“Absolutely not.” Emily took her hand.
“You’ll be fine. Just stay with me.”
“Try getting rid of me,” Derian said.
“Besides, you’re elected to do the carrying.
Here.”
“Uh…” Derian stared at the shiny multicolored
bag with the cartoon image Emily handed her. “You want me to walk around
carrying a bag with Captain Underpants on it?”
Emily laughed. “Those are in incredible
demand and will be gone in half an hour. Whatever you do, don’t put it down
anywhere.” As she spoke, she was dropping books into it.
“Are we stealing these?” Derian asked.
“No,” Emily said, handing her another bag,
this one thankfully unadorned except for a publisher’s logo. “These are all
advance reading copies. They’re free.”
“Why?” Derian grabbed a handful of Hershey’s
Kisses from a bowl on a counter in front of a booth displaying computers
running some kind of cataloging software.
“Marketing.” Emily smiled and accepted a
catalog from a book rep as they passed by the next booth. “Librarians and
booksellers are the largest segments of attendees. They’ll be looking for new
titles to order in the upcoming year. Most of these booths are publishers,
promoting their forthcoming catalogs. There’ll be a row of printers—not as many
as there used to be, now that everything has gone digital—and companies selling
software to handle metadata and royalties and whatnot.”
“Okay, I need a crash course, that’s pretty
clear,” Derian muttered. “But first I’m gonna need more coffee.”
Laughing, looking young and happy and
energized, Emily nodded. “We’ll have plenty of breaks between appointments.
We’ve got three days to get you properly initiated.”
“I’m sorry I’m not going to be much help.”
Derian grimaced and glanced around, realizing she had no idea which direction
they’d come from or how to get back there. “And I’m something of a liability on
top of that.”
“You absolutely are not,” Emily said
fiercely. “Don’t ever say that again.”
The force of her words washed over Derian
like a flurry of kisses. Her belly warmed and she had to remind herself about
her promise of business only for the rest of the day. “I like it when you
champion me. You make me feel special.”
“You are,” Emily said, still in battle mode.
“And you are not the first person to feel lost in this place. I’m just used to
it.”
“I’m okay,” Derian said, realizing she was.
She’d find Emily if they got separated. One way or the other, she’d find her
again. Emily kept her centered. “Come on, we’ve only got fifteen minutes left
and there must be a few thousand more books you need to get.”