Fauxmance (Showmance #2)(65)

Julian absorbed what I said. “That was brave of you.”

“I know. We’d only ever communicated through emails and over the phone. For years he’s been trying to convince me to do an appearance. He finally wore me down.”

“And now you’re thinking of backing out?” he guessed.

“Well, yes, but I can’t. It’s being held in one of the biggest bookstores in London. There are five hundred people coming to see me. I can’t disappoint them. Though I’ll probably do that anyway by freaking out during the event.”

Julian took both my hands in his. “Ellen, what do you want to do?”

I blinked at him. “I want to do the signing.”

His mouth curved into a smile. “Then you’ll do it.”

His confidence gave me confidence, but my words still came out shaky. “I n-need to figure out what to wear.”

“I like your navy dress,” he suggested.

I shook my head. “No, that’s not an Elodie outfit.”

“I know that. I don’t think you should go as Elodie. I think you should go as Ellen.”

I sat back, flustered. “I’ve already met Daniel dressed as Elodie. I mean, he knows my name is Ellen, but aside from that—”

“So what? I’m assuming you make this Daniel a lot of money. He’s not going to drop you just because you wore a wig and a sexy outfit the first time you met.”

Well, when he put it like that... Daniel might look at me funny, think I was a bit of an oddball, but he wouldn’t drop me as a client. Like Julian said, my books were too lucrative.

“You don’t want your first public appearance to be a lie, Ellen. Then you’ll just have to keep on lying, and before you know it, you’ll be drowning in it.” He leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to my cheek. “Besides, Ellen is a beautiful, intelligent, funny, and kind woman. Why wouldn’t you want to be her?”

“How do you always know just the right thing to say?”

He kissed me again, this time a little less chaste. “I just know you now. We’ve spent a lot of time together these last few weeks and it’s helped me understand you more, your motivations. I can see you want to be you, not Elodie. You don’t want to hide, but you just need someone to give you that final push.”

And push me he did. The next day, I tried on numerous outfits, several different hairstyles and an array of makeup choices, unable to settle on anything. Julian stayed with me the entire time for moral support. I swear he had the patience of a saint.

I flopped down onto the bed, exasperated. “That’s it, I give up.”

After sitting on the armchair in the corner of my room, watching me try on outfits for the better part of an hour, Julian finally stood. Without a word, he picked up a pair of jeans, a sleeveless white blouse, and a pale grey cardigan.

His instruction was simple. “Wear these.”

I glanced at the offered clothes. “But they aren’t very—”

“They’re you. You’ll be comfortable in them, they’ll cover up your very beautiful body, and that’s all that matters. Now go put them on.”

I huffed a breath. “Dammit, you’re always right.”

When we arrived at the bookstore where the signing was being held, there was already a line down the street. I swallowed tightly, and Julian squeezed my hand. “You’re going to be fine. I’ll be right here beside you the entire time.”

His reassuring words soothed me. Since nobody knew what E.S. Grant looked like, I was able to walk right into the shop without anyone batting an eyelash. I saw Daniel waiting just inside, glancing at his watch as though worried I wasn’t going to show. Just like the readers outside, my agent didn’t recognise me without my costume. I walked up to him, Julian at my side, and said, “Hi, Daniel.”

He glanced at me. “Do I know y…” his words trailed off as he frowned, squinted, then asked, “Ellen?”

I nodded sheepishly. “Yes, I, um, dyed my hair since we last met.”

His attention wandered over me, probably noting that my hair didn’t look dyed, but natural. It was the only excuse I could think of.

“But your eyes—"

“I wear coloured contacts sometimes. Obviously not today, since I have my glasses on.” My gut tightened. I worried he was going to reject me, say he didn’t believe me and order security to take me out of there.

Instead he scratched his head, lifted an eyebrow and exhaled a breath. “I have questions, but for now we need to get you ready. Come on, there’s an office out back.” Daniel’s gaze went to Julian, as though waiting for an introduction.

“This is my friend, Julian,” I said. “He’s here for moral support.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Julian put in.

“And you.” They shook hands and Daniel led us to the office.

“Did you bring an excerpt to read?” he asked, and I nodded, my throat running dry at the thought of doing a reading, not to mention a question and answer session afterward.

“Good,” Daniel went on. “You’ll also notice a few members of the press out there. The book world is very excited to finally meet E.S. Grant.”

“Fabulous,” I deadpanned.

Daniel chuckled and patted me on the shoulder. “You’re going to do just fine. Everyone’s dying to see you.”