Writing A Wrong (Write Stuff 2)

"You mean the ones holding the sign and chanting my name? How did you guess?" I rolled my eyes. Judging by how warm my face felt, I'm sure my cheeks were a bright shade of red. Mom held a sign over her head that read I gave birth to N.S. Blake. I would have gladly welcomed demons to break through the floor and grab me by the ankles to drag me away, especially after my brothers encouraged the crowd to join in at chanting my name. Nothing like stealing the show. I looked apologetically at my friends, but they seemed to be finding as much humor in my embarr

assment as my family.

"All right, all right. We don't want to scare our authors away," Maddie said, attempting to quiet the ruckus of the crowd. "Let's get this Q&A started." Thankfully, Maddie directed a question at Michelle and the noise level in the room finally mellowed.

Despite its rocky start, the Q&A went amazingly well. The readers who had come out to see us were avid fans of all our books. It made for an easy panel session filled with lots of laughter and joking.

"Honey, you were fabulous," Mom said, finally making her way to the front of my table once the signing ended.

I stood up to embrace her. Forgiving Mom for causing a scene earlier was easy. After almost a month, I missed her. She was quick witted, protective, and believed family came first. Growing up in a household of boys, we'd shared a common kinship—the girls against all the sweaty gym socks. Riley wanted in on the action, so he not so subtly nudged Mom aside to give me one of his typical hugs. It was light but warm and smelled like Riley—Calvin Klein with a twinge of spice.

I made it through the hug line of my other family members, leaving Tony for last. He felt the need to lift me off my feet and spin me around, not caring who we would kick or what we might knock over. "You're crushing my lungs," I gasped, pinching his arm before he took the hint and let me go. "God, you oaf. People are watching," I said, looking around in embarrassment.

Olivia stood as rigid as a statue behind my dad, using him as a shield. In all the time we'd been friends she had never taken to the fact that my family members were big huggers. Olivia approved of public displays of affection about as much as having teeth pulled without Novocain. You wouldn't blame her if you knew her parents the way I did. It's not that they were strict when we were kids. They just weren't the most affectionate people. My family tried converting Olivia during the years, but she seemed to have an anti-hugging gene coded into her DNA, and it's hard to fight nature. Maybe that was one of the reasons she had never given Tony a chance. He had a knack for taking hugs to an obnoxious level.

Dad stepped in before I could grab the heaviest hardback book within reach and use it on Tony's head. "You did amazing, sweetheart. You sounded so poised and professional up there. I'm very proud of you." His voice was gruff, and I could tell he was on the verge of choking up. I pulled back slightly and tilted my head up to look at him. His eyes shimmered with moisture and pride. It wasn't often that Dad showed his softer side, but when he did it was genuine.

"Aw, Daddy, I love you," I said, giving him a tight squeeze.

"Daddy? What are you trying to butter him up for?" Zach asked, ruffling my hair.

"Ugh, stop. You guys are incorrigible."

My tour mates and I wrapped things up by signing copies of our books for the store to keep on hand and taking some pictures with the staff. After introducing Greg and the girls to my family circus, we all headed out together to grab dinner. Mom had already taken the initiative to make reservations at the Outback that sat in the same shopping plaza. She and the rest of my family headed to the restaurant to get things situated while the girls and I walked to the RV to quickly freshen up.

"So, that's your family," Greg said, walking with Olivia and me through the parking lot.

"Yeah, that's the crew. Hey, how do you think sales went in there?" I didn't change the subject on purpose. It just occurred to me out of the blue that I meant to check our end cap display before we left.

"Awesome for both Wicked Lovely and Wicked Lonely. You sold most of what they ordered for the appearance. What you signed afterward was all that was left. Everyone else did great too, especially Monica's newest release. Maddie said it was the busiest signing she'd ever hosted, so I'd call it the best stop on the tour yet."

"I overheard Maddie telling a sales clerk they were going to display the signed copies you left by the registers and she expected them to sell quickly," Olivia added, looking pleased.

"Oh yeah, and it happened on my watch." Greg pounded his chest like Tarzan. "Well, obviously all the credit goes to you ladies," he said when Olivia and I stopped with our arms crossed. "How 'bout I just go unlock the Beast, so everyone can grab what they need before dinner." He jogged ahead, stopping when he reached Monica, Tina, and Michelle, who were strolling ahead of us.

"How you holding up?" Olivia asked now that we had some privacy.

"It's been good. Better than I thought. I miss home and Alec, of course. And there are times when I crave some alone time like a crack addict, but I'm surviving."

She nudged me with her hip. "I knew you'd settle in. Is the Dramamine still working?"

I nodded. "As long as I sit up front. I'm not getting any work done, but at least I'm not puking my guts out every day." The fact that I had come nowhere near my daily word count goal during the last ten days sucked ass. There was no way I would reach the tentative deadline I had set to finish my current manuscript. Every night I had the intention of catching up before going to bed, but the long hours riding in the RV combined with the signings sapped away all my energy.

Everyone must have been starving because we all made quick work of grabbing our things from the RV before walking as a group to the restaurant. When we arrived we found Zachary and Ashley standing under a small tree practically eating each other's faces. "Get a room," I muttered, giving them a bump with my shoulder.

"Jealous?" Zach drawled, dropping another kiss on Ashley's upturned lips.

"Ashamed is more like it," I answered, shaking my head at Olivia.

"I think it's sweet," Tina added. "Besides, Greg and I did the same thing last night while everyone else was sleeping. Right, sugar lips?" She wagged her eyebrows suggestively. She was kidding, but the look on Greg's face was priceless.

"Hey, that was supposed to be a secret," Greg laughed. "I don't want Nicole to think I'm easy."

Unsure of why he had singled me out, I glanced at Olivia, who raised her eyebrows questioningly at me."Don't let me break up anything between you two," I said, choosing not to return her stare.

Dad stood at the entrance, waiting to hold the door open for our group. "Come on in. Your mother gave them our new count and they're still getting tables ready for us."

"Thanks, Dad," I said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek as I passed.