Page 58 of Trip Me Up

As we rode the elevator up to the lowest of Happy Troll’s three floors, Sam scrunched her nose. “Why are we here, anyway?”

I watched the floors light up on the screen above the door. “Meet-and-greet. I usually visit when I’m in town. To thank all the people who worked on my book. They like to see the face behind the words.”

In the quiet of the elevator, I heard her swallow. I reached for her hand but stopped short, then tucked my hand inside my pants pocket. “It’ll be fine. All these people support you. No hard questions today. I promise.”

Her smile was weak, but she nodded.

When the door opened, Qiana was there, bouncing on her toes. “Sam!” She hugged her like she hadn’t seen her less than twenty-four hours ago. “Niall! It’s so exciting!”

“What’s exciting?”

“Oh.” Her eyes went wide, and she pulled her red lips between her teeth. “That…that you’re here. Today.” She whirled and headed down the hall. “Heidi’s in the Commons.”

Something was up. Heidi had assistants to fetch her coffee, so the most plausible reason for her to be in the common area was to make an announcement. Had the new bestseller list come out?

Was I on it? Or Sam?

I trailed Qiana, walking at Sam’s side with Bilbo between us, prancing like he owned the place, into the central open area where, sure enough, the counter held an assembly of champagne flutes and an equally large number of people.

“Who are all these people?” Sam whispered.

My heart raced. “Assistant editors—they do the heavy lifting after Heidi’s acquired a book. Designers create the covers and make the interior look good. Marketers and salespeople ensure all the outlets want to sell the books.”

“So many people.”

“Yeah.” I didn’t bother to tell her about finance or human resources or management who made the company work. Her wide eyes told me she was already overwhelmed.

It had to be good news, right? Fuck it. I reached down and squeezed her hand. She squeezed back.

Heidi stood at the far side of the room where she could survey everyone. “Here they are,” she sang out. “The Stars of the Show!” Heidi had a flair for drama.

Sam gripped my hand harder.

“It’s good news. It has to be,” I whispered, as much for my benefit as for hers.

Assistants passed flutes of champagne through the crowd of people. I took one, the glass cool in my trembling fingers. Sam gripped her glass, her knuckles white.

“Everybody has one? Good, good,” Heidi said. “Now, I have some Fantastic News to share. I received a call this morning from the Tower Prize committee. We have not one but Two Nominees here with us today.” She paused, a grin lifting her normally serious face. “Our very own Niall Flynn and Sam Case have been nominated in the Fantasy category.”

My stomach swooped. The tension drained out, leaving my bones loose and buoyant. Warmth spread through my chest. This was better than the bestseller list. A nomination for the Tower Prize, as Heidi would say, was a Very Big Deal.

Heidi paused for the applause and whoops. She cleared her throat. “Additionally,Magician in the Machinehas been nominated for Best First Book.” She lifted her glass. “Congratulations, Sam and Niall.”

The space erupted again with cheers and whistles. I didn’t bother trying to drink the champagne. My back was thumped—repeatedly—and after Qiana released Sam, she hugged me, hard, right below my ribs.

“Congratulations, you guys!” She beamed at us, but then her smile faltered. “Sam, aren’t you excited?”

The grin melted off my face when I looked at Sam. She’d gone pale, her breath shallow and too fast. “Do you need to sit down?” Had she caught the con crud after all?

“No, I—I’m fine.” Her face was hard and pale like marble. “Just surprised, is all.”

I almost believed it. She wasn’t familiar with the various prize nomination schedules. Last year, I’d waited by the phone on the day the nominees were announced and, when it refused to ring, lay on the couch, flattened by the pressing weight of disappointment. Today, I’d been too busy worrying about Sam to remember the nomination announcement.

But there’s a difference between good-surprised and bad-surprised. I must have been glowing with the pleasure of recognition, of validation.

Sam was not.

Instead of her normal military-straight posture, her shoulders curved in. She squeezed the champagne glass, her gaze darting around the room.

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