“I’m Kat. Tori, was it?” The pregnant lady rubs her rounded stomach. “Welcome to Dogwood Cove. How are you finding everything?”
“G-good,” I stammer out, my heart still racing. How the hell do I find out how they’re related to Sawyer without sounding like a total nut job? “There’s a lot of nice people here.”
Lame, Tori. Lame.
“Yeah, my family has lived here almost my entire life. My parents and my brothers all live in town, or at least close by, so if you see a bunch of guys who look sort of like me, that’s who they are. And I’ll apologize now for anything dumb they might do.”
“Come on, Kat, the only dumb one is Sawyer. Don’t give the rest of them a bad name,” one of the other women teases. “I’m Cam, and I’m married to the dumb one’s twin brother.”
“Yeah, and Sawyer’s the only single one, so maybe we should also be warning her away.” This comes from the last woman of the trio, who’s got a streak of purple hair artfully woven into a braid.
Oh, thank fuck.I normally save the swear words for my books, but this moment absolutely calls for one as relief washes over me. He’s single. Suddenly, I feel like an absolute fool for jumping to the worst conclusion so quickly.Save the drama for your writing, Tori.
Purple hair keeps talking, and now that my pulse is slowing to normal, I pay closer attention. “I’m Lily, her best friend —” she jerks a thumb at Kat “— and I’m dating another one of her brothers.”
“You seriously are all living, breathing, romance tropes,” I murmur, earning myself another laugh from the three gorgeous women.
“It’s disgusting, isn’t it? Wait till you hear this — Beck and I only got married so I could access my inheritance.” Cam grins.
“Jude and I started out fake dating,” Lily pipes up.
We all turn as one to Kat, who raises her hands. “Don’t look at me, Hunter and I were a perfectly normal, not at all fiction-inspired relationship.”
It’s Lily who snorts, I think. “Sure, having a crush on your sexy neighbour, then dating him in secret is totally normal.”
“Listen. At least I don’t have the whole asshole ex marrying a family member angle. That was straight out of a Starla Barrows book, and you know it.”
I shouldn’t have taken a sip of the water I brought with me, because it’s all I can do not to choke on it. Kat looks concerned as she touches my shoulder.
“Are you okay?”
I nod vigorously. “Yup. Totally fine. Sorry.” They read my books. These women, Sawyer’s family, read my books.
“Y’know, you sort of look like her.”
My head whips around to face Cam, who’s looking at me intently. “Wh-what?”
“Starla Barrows. She’s this romance author; we’re reading one of her books next. I was scoping out her website the other day, and you look a lot like her.”
Oh boy. In all the years I’ve been writing, I can honestly say, I’ve never been recognized by a reader. It’s not that I keep my identity a secret, but for Cooper’s sake, I’ve always tried to maintain some privacy. This scenario, where I either have to lie to people that I’m going to see on a regular basis around town or come clean about my alter ego, is one I feel wholly unprepared for. But the decision of whether or not to tell them is taken out of my hands.
“Oh my God, it is you, isn’t it?” Kat looks up from her cell phone, excitement dancing in her eyes. “You’re Starla Barrows. Holy crap!”
Other women have wandered over, thanks to Kat’s not exactly quiet exclamation. I guess there’s no hiding now.
“Yeah, I am.” I muster up a smile, feeling the professional persona I try to exude slip over me like an uncomfortable coat. “But tonight’s not about me or my books.”
Unfortunately for me, Kat doesn’t catch the subtext. Instead, she waves her hands dismissively. “I know, but this is so dang cool. A famous author, living in our town, joining our book club. Oh my God, did Paige know? Is that why you’re here?”
“Did I know what?” Paige has a curious look on her face as she pushes her glasses up her nose.
Kat grabs her arm. “Know that Tori is Starla Barrows.”
I give her credit, Paige manages to school her reaction pretty darn well. I honestly did not expect this kind of a reaction; I’m hardly a big deal of an author. I mean, sure, it’s touching, but I just wanted to be able to relax tonight, be myself, and talk about books. Notmybooks.
“I was not aware of this information. And I apologize for my ignorance, truly, I should have known.”
Poor Paige looks so upset with herself, I’m unable to take it any longer. “No, please don’t feel bad. I’m truly flattered that you all actually read my books, but I didn’t come here as an author, I came as a book lover. Tonight I just want to be Tori. Not Starla. Is that okay?”
