Cassidy Lane (36 page)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

one year later

“I ABSOLUTELY LOVED
Rocky Road
, Cassidy. Loved it!” Crystal Hightower Bryant clapped her hands together cheerleader style, just as she’d done at Paly football games.

Cassidy looked up
from the signing table. “It came out the day before yesterday. You’ve already read it?”

Crystal patted the
side of her enormous purse. “I preordered it on my Kindle, but of course I had to come here to buy an autographed print copy from you for my bookshelf.”

“That was so
nice of you, Crystal. I’m really glad you enjoye
d i
t.”

Crystal turned to
the bearded man next to her. “You remember my husband, Stanley, from our last reunion?”

Cassidy nodded and
smiled. “Of course. Stanley, it’s nice to see you again.”

Crystal poked his
arm. “
Tell her
, Stanley. Tell her how I couldn’t put her new book down.”

Stanley shrugged with
a nod. “It’s true. I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and she was still awake readin
g i
t.”

Crystal lowered her
voice, then put her hands on the table and leaned forward. “This one was just so
realistic,
Cassidy. You’ve got to tell me: Did that happen to you? Did you run into an old college classmate at a wedding and strike up a long-distance romance?”

Cassidy felt her
cheeks flush. “Actually, no, that didn’t happen to me.”
Not exactly.

Crystal looked surprised.
“Really? Well, you could have fooled
me. Well done.”

“Thanks.”
If you
only knew.

“I was biting
my nails the whole time, wondering what was going to happen. I laughed, then I cried, then I laughed again, and then I cried again, and then, when Andrew showed up after Melanie’s speaking engagement with flowers and wearing the cuff links, I cried
again
. And the prom date thing? I was a mess, a blubbering mess. Poor Stanley here didn’t know what to do with me by then.”

Stanley shrugged again.
“I was just trying to get some sleep.”

Cassidy smiled and
felt a bit sorry for Stanley. “I’m glad you liked the way it turned out. I toyed around for a bit with the idea of having him never call her again, but I just thought that after all they’d been through, they both deserved a happy ending.”

We all do.

Crystal nodded and
lowered her voice. “I’m so glad. I enjoyed
Miss Perception
and know it got good reviews and all that, but reading it sort of made me sad, because in spite of it all, I wanted Emma and Jeremy to wind up together, you know what I mean?”

Cassidy pointed a
pen at her. “I
do
know what you mean, because to be perfectly honest, writing that book sort of made me sad too. That’s another reason why I wanted
Rocky Road
to turn out differently. What’s wrong with a little happiness, right? We all need to believe in fairy tales now and then, especially when things get a little rough.” She inadvertently glanced toward the entrance—not for the first time tonight.

Her website listed
all the details for the book signing, which was free and open to the public.

For anyone to
come by and say hello.

Stanley put a
hand on Crystal’s arm and discreetly gestured to the line of people waiting patiently behind her. “Pumpkin, we should probably let her get on with it,” he whispered, clearly not wanting to embarrass his wife but well aware that she was hogging Cassidy’s time.

“Thanks, sweetie. I
totally lost track of time.” Crystal quickly slipped the book Cassidy had autographed into her bag, then slung it over her shoulder with a smile. “I’ll be waiting for your next book, that’s for sure! And you’d better come to our twenty-fifth reunion. Scary as that may sound, it’s not that far away, you know.”

Cassidy pointed toward
the back of the room. “Thanks, Crystal. I’ll do my best to be there. And speaking of high school, Patti Bramble’s over there talking to my brother, if you’d like to go say hi before you leave.”

“Perfect!” Ever the
cheerleader, Crystal clapped her hands together again. Then she hooked her arm through Stanley’s, and they drifted away in search of Patti.

Cassidy spent the
next hour or so chatting with fans, and eventually the line thinned to a trickle. When she’d autographed the last book and shaken the last hand, she stood up and smoothed the front of her dress. She had feared that the crisp white sheath with navy trim looked a bit too nautical, but the saleslady had insisted it flattered her figure. She was drained but did her best not to appear so, just in case anyone was watching her. Being
on
like this for so long was exhausting, at least for her, and she hadn’t been able to sneak in a nap today. Plus her feet were hurting from her new heels.

Tyler and her
parents approached the table. “You had quite a turnout tonight,” her mother said.

Cassidy looked at
the small stack of novels left on the signing table. “I know, way more than I expected. I almost ran out of books.”

Her dad winked
at her. “Your fame is growing, kiddo.”

Tyler put a
hand on his dad’s shoulder. “Hey, now, don’t let her head get too big. We don’t want her to forget she once wore neck gear.”

Cassidy’s hand instinctively
flew up to her throat, visions of junior high school flashing before her. “If you
ever
want to make it into one of my books, you’d best keep that information to yourself.”

Her mom began
putting the remaining books into a cardboard box. “We’ll take care of these for you, angel. Go relax and have a drink with Patti. We’ll see you back at the house.”

Tyler gave her
a bear hug. “I’ve got to get going as well or Jessica will have my head. Way to represent the Lane clan, little sis. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks, big bro.
Give the girls a kiss for me.” She hugged him back, then wandered across the nearly empty room to Patti, who was listening to Crystal tell a story. Stanley just stood there patiently as his wife chattered on about something to do with their daughter’s teacher. Cassidy wondered if he ever got a word in edgewise.

“You all done
over there, hotcakes?” Patti said to Cassidy as she approached.

Cassidy laughed. “Truth
be told, not feeling like hotcakes right this minute.”

Patti held up
a hand. “Stop it. This is your hometown book launch party! You, my friend, are the belle of the ball. And look at that dress. You are
definitely
hotcakes tonight.”

Crystal grabbed Patti’s
arm. “Oh my gosh, the way you just said
stop it,
it sounded exactly like the Peggy character in
Rocky Road
.”

Patti looked at
Cassidy and slowly raised an eyebrow. “The
Peggy
character?”

“You haven’t read
it yet?” Crystal asked.

Patti laughed. “Given
that it came out two days ago, Crystal, that would be a no.” She returned her gaze to Cassidy. “So you based a character on me, did you now?”

“I think she
was my favorite. So sassy,” Crystal said.

Patti kept looking
at Cassidy “Is that so?”

Cassidy shrugged. “I
have to draw my inspiration from somewhere. Sometimes I get a little desperate and have to fish off the company pier, so to speak.”

“Does this sassy
Peggy character, who I imagine is strikingly beautiful and off-the-charts intelligent, live in San Carlos and have three children with a penchant for misbehaving?”

Cassidy held up
a palm. “She does live in San Carlos, but she doesn’t have kids. She does
,
however
,
have a scruffy yet lovable husband named Roy who may or may not like to wear flannel.”

“No kids? I
envy the woman. Am I getting royalties for this inspiration?”

“Do you pay
me when I babysit your children?”

Patti held up
her wineglass. “Touché.”

“Wow, this is
like reading a conversation between Peggy and Melanie in the book,” Crystal said. “I feel like Harrison is going to walk in any moment.”

Patti looked at
Cassidy. “Harrison?”

Cassidy shrugged. “He
might be a little bit like Harper.”

“I think Harper
and I need to revisit this royalties situation,” Patti said.

“I think I
need a drink.” Cassidy pointed across the room.

They said good-bye
to Crystal and Stanley, then walked over to the bar area. Cassidy never drank alcohol during book signings so she could stay sharp while chatting with her readers, but now that the official part of the evening was over, she was looking forward to a glass of wine.

As they each
took a seat at the bar, Cassidy stole a quick glance at the entrance.

“Are you watching
the door to see if creepy Trent is going to show up? I could use a smoke right now, dude.” Patti briefly turned her eyes into slits, then squeezed Cassidy’s knee and gave her a knowing look. “Here you go, superstar.” She handed her a glass of wine, then held up her own for a toast. “To another bestseller.”

“To a lifelong
friendship,” Cassidy said.

“To my future
royalties.”

Cassidy laughed. “In
all seriousness, thanks for coming tonight. I know it’s hard for you to get out during the week.”

Patti waved a
dismissive hand. “Please. I would never miss one of your book launch parties. It’s fun to be in the inner circle of a C-list celebrity now and again. Crystal’s so jealous of me, it’s sort of funny and sad at the same time.”

“Did you just
say C-list? Have I been promoted from the D-list?”

Patti nodded. “I
think you’re ready for a bump up.”

Cassidy put a
hand on her chest and bowed her head. “I’m honored.”

“As you should
be. When do you fly back to New York?”

“Tomorrow morning. I
don’t want to miss the rehearsal dinner.”

“Is your bridesmaid’s
dress crazy ugly?”

Cassidy shrugged and
took a sip of her wine. “Not as ugly as the one you made me wear.”

“I’ll take that.
I should have known better than to listen to fashion suggestions from Roy’s grandmother.”

They chatted until
they finished their drinks, then Patti reached for her purse and pointed a thumb over her shoulder. “OK, missy, my hall pass is up. I’ve gotta hit the road.”

Cassidy yawned. “Me
too. I’m just going to run to the ladies’ room before I leave. I guess I’ll see you when I’m home for Halloween.”

Patti stood up
and put her hands on her hips. “It’s on October thirty-first. That’s a little over two months from now. Do you want me to put an alarm in your phone to remind you?”

“Very funny.” Cassidy
stood up too and hugged her. “Tell Roy and the kids I said hi.”

After Patti left
Cassidy walked alone toward the restrooms. As she washed her hands, she admired her manicured fingernails, which she hadn’t nibbled even once in more than a year now. She hadn’t been back to Annabelle’s either. She found that not returning made it easier to keep the fond memories of her visits there intact, which for some reason was important to her.

She looked at
herself in the mirror and couldn’t help but recognize the significance of tonight’s event, of how much she’d accomplished since that last trip to Annabelle’s.