Annie must have felt Jane looking, because their gazes locked and Annie seemed surprised at first to catch her wife looking at her from a few feet away, but then waved at her anyway. It was all Jane needed. Just a reminder that it had been the two of them together for such a long time. The two of them beating the odds because when Jane was in her twenties a twelve-year age gap was considered too much by many—her parents included. Which was nothing compared to the challenges that arose later.

Jane shook off the memory of that particularly shameful bit of her past, and refocused on the task at hand. She’d stacked a bunch of copies of her new book on a table. Mia had insisted they put the table next to “her” display of books. Jane leaned against the table and let Taylor top up her glass of bubbly, of which she wasn’t sure she was even allowed to drink it in the shop anymore, now that it was also a coffee shop without a liquor license.

Jane hadn’t really had the chance to get to know Taylor better. She wondered if she liked her books. She looked so intense, she probably read Proust before bed instead of lesbian romance.

Jane thanked Taylor and guessed that with the champagne and her new book on display like that, it was a bit of a book launch party, without the annoying reading bit.

Even though the signing officially only started at seven, a few customers had already arrived. They were not regulars because then they would know that the shop wasn’t usually open at this time. They were shuffling closer to the table now. It was all about to kick off. A tingle took root in Jane’s stomach. These people were here because of words she’d strung together. Sometimes, that was the hardest of all to believe.

The browsing twosome approached the table and gave her a couple of shy smiles. Jane knew all about shy smiles—they were something she could work with—and she smiled back, ready to start. If these people had turned up here especially for her and to get her scribble imprinted in a book they’d paid good money for, Jane had no choice but to give all she had. She’d be spent tomorrow, but tonight, she would put on a bright smile and every word she spoke, she would mean from the bottom of her heart.

Jane didn’t know how many books she’d signed, but the two stacks next to her had almost dwindled to nothing. She had no idea of the time, but she could feel the pleasant buzz of exhaustion running through her veins. Whoever believed that emotional fatigue wasn’t a thing, should take her vitals right about now.