CONTROL #1: Unmasking Mr. Darcy [PREVIEW ONLY]

Chapter 9 : Driving in Corsets

"This isn't really a question, but..."

Lizzy had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. This always happened at book events, especially when the author was a woman: some guy would take the mic during the Q&A and, instead of asking a question, proceeded to regale the audience with his thoughts on a tangentially related topic in a long, rambling speech.

She barely paid attention to what he said, and instead scanned the crowd for Asher. She found him seated in the back row. He looked bored. Good. Maybe next time he would think twice before... well, doing whatever it was he was doing at her book signing.

"That's very interesting," she said, the moment the man at the mic paused for breath. "I believe the young woman on the second row has a question?"

The woman got up and walked to the mic, which had been reluctantly relinquished by the guy. "Hi," she said, a little silly. "You don't seem to write much about the more mainstream films or blockbusters. Why is that?"

"Good question." Lizzy smiled and relaxed a bit. They had given her a chair for the Q&A but she preferred to stand, sometimes even pace a bit as she answered questions. "There are more than enough people giving their reviews and critiques of, say, superhero films. I personally don't like most of what the big studios are putting out, and what I have to say about them isn't particularly interesting. And I don't like writing negative reviews." A few audience members nodded. "So instead, I try to find films that are good, and most of the time they just happen to be independently produced." She paused, looking at the audience members who were raising their hands. "Yes, the young lady in the back row."

Too late did Lizzy realize that she probably called on the girl because Lizzy had been looking at Asher and the girl was sitting right next to him.

The girl looked very young. Fifteen maybe. She looked a little shy, but it then she was probably the youngest person in the audience.

"I love movies," the girl said. "And I want to write about them too, one day. What can I do to, you know, prepare for that?"

Lizzy nodded. "Why aren't you writing about movies now?"

"I'm not a very good writer."

"Well, there are very few writers who start out very good. That's all right. The sooner you start writing, the sooner you'll get better. Blogging is good practice, I think. Maybe even a video channel."

"Oh." The girl's face lit up. "Okay."

The girl walked back to her seat. To Lizzy's surprise, Asher smiled up at the girl and she whispered something to him before sitting back down.

The girl was a little too old to be his child. A sister, maybe? Lizzy didn't know what to think about that. Except that maybe she had been mistaken and he wasn't here to see her. But he didn't strike her as the type to be babysitting a kid sister at a book signing he wasn't particularly interested in, as was patently obvious by the many times he kept looking at his watch.

Either way, at least it explained why he hadn't shown up at the office that afternoon, when she was supposed to show him around, give him a basic idea of their operations. She had waited for him for an hour before she gave up and left for the bookstore.

Lizzy took two more questions, then sat behind the desk in front of the audience to sign books. She lost sight of Asher and the girl. It was a relief, because she wasn't looking forward to having to talk to him. While she may have to tolerate him at work, she had no desire to spend any time with him outside the office.

None whatsoever.

***

"You think he's ghosting us?" Sharlene said wistfully.