Brianna pressed closer to her.
“What are you reading?” she asked.
It was an adorable question, because Brianna could clearly see what she was reading, but Audrey couldn’t resist indulging her.
“A romance book a hot librarian recommended to me.”
Brianna rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “You need to stop doing that,” she said.
“Doing what?”
“You keep calling me gorgeous, beautiful, hot… You don’t need to keep doing it.”
Audrey closed her book, her bookmark inside, and put it on the floor near the couch. “And why not? I just like to call it how it is.”
Brianna shook her head. “Let’s table this conversation for later. I want to tell you about what I was working on.”
“Sure. What did you need my laptop for, you laptop-less heathen?”
“Mike, my manager, told me I need to think of something new for the library. Not even just for the library, but for the town. To help make Beaver Creek a destination. How am I supposed to do that?”
For a marketing person, Audrey had no fucking clue. Beaver Creek, for all its charm, was still just a random small town. It may have had great people and decent food, but it was still, well, not a big city. “I have no idea.”
“Me neither. But I’m tinkering around with some ideas. Have you heard of a book convention?”
“Not really,” Audrey said, but she quickly added, “but I’m the wrong audience, maybe. I’ve only just started reading earlier last year.”
“That’s okay, babe. I’ll get you caught up,” Brianna said.
Audrey was trying really hard not to read into the unexpected nickname but failed. “Babe?”
Brianna blushed, as if realizing what she’d said.
“Anyway…so a reader convention is basically like Comic Con but for authors and readers. I don’t think we can host a huge one, but maybe we can turn the library into a mini convention, with author panels, book signings, and maybe some bookstore vendors? ”
“And you think people will come to Beaver Creek for it?” Audrey asked.
“Maybe if we find some popular authors, but I’d like to feature independent authors too. I think if we make it romance-focused, it could go really well. I don’t know if you’ve seen any videos on social media, but romance readers go all out for events like this.”
“You’re right, I’ve seen that. I’m not too proud to hide it was videos about romance books that got me into reading again. I’m still only just scratching the surface of what’s out there, though. Your shelves alone are evidence of that.”
“Well, I’ll happily be your romance guide if you want,” Brianna said.
“Oh, I like the sound of that.”
“Romance book guide,” Brianna clarified, though she was smiling.
Audrey rolled her eyes. “If you say so.”
“Let’s have some pizza?” Brianna asked as she stood, clearly changing the subject.
“Sure. I wasn’t sure what you wanted, so I got the classic toppings, to be on the safe side. And whichever dip you’d like.”
Audrey took the dips out of her tote bag and placed them on the kitchen island next to the pizza box. The pizza was definitely cold by now, but it was clear neither she nor Brianna really cared.
“You didn’t have to get this much dip,” Brianna said. She passed a plate to Audrey as she looked over all the options. “For future reference, I’m a marinara dip person.”
“Noted. I like a garlic dip myself,” Audrey said.
They each took their respective dips and dug into the food.
Audrey thought back to Brianna’s idea. It was a really great one when she thought on it. Perhaps Audrey could even help with the social media, if Brianna needed some volunteers, though there was still something she wasn’t sure about.
“Do you think town council will approve the idea? It will definitely help with tourism, but I’m nervous for you. I don’t know much about town council, but I’m imagining it’s all old men and maybe one woman. Do you think they’ll understand your vision?” Audrey asked.
“It’s okay if they’re skeptical at first. I’ll bring enough data to back up my idea.
There are so many romance-only bookstores around North America now, and it is the best-selling genre across print.
We can have a community building aspect by having local and Ontario-based authors get involved.
It could be fun…at least I think so,” Brianna said, getting visibly more excited as she talked.
It was so adorable, Audrey could hardly restrain herself from making a comment; she did so with great difficulty.
As Audrey nodded along to Brianna’s comments, the librarian kept going, now talking about the slideshow she would show to the council, which then veered into discussions of whether she could get funding to come up with unique branding for the event.
“I can help with that,” Audrey interjected. “I mainly do marketing for work, but I help the design and branding team sometimes. My skills are still at the beginner level, though.”
“That would be amazing. I’m sure anything you design is still better than anything I could even attempt,” Brianna said.
She paused for a moment and blushed as she continued, “I can’t believe how horrible I’ve been.
I don’t even know what you do for work, and here I am, just blabbering about my job all evening! ”
“That’s okay. I really don’t do anything important. It’s just marketing for a makeup brand. I work with a few other people and have a good handle on figuring out when things will be a trend, which is useful for social media, not so useful for touching grass,” Audrey said.
“Touching grass?”
“Y’know, like getting out of the house and stuff. My friends say I need to do that more.”
“Oh, that’s clever.”
“You’ve never heard of that?” Audrey asked.
She didn’t believe it was possible, but then again, Brianna carried herself more maturely than anyone else Audrey had known, especially much more mature than Nathan.
Their friendship was something Audrey was always curious about, considering how well her brother and Brianna got along.
She didn’t want to be thinking about him right now, though, so she dismissed the thought.
“No, but I will add it to my vocabulary,” Brianna said.