Page 80 of Tell Me Lies

I press my lips to hers, smiling. “Yeah, but today, you deserve it. After all, your book went all the way to number ten in the Kindle store.”

Her eyes widen. “What? Are you serious?”

“Hell yeah, baby.” I turn, waving my hand around the room, which is full of all the people who came here to support her. “All these people are here for you.”

I make my voice louder as I say, “Hey, everyone! My girl’s book is number ten in the whole damn Kindle store!”

Everyone begins to cheer.

As she takes in the familiar faces in our house, her eyes fill with tears. My family, her family, friends from her past, friends from the author world … they all traveled to Maine to celebrate her book release today. Because they knew how much of a struggle it was for her to get here after all she’d been through. Finally, she wrote a book she loved. For the first time in almost four years, she wrote a book without her past weighing on her, and she typedthe endwith a smile on her face.

“Make that number seven!” Maci’s friend, Winter, calls.

When Maci spots her in the crowd, she bursts into tears as Winter beelines it toward her.

As they hug, squealing and crying and everything else, Winter’s husband, Kye, walks over and clasps his hand on my shoulder. “You’re a good man, Sterns.”

Kye is a wide receiver for the 49ers and an all-around great guy.

“Thanks, brother.” I bump my fist against his. “I guess when you have a good woman, it’s easy, huh?”

“That it is.” He nods. “But these author chicks, they can be pretty crazy.” He looks at me in disbelief. “The way their brain creates these stories … fucking mind-blowing.”

“Hey, at least we can give them some inspo, right?” I wink. “Hell, why aren’t we on their covers?”

“If it doesn’t work out with football, I might have to see about that.” He chuckles. “I’ve seen Winter drop thousands on those dudes on the front of her books.” He waves at himself. “The fuck is wrong with me? I mean, I’m sure someone would offer at least a hundred or something.”

“Oh, at least two, my friend.” I grin.

Once Winter releases Maci and steps back next to her husband, Holly rushes to hug her. The second Maci sees Holly, more tears fall, and she covers her mouth. Today was my firsttime meeting Holly, but the bond she and my girl have is pretty obvious.

“You came all the way from Florida just for my book release?” I sniffle, hugging my friend, who is also my publicist. “Are you serious, Holly?”

She gives me a tight squeeze, rocking us both slightly. “Baby bird, this isn’t just any release, and you know it.”

She’s called me baby bird since day one. I was one of her youngest and most inexperienced clients, and yet she didn’t shy away from the challenge of working with me.

Pulling her head back, she looks into my eyes. “I’m so happy to see you smile again.” Her voice cracks, and she wipes her eyes. “This book baby is going to soar, and I can’t wait to watch.”

Unable to keep my composure, I bury my face against her shoulder for a second, my body shaking with emotion. “It’s been a long time coming, but I finally feel like I’m on the other side. The better side.”

“I know you are, love. You know how?” She smiles. “Because it’s in your words. The second that you sent me your work, I could see it. That they were healing you.” She pauses. “It turns out you knew exactly what you needed. Because if you hadn’t stepped away from writing and taken this job, you never would have found your own happily ever after.”

I sob, nodding slowly because everything she said is so right. “Thank you. For believing in me from the beginning. And for never giving up on me. And for telling me what I didn’t always want to hear, but needed to hear. I truly couldn’t do this author life without you.”

“You’ll never have to either,” she says. “Because remember, we’re lifers.”

“Lifers.” I whisper the word we’ve called each other for so long.

Releasing me, Holly glances across the room at Logan. “Now, go love on that man, would you? If my man looked like that, I’d have to sneak him into the closet or something. Heck, I’m not sure I’d ever let him leave my bed.” She laughs. “And keep him around. He’s not just good for your writing; he’s good for your soul.” She takes one step back, wiggling her eyebrows. “You know what you should do? Bring him to the signing. Can you even imagine how much the readers would love seeing you and your very own hockey hottie?” she practically squeals.

“I doubt he’d want to go to that. He’d get mauled.” I chuckle but chew my lower lip, remembering she’s not going to make it to the signing, and this is the first one I’ll be attending solo.

She and I have worked together for so long that we have a system. She knows how I want things done, and she knows what works.

“Don’t worry about the signing. We will figure something out.” She smiles. “Now, go mingle, baby bird.” She pulls her phone out, winking. “I’ll keep track of rank and page reads.”

As she walks off, my eyes find Logan, who is strutting toward me, and for the first time since I came into this surprise party, I actually take the time to read his shirt.

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