“Because I don’t think you’d be knocking on my door if she wasn’t.”
“It’s possible,” I offer, and a tiredness crosses over her face. She looks genuinely sad and almost defeated.
But not guilty.
“I have nothing to hide.”
“There’s been some activity on your social media that might suggest you don’t care for her, Dahlia, especially after Kat was announced as winning the Chicago Children’s Outreach Award.” The statement is delivered smoothly, Grimm’s expression open and inviting as we wait for her to respond.
“She won? Really?” A wide smile crosses her lips. “Oh, that’s so great.” Looking between us, she chuckles. “Not the reaction you were expecting, I see.”
“Not exactly,” I concede. “If you’re not upset with her, then why are you harassing her on social media?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try us,” Grimm says wryly and she shrugs, righting herself before holding her palm out.
“I’ve been writing a long time. I met Kat when she first started and her success was nearly instant. I was happy for her—proud even—and then my career stalled. Kat’s exploded. My husband and I hit a rough patch and we’d just moved his mother in with us.”
“That sounds like a lot to deal with,” Grimm offers softly.
“It was,” she confirms, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers. “It was when Kat released the baseball story—the little boy and his dog go to the stadium. Her brother was already a star player for the Illinois Blues and they made itinto this massive PR event.” She sighs. “I saw the coverage and I made some nasty remarks. I was so defeated and here was this gorgeous and talented woman absolutely killing it while I seemed to be failing in all parts of my life. I didn’t hateherbut I hated that was no longer me.”
“What happened?” I ask.
“I broke down. I deleted my post but people had already shared it. I tried to reach out to Kat but she blocked me, and I don’t blame her. I deleted my social media and found myself a therapist.”
“All right…” Grimm starts, his eyes tracking to mine again as we’re suddenly faced with more questions than we came with.
“I had a ton of hateful comments and messages waiting for me when I signed back in a month later. My plan was to put up my apology to Kat on my page and then delete everything again. I needed a break and was determined to fix things at home with my family, but when I logged in online, I realized there were at least two accounts pretending to be me. I reported them both for impersonating me but in each case, I was told that they weren’t doing anything wrong and would not be required to take their page down.”
“So, you’re saying someone isstillimpersonating you, years later?” Grimm doesn’t hide the disbelief from his voice.
“Yup.” She pops thepas she holds his gaze. “I tried for maybe a week to get things taken down but when I kept getting ignored, I said fuck it and deleted everything again.”
“And now?” I ask, pretty sure I already know what’s coming.
“I never went back to writing that series or even using that name. I have a new pen name now for a different genre and I’m doing really well.”
“Can I ask what genre?”
“Cozy paranormal.”
“Cozy…” Grimm trails off and she smiles.
“Witches in a modern setting in layman’s terms. No sex. Just a whole lot of magical mystery and fun.”
“That’s quite the shift,” I tell her.
“It was, but I’ve been writing these books for about five years now and I love it. My fanbase is loyal and growing, and I’ve set boundaries for myself with my level of involvement online.”
“That’s great.”
“It is. Therapy helped a lot, and it helped me realize my passion wasn’t in children’s books anymore and that following a new dream is just as beautiful as the original one.”
“Are your children’s books still available?” I ask, not remembering if Royce had confirmed that or not.
“They are. I send out a newsletter every couple of months if there’s a sale happening but that’s it.” She lifts her shoulders and lets them drop. “If people find them, they find them. I stopped any advertising for them two years ago after I did an anniversary edition.”
