Because I hate them with a vengeance. Jane couldn’t say that out loud. “I’ve had them before and they’re a waste of time. A launch party is no longer necessary. It’s a thing of the past in this digital age. And, in my opinion, it only serves to inflate a writer’s ego. I don’t need my ego inflated, so there you have it.”

Mia smiled and shook her head. “Just off the top of my head, I can think of a dozen people who would fall over themselves to attend a Jane Quinn book launch party, who would happily buy the book from you directly, and would be honored to have it signed by you. I was seeing it more as a treat for your fans, really. Along with an opportunity to boost the profile of both the book shop and the Pink Bean.”

“Oh.” Jane realized she’d let her fear get the better of her too quickly again. “Of course I want to please my readers.” Jane loathed the word fans. She was hardly a boyband member and that was whom she associated the word with. “It’s the very point of my writerly existence.”

“I know you like to keep a low profile, and I want to respect that. But I am one of your readers and you have no idea how much it thrills me to just sit here with you and have this conversation.”

“You mean I’m not too big of a disappointment? I am, after all, a much better writer than I am a talker.” Although not so much of late.

“It doesn’t have to be a party, if that’s too much.” Mia continued. “We could just organize a book signing. Sell some coffees along the way. You wouldn’t have to lift a finger. Except show up and sign the books, of course. But you’d be in your own shop. In your comfort zone. I’ll take care of all the preparations and promotion.”

“As long as you don’t want to have a cardboard cutout of me at the entrance,” Jane said.

“Is that a yes?”

Jane’s first instinct was to say she’d talk it over with Annie, but Annie would only try to coax her to say yes, so she might as well just agree now. “I guess it is.”

“Brilliant!” Mia smiled her wide smile. They should put her by the door. That would get people into the shop. “I have the best job in the world.”