Kate smiled. “Go. Wander. Have a great time and relax. I’ll see you at the after-party.”
“Thanks,” Drake said, giving the woman one more hug and a kiss on the cheek before collecting his backpack from under the table.
Though he was exhausted and really only wanted to go upstairs, order room service and take a nap until the party, he needed to check in with Lacy and see how she was doing.
Maybe he could talk her into joining him for dinner and a nap.
He smiled and spoke to the last few readers who were wandering the room, as well as the authors who asked about the photographers he worked with and how to buy images for their next books. When he told them that he’d done a session with Rebecca, several got excited and started looking for the photographer.
He caught up with Lacy as she was buying a t-shirt and big travel cup at a vendor stand. She turned away and jumped when she saw him standing only a foot behind her.
“Hi,” she said with a grin.
“Hi. Get any good stuff?” he asked, seeing that she was juggling several bags, as well as her cousin’s camera bag.
She shrugged and dropped her gaze to the middle of his chest. “Some books, a couple shirts, lots of stickers andbookmarks and other swag. You can’t come to one of these things without going home with lots of swag.”
He touched her chin with the side of his finger, startling her into meeting his gaze again. “I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I was just interested.”
Lacy blinked and her expression brightened. “Oh. Okay. Sometimes Rebecca teases me about all the stuff I bring home from one of these things.”
Drake frowned. “She shouldn’t. It’s really none of her business what you do.”
“What’s none of my business?” Rebecca said, moving in from where she’d been taking pictures of the t-shirt vendor’s display.
Before he could speak, Lacy said, “Nothing. He didn’t mean anything.”
Drake frowned as Lacy tried to soothe her cousin, as if Rebecca was going to lash out at her in anger or something. Was that why she was hesitant to start a photography business of her own? Was she afraid of reprisals if she surpassed her cousin’s mediocre success?
That was just bullshit. The pictures he’d seen on Lacy’s camera told him that she had an eye and way of bringing out emotion in her subjects that Rebecca didn’t. And there was no way he was going to allow his Little girl to downplay or ignore her talent.
When both women looked at him, he realized he’d missed something. Possibly something important. But he didn’t care. He was going to have his say.
“What I was saying was that it is none of your business if Lacy wanted to buy books or cups or shirts or whatever. She’s a grown woman with her own money that she can spend anyway she wants.”
The women’s reactions stunned him. Lacy took a step away from her cousin as her shoulders and head dropped and shelooked like she was preparing to take a punch. Rebecca sucked in a breath and made a face like she’d just smelled a week-old fish that had been marinating in a pile of shit.
“I can’t believe you said that to me,” Rebecca whispered, her tone furious. “Don’t you know I could get you blackballed in the industry?”
“Or I could put the word out that you’re not a photographer to work with. But neither one of us will do that, will we? Now, from what I’ve seen the past few days, someone needs to stand up for Lacy since she doesn’t seem capable of standing up for herself.”
“Well, I never,” Rebecca huffed, grabbing Lacy’s arm. “Come on, Lacy, we’re leaving.”
“But I’m not done shopping,” Lacy said, looking like she wanted to cry.
Drake realized he’d put her in a tough spot, but he hated seeing anyone bullied, especially someone he cared about. Knowing he needed to make amends, he looked at Rebecca.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
Rebecca took a deep breath, but didn’t look like she was calming down. “You might not want to spend too much time with Lacy. She wears her heart on her sleeve and will give it away to any man who smiles and talks nice to her.”
“Rebecca!” Lacy protested as she pulled her arm from her cousin’s grasp. “That’s enough. I’m going to finish looking around and I’ll see you in the room. Later.”
With that, Lacy walked away, leaving him standing there looking at her cousin, both of them stunned by her show of anger.
“I just want what’s best for her,” Rebecca explained after another deep breath, which seemed to help her fully calm down. “She falls in love at the drop of a hat and gets her heart broken just as quickly when the men walk away or don’t return herfeelings. I don’t want her to watch her fall apart when she goes online and sees that you’ve moved on with a new boyfriend in a few weeks. It would be better if you backed off now, before she makes a fool of herself.”
Drake looked the photographer in the eye and said, “I don’t plan on moving on. I plan on making a long-distance relationship work. For now. In the meantime, I’m going to help her learn to dream again, and then make those dreams come true. It was nice shooting with you and I can’t wait to see the final product and help you sell the pictures we got. Goodbye.”
