The door dinged and she looked up to see Anna standing there. “Well, good morning! I didn’t know you were coming by here.”

“I love to read, so I thought I’d take a look while I was heading to my appointment.”

“Well, we’ve got plenty of these,” Julie said, holding up one of Charlotte’s books and laughing.

“Looks like you do! How much did you end up reading last night?”

“I got about halfway through the third chapter before I fell asleep, although I don’t think it’s the author’s fault. The book was actually pretty good, but I was exhausted. I probably shouldn’t have had that glass of wine I snuck upstairs.”

“Oh, a good glass of wine is always okay.”

“Would you like a cup of coffee? I just made a fresh pot.”

“No thanks. I had some before I left the inn.”

“I hope that your room was to your liking?”

“It was wonderful! I swear that was the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in.”

She heard Dixie come out of the storage room in the back. “Oh, I want to introduce you to my friend and business partner.”

Dixie appeared behind her, her mouth dropping open and her eyes widening. She looked like she’d seen a ghost.

“Oh my goodness… You’re early…”

“Early? Dixie what are you talking about? This is my new friend, Anna. She’s staying at the inn. She’s here on business.”

Dixie stared at her, her eyebrows furrowed. “Julie, do you not know who this is?”

“Yes, of course I do. I told you this is Anna.”

The whole time, Anna just stood there, a slight smile on her face watching the two women talk.

“Look!” Dixie said, holding up one of Charlotte McLemore’s books. Only this time she had turned it around to the back where the author’s biography and picture were. Julie took the book from her hand and stared at the photo.

“Anna? Wait, I’m confused. You’re Charlotte McLemore?”

Anna… or Charlotte, rather… smiled. “My real name is Anna, but my pen name is Charlotte.”

Julie felt like she was going to throw up. Her insides were churning like some kind of alien was trying to escape. Certainly vomiting on the woman was probably not the right reaction given all of the terrible things she’d said about her book just yesterday.

“I’m so embarrassed,” Julie said quietly.

“What’s going on? What did I miss?” Dixie asked.

“Well, I met Anna yesterday, and I didn’t know she was Charlotte… And I said some things about the book…”

Charlotte reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “It’s no big deal, Julie. I really enjoyed it because nobody ever tells me the truth anymore. Everybody wants to say nice things, and that’s great, but I also want to hear the bad things.”

Julie looked up at her. “There are no bad things! I’m just a terrible reader. And I’m so tired lately. It wasn’t your book!”

“It’s fine, really. It was nice to talk to someone who had no idea who I was.”