Bell, Book, and Scandal

mingling,“ Shelley said smugly.
    Jane pointedly ignored this and glanced again at the schedule. “I want to go hear what Sophie Smith says this afternoon at the opening ceremony.“
    Going to the copy shop wasn’t exciting but it was better than trying to make lifelong friends with strangers. Jane took her outline and the chapters and had three copies made. She bought three simple buff-colored folders to put them in, forgoing the copy shop’s more attractive folders—floral, neon transparent, and a pink she liked. She knew, however, that making something “cute“ was the sign of an amateur. She chose the fourth folder in bright orange for her own copy. She simply couldn’t resist.
    When she returned to the hotel, she parked closer to the copy center than to the hotel itself, then trudged clear across the increasingly hot pavement and went up to the suite to leave the copies. She was still hot, so she had another soft drink. She also called the front desk to ask if Mel VanDyne had checked in yet. The clerk said he was booked to arrive the next day. Knowing full well she was dawdling, she finally broke down and went to the lobby.
    Jane mingled to the best of her ability. A few of the seemingly lonely attendees were simply waiting for the rest of their friends to arrive. Jane introduced herself anyway, and said how much she was looking forward to this conference. “I’ve never been to one of these. Have you?“ she asked the first woman she accosted.
    “Oh, I go to all of them. I’m an autographed-book junkie. Oh, there’s Susan. Nice to meet you, Joyce.“
    “Jane,“ Jane said to herself as the woman disappeared.
    A couple of the solitary figures she tried to mingle with seemed to want to latch on to her for dear life. She was nice to them, but eventually did the same thing the first woman had done to her. Pretending to see a lifelong friend. But Jane said the women’s names right.
    She met two other rather aggressive unpublished authors who hoped Jane was an editor or agent. This was quickly sorted out. They hadn’t realized until then that the name tags were color-coded in order to differentiate among fans, writers, editors, agents, and booksellers.
    She gave up trolling the lobby and went to the booksellers’ room. This was, naturally, a much better experience. People who love books love promoting their favorites to other people who love books.
    Jane struck up several cheerful conversations with shoppers from the conference who insisted she buy several authors she’d never heard of before.
    When she forced herself to stop running up her credit card, she had a bag of books she could hardly manage to carry back to the room by herself.
    “Good Lord!“ Shelley exclaimed when Jane staggered back to the suite. “Have you bought out all four booksellers in one swoop?“
    “Almost. But look at what neat things I’ve bought,“ Jane said, sliding the pile out of her canvas bag and onto the coffee table. As she lined them up and fondled all of them, trying to decide what order she’d read them in, she said, “I’m going to have to buy more bookshelves. But I’ll tell you this, Shelley, the best mingling is that room.“
    “You’re not going back in there, are you? You’ll break the bank.“
    “Maybe not right away,“ Jane said.
    “You sound guilty.“
    “Three of the four bookstores are from the Chicago area. I asked for their business cards so I can look at everything they stock, not just the selection they brought along. I also bought a really nice computer program to keep track of what you’ve read, how much you liked it, and whether there are more books by the same author. And a really cool book-holder gadget. I bought one for you, too.“
    Shelley just shook her head and said, “Do you want to go down for lunch before the opening ceremony?“
    “I’d rather eat room service so I can look over all these books.“
    Shelley tossed her the room service menu. “Read this first. I’ll order.“
     

Seven
     
    Todd and Katie were out of school that day due to a “professional development workshop“ the teaching staff had to attend. Jane pried herself away from the book collection for long enough to call the kids at home. Katie’s new cell phone was busy, which made Jane frown. Who was her daughter already using her precious minutes on? She called Todd’s number and he picked right up.
    “Hey, Mom! You’re my first call. This is so cool.“
    “It is, isn’t it? Where is