I looked at the selection of books she had to buy. “I want the special editions ofRussian RouletteandVow of Vengeance. Oh, and the Vendetti Duet.”
“Awesome, I’ll grab those for you after I finish signing these. What’s your name?” she asked, glancing at Elise as she got ready to sign one of Elise’s books.
“Elise,” my best friend answered before spelling out her name.
“Are you from around here?” Sapphire asked, looking back and forth between the two of us.
“No, no, we’re from Florida. But we’re moving to Seattle,” I answered. “We’re on a road trip there now.”
“Oh, that’s fun.” She handed Elise her stack of books back, then grabbed the ones I wanted to buy. “These will be eighty dollars.”
I grabbed the money out of my purse and handed it to her. “Thank you,” she replied. “What’s your name?”
“Lucia.”
“You both have beautiful names. So where’s the next stop on your road trip after this?” Sapphire asked as she signed my books.
“Roswell,” I answered. “Then the Grand Canyon and Vegas.”
“Oh, Vegas is so fun. I hope you’re spending a few days there because there is so much to do and see.”
I glanced at Elise, and she smiled. “Any recommendations?”
“The Sugar Factory has some fun food and drinks. And you have to see a show like Cirque du Soleil. Oh, and definitely visit Fremont Street. It’s an experience in itself.”
I smiled. “Thanks, we’ll definitely do that.”
When Sapphire finished signing my books, she handed them to me with a smile. “It was so nice to chat with you. I hope you have the best time on your road trip.”
“Thank you so much. This will definitely be a highlight,” I commented, unable to hide my grin.
I felt people behind me, so I grabbed Elise and shuffled out of the way, waving goodbye to Sapphire. “Bye. So nice to meet you.”
I looked down at my books, then at Elise. We both squealed and giggled. “I can’t believe we just met Sapphire Knight,” I said.
We put our books in the carts we’d brought for the signing, then moved on to the next author. The next few hours were a whirlwind of waiting in line, talking to authors, and buying books.
“I think we need to slow down.” I chuckled as I looked at my overflowing cart when there was a break for lunch.
Elise scoffed. “Pfft, we need to stock our bookshelves at the new apartment.”
I laughed. “I guess that’s true.”
At the end of the day, Elise and I were exhausted, especially since neither of us had slept much the night before. We lugged our carts up to our room and passed out on our beds.
We slept the rest of the day and through the night until early the next morning. After eating breakfast at the hotel, we checked out and loaded our stuff into the SUV.
Once we were situated, Elise input Roswell into the GPS. “Looks like it’s about seven and a half hours.”
I nodded. “So we’ll stay the night tonight and head to the Grand Canyon in the morning.”
Elise nodded, then started driving. “Sounds good to me. Wanna stop about halfway for lunch?”
“Yeah. Ooh, maybe we can find some hole-in-the-wall diner like you see in the movies.”
Elise chuckled. “We might not have many options through all the small towns along the way. There aren’t any big cities once we leave the Dallas/Fort Worth area.”
I sighed as I looked out the window. “I still can’t believe I’m actually doing this.”