And Then (Part 1)

Chapter 8

I follow Nora to the exit and watch her and her group walk down the street and then head back in and wander around the bookstore to find out where the signing will be. I see Harrison and he waves me over. As I walk toward him, I see a very beautiful, tall, blonde woman standing next to him. She's too close and touching him a little more than I like which causes me to narrow my eyes at her. Harrison is listening to what she is telling him and doesn't seem to really notice any of this.

"Hey!" Harrison smiles at me when I get close, and I try to compose my facial expression. "Hey." I reply and eye the blonde as she eyes me back. "Nancy Quinn, this is Annie Hart. Annie, this is Nancy my publicist." The woman quickly looks directly at me, jumps up and down a little and claps her hands, all while smiling. She looks absolutely ridiculous. In a thick British accent, she gushes "Oh my goodness! The Annie Hart?" I can't help but be a little cold towards her "Yup, that's me." Harrison looks at me and tilts his head a little like he's trying to figure something out. And then the blonde is hugging me while still bouncing up and down. I quickly look at Harrison with pleading eyes for help.

"Ok Nancy, that's enough" Harrison says as he pulls at her arm. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm just a really big fan of your work!" she says as she finally releases me. "Thank you, that's very kind of you." I tell her as I feign a smile, but I know the smile doesn't reach my eyes and Harrison looks at me questioningly again. I just avert my eyes away from him and toward the tall blonde beauty. I can't explain myself right now, at least not to him, and definitely not in front of her.

"You two have really got the media buzzing! That was such a great idea! How did you guys ever come up with that stunt?" she gushes. "It wasn't like that. It wasn't a publicity stunt." I respond curtly. "Oh, I didn't mean to upset you." She tries to apologize. "I am not upset. I just do not really like what you are implying." I explain to her.

"Oh! Well, um, again, I'm sorry." She doesn't really look sorry at all. "No. It's ok. I should just leave you guys to the signing. It starts soon, right?" Shit! I need to get away from this harpy before I yank her hair out or something worse.

They both look at their watches and nod and I take that as my queue to walk away. I nod as well and start to turn away but before I can get away Harrison has caught my hand and turned me back toward him. He hugs me tightly to his chest and I take a deep breath in of his scent. "Are you ok Annie?" Since he didn't let me go to answer, I mumble "yes" into his chest. He pushes me back a little and looks down at me. "Are you sure?" I look over at the blonde and back at him. She's eyeing us but trying not to be obvious about it. "Yeah, of course" I mumble. He lifts my face up to him and laughs lightly, whispering "Are you jealous?" I pull away from him a little bit more and say "No" unconvincingly and he pulls me back in. "You have nothing to be jealous about. I brought you here with me, didn't I? She's just my publicist, nothing more."

"Yes, but... don't you remember what I told you before? About how I shouldn't come to the book signing because your fans would be jealous. How I would have been jealous if I saw you with a woman?" I move my eyes in Nancy's direction and slightly raise one of my eyebrows up at him. He bends down and kisses me in reply. "Just remember that I would rather be hanging out with you instead of being here with her, or anyone else for that matter."

Suddenly Nancy's voice calls out, ending our kiss "Harry, you'd better get ready, you only have about 5 minutes before they start sending people over. So sorry Annie, I hope you don't mind, but he has commitments as I know you are aware." I don't like the way she said that last part. I try to smile back at her but it's more of a wince, I'm sure.

"Ok then, I better let you get back to her." I look down and try to pull away again, but he doesn't let me go. "Look at me Annie." I do as he asks. "Please don't be upset with me? Remember, she's just my publicist." His plea warms my heart and I hug him tightly. "Ok" I reply to him. As we pull out of our hug, I see Nancy looking right at us, and the look on her face sends a chill down my spine. If looks could kill, I would most definitely be dead.