They’re seated side by side on my yellow sofa in my office, and I’m perched on the edge of my desk, holding a Clancy Calloway novel.
“Did your dad give you bad news?” Nat asks. “You have to close the store?”
“What? No, definitely not. Actually, it was excellent news. His projections are better than mine were. If we keep up the events and generate more customers, we can adjust our hours to close earlier each night and still put the shop in the black this year.”
Nat claps. “That’s amazing.”
“Yes. But that has nothing…well, I guess it’s sort of linked. So, actually, since the store has been suffering a bit, I’ve been supplementing some of its needs with the income I get from my second job.”
They explode at the same time. Ravi asks, “How do you have time for that?” as Natalie says, “What job?”
I slowly hold up the book.
Ravi squints. “You are…dealing in used books?”
“It’s not that.” Natalie squints. “But I don’t get it.”
“I have a secret pen name. I chose this one, hoping it would sound like it could be a man or a woman.”
The room goes deathly silent.
Natalie is the first to compose herself. “You’re telling us you’re Clancy Calloway?”
“Yeah.” I cringe. “But it’s super secret. I want the store and my books to be separate, so I’ve never told anyone outside my family. And Elena. And now Dorian. And you two. Plus an Uber driver.”
Ravi stands, taking the book from my hands. “Piper, this is amazing.”
“You aren’t mad?”
“No, I’m jealous. I want to write books.”
I look at him sharply. “Since when?”
“Since always.” His cheeks darken with a blush.
Natalie rises, too, looking hurt. “Why haven’t you been coming to the classes?”
He shrugs.
But my heart goes out to him. The first step in achieving a dream is admitting you have one. “Then I’ll put you on the clock. Tuesday nights, nine to ten.”
He smiles, shaking his head. “This is really cool. Are you going to do a big reveal now?”
I feel the blood want to leave my face. “No. That is…I’m not planning to tell the world yet. I need time to decide how I want to handle this. But I’m not going to keep it a secret from the people in my life anymore.”
“Can we put one of ourlocal authorsigns on your books?” Nat asks.
There’s no harm in that. “Sure,” I say.
Ravi offers me a fist bump. “Thanks for trusting us with this.”
Natalie hugs me. “Honestly, amazing.”
Their support strengthens me just as I knew it would. Maybe I’m not ready for some huge public announcement, but that’s the beauty of having a pen name. If I choose to remain anonymous forever, that’s my prerogative. Dorian and I can take this one day at a time. “Can you open, Ravi? I need to speak to Nat.”
“Sure thing.” He gives us a salute and closes the door on the way out.
Natalie perches on the arm of the sofa. “What’s up?”
