Janine came flying out of her bedroom, her curly hair sticking straight up like she’d stuck her finger in a light socket. She had her robe wrapped around her and was holding her chest. “What’s going on? Are you hurt?”
Colleen shook her head. “No! I was just watching this crime documentary…”
Janine rolled her eyes and then bent over like she was trying to catch her breath. “Girl, have you lost your mind? You almost gave me a heart attack!”
“You don’t understand. There was a female police officer who shot the rapist.”
“Okay…”
“We know her!”
“We know who?”
“The police officer!” Colleen was getting more and more frustrated like Janine was supposed to understand what was popping around inside of her own mind.
“You’re not making any sense!”
“The police officer that shot the rapist and killed him… It was Emma.”
“What? Emma from the lighthouse?”
“Yes! I saw her on the documentary. I’ve got it paused on my bed. I knew she looked familiar! I must’ve seen her on the news at some point.”
“It was probably just someone who looks a lot like her. Emma keeps a lighthouse. She’s not a police officer.”
“And how do you know that? Did she tell you what she did before she came here?”
“Well… no… I got the feeling that she left a life behind that was stressing her out or she had some traumatic event…”
Colleen put her hands on her hips. “You mean like shooting and killing someone?”
“Let me see,” Janine said, pointing to Colleen’s bedroom.
She followed Colleen into the room. They both sat down on the edge of the bed as Colleen picked up her laptop and pressed play. Sure enough, Emma’s face popped back up on the screen again. Colleen pressed pause.
“See? That’s definitely Emma.”
Janine sat there silently for a moment. “She must be completely traumatized.”
“I don’t get it. I mean, police officers have to know that they may end up killing someone in the line of duty. Why would that bother her enough to leave her entire life behind?”
“You know, sometimes you think you know how you’ll react to a situation. And then you get put in that situation, and it’s a lot harder than you think it would’ve been. Maybe that’s what happened.”
“What are we going to do?”
“What do you mean what are we going to do? This is none of our business,” Janine said, standing up and walking toward the door.
“Aunt Janine, it’s obvious that she needs some extra support or help. Running away from it isn’t going to be the best thing for her. Surely you know that after the trauma you suffered.”
Janine slowly turned. “Say nothing. Don’t tell anyone. You don’t publicize someone else’s trauma.”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
“Let me think about it. If I feel like I need to talk to her, I will. But for now, let her enjoy this new start. That’s the best thing we can do for her in this moment.”
Julie had never seen Dixie run around so quickly. The book signing was starting in a couple of hours, and they expected the author to show up at any minute. Julie had tried to finish reading the book the night before, but she had fallen asleep about halfway into chapter three. Still, she found herself getting more and more interested in the plot, so that was a good thing. Hopefully the author didn’t ask her any specific questions or she was going to be in a pickle.
“Do you think this place looks clean enough?” Dixie asked, standing there with her hands on her hips as she surveyed the entire bookstore. They had been sweeping and scrubbing and tidying up since they got there at seven AM.
“It’s fine. We’re not being judged on cleanliness. We’re hosting an author who wants to sign books. We’re doing her a favor!”
Dixie laughed. “I don’t think that’s true. Just the fact that she’s going to be here means we’re going to have all sorts of people lined up outside. It’s going to be great for business.”
“Maybe so, but they’re here to look at her books and meet her. They’re not here to buy more books from other authors, or at least I wouldn’t think so. Just don’t be disappointed if sales don’t skyrocket, okay?”
“Where is that clipboard?” Dixie asked, suddenly running around yet again.
“I put it on the table. People will be able to write their emails so that we can send them regular messages about sales and so forth. I’ve got it handled. You really need to calm down before you end up in the hospital.”
Dixie chuckled under her breath. “I haven’t been this excited in years. I feel like I’m about to meet Elvis!”
Julie rolled her eyes and laughed. “I think you might be getting a little dramatic.”
“I think I’ll run to the back and just make sure that we didn’t miss a box of books that we can sell. Keep an eye out because she should be here soon.”
“Will do, sir,” Julie said, saluting her like she was a military leader.
She finished straightening the books on the table where Charlotte McLemore would be signing. She made sure that their most comfortable chair was pushed up behind it. Although she wasn’t nearly as excited as Dixie, she did like the way the woman wrote.
Julie had always wanted to write a novel, and she had been working on one for almost a year now. But it seemed like life was always getting in the way, and she never could get the thing finished. Even if she did, she didn’t know who would publish it. All of it seemed like a very involved process, and she wasn’t sure if she could take the rejection if people didn’t like it.
Still, she wanted to write a novel about a woman like herself who had had the strength to leave a bad situation and start a new life that was even better than she could’ve hoped for.
