Page 48 of Slow Burn Summer

“Kate?”

She banged her head on the underside of the table as she pulled up sharp, pink-cheeked, and found a couple of women looking at her expectantly with copies of the book clutched in their hands.

Everybody farts, everybody farts…

“Hi,” she said, painting on a wide smile.

The younger of the two women held her book out. “Can you sign it to me, please? My name’s Ruby. I read it on the train before work last week, had to go in the loo and wipe my ruined mascara before I went to my desk.”

“Ah, I’m sorry,” Kate said, unsure how to react.

“Oh no, don’t be,” Ruby said. “I love it when a book rips my heart out and stamps all over it.”

Her friend nodded. “Me too. If I haven’t had a complete breakdown, I want my money back.”

Someone else appeared behind them, and then someone else. Kate spotted her author neighbor posing for a photo with one of her readers, her arm around their shoulders. Did she need to do that? Ruby passed her phone to her friend and stood beside Kate’s banner, expectant. That would be a yes, then.

“Don’t tell anyone, but this is my first signing event,” Kate laughed as she posed in front of her banner, noticing someone else join the back of her line. Her line! “Thanks for showing me the ropes.”

And so it began, her line growing, everyone chatting and unhurried when it was finally their turn at the table. She stored the bookish compliments away to share with H later, grabbing gulps of water between readers. A glance around neighboring authors showed their helpers smoothing things along in their queues, opening books to the signing pages, handing out sweets and anecdotes.Oh Liv, how I wish you were here,she thought, unable to see how many people deep her queue was, jumping up every couple of minutes to pose for pictures. By the time it had turned one in the afternoon, she’d run out of water and had no idea how to close her queue to even go to the loo, let alone for lunch.

“Sign my book, Miss Darrowby?”

A reassuring hand landed on her shoulder, and she looked up to find Charlie beside her.

“Charlie, what are you doing here?” she breathed, her cheeks flushing at his unexpected presence.

“Thought you might need a hand.”

“More than you know,” she said, feeling the tension drain from her bones.

He took one look at the situation and slid straight into ultimate host mode, effortlessly charming her queue, working his wayto the back and roping it off so she could take a much-needed break.

“Seriously, how are you even here?” she said, once they’d made their way out the back to the hospitality area.

“I was passing,” he said.

She wasn’t buying it. “We’re two hundred miles from London.”

He shrugged. “I promised not to leave you alone in this. Liv couldn’t make it.”

“You didn’t have to,” she said. “But I’m really glad you did. I’m so desperate for a wee it’s not even funny.”

She made a dash for the Porta Potty and caught sight of herself in the mirror as she washed her hands. Pink cheeks, sun-activated freckles, lip gloss long gone but an undeniable shine in her eyes. She’d been so daunted by the idea of the festival, then so swept along by the tidal wave of bookish joy that she’d all but forgotten her nerves. Charlie’s arrival had lifted her onto surer ground; she had someone in her corner now, a sense of being a double act rather than flying solo.

They helped themselves to the buffet in the hospitality tent and found a quiet bench under the shade of a patio umbrella.

“Storm’s coming,” Charlie said, glancing out over the rolling hills.

Kate frowned at the clear blue skies. “How can you possibly tell?”

He opened a bottle of sparkling water, then grinned. “Heard it on the radio in the cab.”

“They must have it wrong,” she said. “It’s clear as a bell.”

“Hi, Kate,” someone said, a thin voice behind her.

She twisted and found herself face-to-face with Sally Rose, the starriest superstar author at the entire event, and one of Kate’s all-time favorite writers. She shot up out of her seat andpractically curtsied, making Sally laugh and place her suntanned, liver-spotted hand on Kate’s arm.

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