Red Flag

32. Fans and Others

Lorne stepped between the woman and me, and as she took her phone from her bag and raised it, his hand followed it up, blocking her shot. "No photos, please."

"Aww! Just one for Instagram."

"And assist others in finding her?"

"What?" The woman shook her head. "Oh, goodness, no. To share with her fans and with my reading club."

"Compromising her location, enabling many others to disrupt her privacy."

"Oh!" The woman lowered her phone and sidestepped Lorne to see me behind him. "Sorry, Ms Redburn. Didn't even think."

"It's fine." While I worked at calming my rapid breathing, I examined her face, continuing with my standard comment, "You look familiar, but I can't place you."

"At your Indigo launches. I'm Claire – you've signed seven of your books for me."

"Yes, of course." No, of course not. One of the many hundreds – thousands – nameless but for the book inscriptions. "Been three years since I've done one of those. You have a good memory."

"Your enchanting smile and huge red hair are impossible to forget." She chuckled. "Particularly with your portrait on the back covers to remind. When's your next one being published?"

"It has a Thanksgiving theme, so we're targeting early October. Should do another public launch with it."

"Ooh! If I bring the four you've not signed, would you do them for me there?"

"I'd be delighted to – as long as you don't tell anyone you've seen me here. Allow me to relax." I pointed along the mall. "We must go. Dinner reservation. Nice seeing you again, Claire."

"Yes, of course. Sorry to interrupt. See you in October."

As Claire rejoined her group, Lorne guided me through the evening crowd, and when out of earshot, I said, "A frequent occurrence, but this time it startled me."

"On edge because of the situation."

"Yeah." I blew a deep breath. "I've always been comfortable with the recognition and interaction, knowing they help my sales. But this was so different. Tense."

"They often shoot photos of you?"

"Ummm." I nodded. "Lots of tagged over-the-shoulder selfies on Twitter, most out of focus – likely the same on Instagram and Facebook. I love the automatic marketing."

"Most of them geo-tagged. Simple to track you."

"Oh, God!" I slapped a hand to my mouth and mumbled through it. "Need to hide my face."

"If Claire recognised you, possibly other fans will, as well."

"Even more likely now – the Writers' Festival was this weekend. I had been invited to present a workshop, but with my editing pressure, I declined."

"Oh! That changes the risk." He took my hand and quickened his pace.

We left the bustling pedestrian mall, and as we walked through the much less busy courtyard between the wings of the Hilton, I said, "Few would have lingered; the last session finished mid-afternoon."

"Where was it?"

"Down at the Conference Centre."

"Great! Not many would have wandered up here – there's a far larger and more affordable selection of hotels and restaurants down there."

A short while later, feeling more relaxed as we walked through the refined calmness of the Four Seasons lobby, I chuckled. "Thinking about writing – my editing pressure has disappeared."