The Indie – Summer
THE INDIE
SUMMER
In a perfect world, a spicy kiss would solve everything and make me hate Adrian less, but Slow Burn had gone two full days without a single customer, so whatever warm and fuzzy feelings he’d kissed into me were officially gone.
“So, don’t hate me,” Harriet said, stepping in front of the chaise. “But I’ve got some bad news.”
“I don’t want to hear it,” I said, picking up a set of string lights. “I want to focus on the few things that Adrian Sinclair isn’t ruining in my life.”
“Things like what?”
“My favorite cup of coffee, a new book in my favorite series coming out this Friday, and Gillian Taylor’s special signing here at the end of the month.”
“So, about that last thing…”
“I don’t want to hear it.” I shook my head. “Whatever special requests she has, we’ll make sure they’re handled by then.”
“Gillian Taylor’s publicist just called to cancel,” she said. “She’s going to move her signing across the street to Sinclair Street since they offered more space.”
“WHAT?”
“She was super sweet about it, but… Yeah.”
“Did the publicist say they needed more space, or that Sinclair offered more space?”
“Um…” She glanced at her notes. “Offered. Why?”
“Because needing more space would mean ticket sales spiked and we genuinely couldn't accommodate them,” I said. “Sinclair offering more space means Mr. A.S.S. hijacked my signing calendar and reached out to steal her away from me.”
“It was ‘offered.’”
“I fucking knew it. His kiss was a trap.”
“What kiss?”
“Who said kiss?” I shrugged.
“She mentioned that they reached out months before they actually opened, so…maybe it’s not as fucked up as it looks?”
I gave her a blank stare.
“Right. Well, we still need to send Gillian Taylor a thank-you letter for considering us,” she said. “We also need to send her some flowers the day she arrives to thank her for all the previous signings she did with us.”
“I was going to do that anyway.”
“Good! In the meantime, we can focus on making the decor for the Audrey Wolff signing incredible.”
“Did you just say Audrey Wolff?” Michael stepped between us, holding his cell phone.
“Yeah. Why?”
“I’ve got some bad news…”