Page 63 of Perfect Mess

I quickly scanned their faces. Janet was genuinely thrilled. She looked like she was about to explode. And was that smile on Gary’s face as real as it seemed?Holy hell. This might actually work.

Janet said, “I need a hug Gary, give me a hug!”

Quickly, I motioned for Gary to pass me the stack of books. He did. But as soon as he pulled away, my knees buckled, and it took all of my strength to stay upright.

Throwing out my back was worth it, though, because before Gary could even brace himself, Janet leaped into his arms and wrapped her hands around his neck. In a good way, not a strangling way to be clear.

“It is so good to see you again!” she squealed. “I can’t believe it.” After sufficiently smothering the poor man, Janet stepped back to get a better look. “You look a-maze-ing,” Janet gushed. “I mean, wow.” Janet looked like a teenage girl who just got pulled up on stage at her very first Kpop concert.

She started fanning herself with her open hand and breathing in gasps. “My God, Gary Wright, I can’t believe it, after twenty years. What are you doing here?”

Something seemed to click in Janet’s brain.

She looked at me.

Then looked at Gary.

Me again.

Then Gary.

A big smile stretched across Janet’s blood flushed face. “You’re here with Mary?”

“No,” I said before any more assumptions formed in her head. “We just came here together, as friends, because Gary, Gary wanted to …” My brain must have decided it had enough excitement for one day and was going on strike effective immediately. I demanded it get back to work, but it only held up a picket sign that read F-YOU.

“I’m here for the book signing,” Gary pointed to the book signing flyer taped to the wall. It was like he had ridden in on a white horse, his shiny metal armor gleaming in the sun. Not unlike the King Arthur figurine in the mythology section beside us.

“Yes, the book signing,” I agreed. Meanwhile, the books in my hands were slipping. The hard cover edge of the architecture book was cutting into my hand like a razor.

“So you’re here to see Lance Boyer, then?” Gary and I stared at Janet as if she were speaking French. Or Portuguese. “The author here signing books,” she explained.

“Yes,” I said. “Lance Boyer. Of course.”

“Mary was kind enough to give me a ride,” Gary added.

“As friends. Since we’re friends. Just friends,” I reiterated.

Janet turned to Gary. “I didn’t realize you were into that kind of thing,” she said.

“Oh yes,” I interjected. “Gary’s a big fan. He’s read all of Lance’s books.”

“I see.” Janet nodded. “He’s so inspirational. So brave.”

“Very brave,” I agreed. “Very inspirational. He really inspired Gary. Isn’t that right Gary?”

Gary nodded. “For sure. He inspires me every day.”

I tried to shift the weight of the books in my arms from my left side to my right side, as my left shoulder went numb.

“Here, let me help you with that.” Janet grabbed some books out of my hands, holding them up for inspection. “Don’t you have enough sex books already, Mary?” Janet shook her head at me like a nun who had just caught a catholic school boy with a dirty magazine hidden under his bible. “AndBlood Moon Lust, you have to finishNight LustandStar Lustfirst. It’s a trilogy, so you have to read them in order.”

I caught Gary’s smirk out of the corner of my eye.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said.

“You asked to borrow them from me just last week.”

Eager to change the subject, I said, “What’s the name of Lance’s new book again? The one that he’s signing?”

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