She looked up, frowning. But when she recognized Meg, she smiled. “Lilly’s new agent. Sarah’s on the ferry, so I’m running her up to the house. The chef has an early dinner ready for them. Lilly doesn’t like waiting until after events to eat. When we’re on the road, we’re always the first to arrive at some restaurant, hoping they’ll feed us before the nightly rush.”
“Well, Mom’s busy getting the auditorium set up. She had Natasha bake a cake with the book cover on it. Actually three cakes. Mom’s hoping that will be enough if we cut small slices.” Meg realized she was babbling. Jolene probably already knew about her mother’s plans for the event. “Anyway, I’m taking Watson out for a few minutes.”
“Remind me to get a picture of Lilly with the cakes. She’ll love that. We’re always looking for fun photo ops from the events.” She looked down at the phone when it buzzed. “That’s Sarah. She’s looking for me.”
Meg watched as Jolene turned and scanned the ferry parking lot. A slender blond woman in a skirted suit had her phone out and was at the entrance to the walk-on passengers parking lot. She saw Jolene and headed her way. She had brought a small suitcase.
“There she is. I guess she’s staying overnight. They need to review all of Lilly’s old contracts and figure out what to do next with this mess Robert left,” Jolene muttered as the woman walked toward them. “Hey, stay and meet her. Lilly’s probably been talking about you, so you might as well meet face-to-face.”
“Okay.” Meg glanced at her watch. She’d been gone less than ten minutes. A few more wouldn’t hurt. And it was book business.ThatMom would understand.
When Sarah reached the car, she hugged Jolene. “I’m so excited to be here for this release. And to help Lilly clean up this disaster. Of course Robert would make a mess of things. Hopefully, her contract with him ends at his death. He didn’t have any other agents in the company, so that’s helpful.”
When she leaned away from Jolene, her eyes lit up. “Oh, this must be the new member of the Aster team. You’re Maggie, right?”
“Meg,” she corrected as she was swept into a hug. When Sarah released her, Meg glanced down at Watson, who was looking at her with amusement. “And this is Watson, my dog.”
“Well, isn’t this a pleasure? You’re related to Melody, right? It’s old home week here. I can’t wait to see Melody and that handsome hunk that wooed her away from the publishing world.” Sarah glanced at her luggage. “Can I put this in the car?”
Jolene opened the trunk with her remote and reached for the bag. “Let me.”
Then Sarah got into the back seat of the car as her phone rang. “Oh, James, I’m so glad you called. However, I’m away from my desk right now, but maybe we could chat tomorrow, when I’m on my way back to civilization? Yes, I’m out in the wilds today.”
Meg met Jolene’s gaze as she closed the back door. “I’ll see you tonight?”
“If I’m not off running errands for the princess here. Robert might have been a pain and a thief, but at least he pretended to be a human. This one? I’m not sure.” Jolene went to the driver’s door and shook her head. “Off to chauffeur the new agent to the house. I’ll see you later tonight, hopefully.”
CHAPTER13
The clopping of hooves is rarely from zebras.
Lilly’s talk that night was more of a conversation with the other famous author on the island, a man who wrote thrillers about art. They both shared their love of the little art museum on the island. Meg made a mental note to stop in there one day soon. She’d visited as a kid, part of a school field trip, of course, but it had been a while. She sat at the signing table in the back, watching the interview. The other author, Skyler Johnson, was good at keeping Lilly talking about her book. Mom had had them bring a few copies of his latest novel over from the store, as well. The story sounded fascinating, from the hints he dropped as he asked the questions.
The conversation went wonky after the audience question and answer period started.
“Miss Aster, can you tell us what you know about the dead man found floating near your home a few days ago?” A man with a small tape recorder had stood and asked the question before Skyler could call on anyone.
Sarah must have been standing close by, because she stepped in front of the stage and shook her head. She grabbed the microphone from Skyler and announced, “I’m sorry, but this is a book conversation, not a press conference. If there are any other members of the press with us tonight, please refrain from interrupting the conversation again. Ms. Aster’s official comment on the death of Robert Meade III will be released to the press tomorrow morning at eight at the police station.”
As the first journalist headed out of the audience, several others stood and left with them. They’d been in the back, so they weren’t any of the people who’d lined up for hours to see L. C. Aster. They would probably wait at the doorway to see if they could corner Lilly as she left the building later. Meg watched as readers filled the empty chairs. The auditorium wasn’t big enough for the book signing, either. Mom would probably have to do the next one at the local park at midday to allow everyone a chair. Or hold two events.
After that interruption, the rest of the night went well. Natasha had arrived a little late, but she was in charge of getting readers’ names as they stood in line to have Lilly sign their book. Then she wrote each name on a sticky note and put it in a book that she handed the customer as she explained the rules. One picture and only signatures on books bought tonight. Skyler Johnson’s autograph line was much smaller. Dalton handled the line for his book signing, with Aunt Melody helping Mr. Johnson.
Meg’s shoulders were starting to scream, along with her feet. She didn’t understand why. She was standing and moving one book at a time. Well, sometimes four, but mostly one. Who knew being a bookseller would be so physical?
Lilly looked up at her and smiled. “It’s a marathon, but it looks like the lines are starting to ease up a little. I’ll be back from Los Angeles on Monday night, so I’ll have another assignment for you then, unless you need a break.”
Meg handed her the next book with the sticky note on the title page. “No. I’ll have this one done. I’ve had to do more thinking this time rather than looking up stuff.”
She took the selfie for the reader and then turned to the next person in line. Romain handed her the book with his sticky note and receipt.
She was tired. She was seeing things. She blinked, then looked again.
Nope. Her cheating fiancé was here and had bought a book for Lilly to sign. Sometimes God laughs.
“What are you doing here?” Meg focused on the receipt, then shoved it back into his hand.
“I came to talk to you, but I guess I picked the wrong night. I took a chance that you’d be working at the bookstore tonight. Where’s Watson?” He glanced around the auditorium. “Do you need me to take him for a walk? I can hang around until you’re done.”
