The Research Project

Chapter Thirty

"You look amazing," Suzanne gushed as Lainey walked into the room. "Red is definitely your colour."

"Someone told me that once," Lainey said. Suzanne didn't hear her.

"Um, you just might want to fix this though," she said, indicating on her own cleavage what she meant.

Lainey looked down. Her black lacy bra was poking out at the top of her dress. Lainey tucked it under. The last thing she needed tonight was a wardrobe malfunction. She patted the neckline of her low cut dress back into place, this time an Oscar de la Renta. She was so nervous. Where was her mum? Lainey looked about. She was standing in the Glitter Room of the Red Bar. It looked so different tonight, the space had been specially fitted out for her book launch. The entire event was being sponsored by a bookstore called 'Temptation' where they only sold romance novels. The owner of the store, Christopher, who had introduced himself to her earlier, was now heading toward her with a glass of champagne in his hand.

"Here," he said, handing it to her. "It's Bollinger in honour of your book. This will help you to relax a little."

"Thanks," Lainey said, taking a delicate sip.

Christopher disappeared again, talking to several people as he went.

"I have several points for your speech, Lainey. Do you want to have a look?" Suzanne was saying as she, too, took a sip of her champagne.

Lainey looked over the speech. She didn't know what magic Suzanne had weaved, but it read so much better than what she'd written. Maybe Suzanne should be the writer because Lainey had obviously lost it.

"I love it," she said.

"Great, all you have to do is read it, but try to add a little bit of life into it if you can."

"Easy." Lainey took another sip of the champagne hoping it would help. "Is my mum here yet?"

"Is that her talking to Christopher."

Lainey looked up. Her mum was standing there looking happy and relaxed and breathtaking in the brand new dress Lainey had bought her for tonight as she talked to Christopher. Her mum looked over and Lainey waved. Christopher helpfully brought her mum over to her before he disappeared again.

"Hi, Mum," she said, choking a little on some tears. "You look beautiful tonight."

"So do you, sweetheart." Kate gave her a kiss on the cheek, her eyes also glistening. "I'm so proud of you, I can't believe all of these people are here to see my little Lai-lai."

"Well everyone here thinks my name is Bronte, so let's not give away the secret," she said.

Christopher materialised beside them once more carrying another glass of champagne. "For your charming mother," he said handing it to Kate who smiled at him. Lainey raised an eyebrow but didn't have time to analyse the situation any further. Christopher was talking to her again. "The crowd is really swelling out there," he said.

"Christopher, you're meant to calm my nerves, not give me an anxiety attack."

"Relax, you'll be great. We'll have a half an hour question and answer time just so that your fans can get to know Bronte McAllister a bit more and then we can get straight into the book signing."

Lainey blew out a breath and took another drink. "I can do this," she said.

She had to, her whole life came down to this, literally. Now that she didn't have a day job, she needed her writing to pay off. She took a final look out at the crowd, scanning it quickly. She tended to do that a lot these days, always looking. She knew it was stupid because she was always looking for Byron. He wouldn't be here tonight, she thought with a melancholy that gripped her heart and threatened to never lift.