Teagan pulled up to her hotel in Albuquerque. She’d gotten there later than she’d hoped, thanks to a storm that followed her from Denver to Pueblo and added nearly three hours to her drive.

She wondered at the wisdom of holding a comic convention in January, at least in a cold place like Albuquerque. Yet, even the tricky drive couldn’t dampen her excitement at her first con invitation, knowing that others would eventually follow. Plus, better to be stuck inside for three days in the doldrums of January than during summer.

Teagan checked in to her hotel, loaded up her portable dolly with boxes, and began her first trip to the convention center. The check-in line was long by that time, so Teagan pulled out her phone and got on Facebook. Diana had posted a picture of herself with Matthew, her kissing his cheek while he looked embarrassed. Hannah posted a pic of herself and some friends in their ski clothes, holding up their beers after a day of skiing the cross-country trails.

“Can I help you?” said the woman working the desk.

“Hello. Teagan McAlister, checking in.”

The woman looked through her printed sheets of names. “Yes. Here you are.” She handed Teagan a pile of papers. “Here’s where to submit for reimbursement for your hotel, and here is your badge and schedule of appearances. If you have any questions, contact me, Shannon. My number is on the bottom there. From here, you’ll go down the hall and to the right to set up your table. You’ll see the other guests there.”

Teagan thanked her and headed to set up. Right away she recognized Lucia, the fantasy author who’d sat next to her at Tucson Comic Con.

“Hey!” Lucia said. “You’re my neighbor from Phoenix Comic Con!”

“Almost. Tucson Comic Con.”

“Tucson? That was a year and a half ago! Has it been that long?”

“I know, right?” Teagan shook her head at how much time had passed since that trip. She quickly shooed away reminders of Aaron.

“I almost didn’t recognize you,” Lucia said. “Your hair isn’t pink anymore. And it’s longer now.”

Teagan shrugged. “Sometimes you need a change…”

“Totally.”

Teagan finished setting up and asked Lucia to take a picture of her as she pointed to her “special guest” sign. She posted it on Facebook and said, “Yeah. Special Guest, bitches!” with a smiley face. Finally, she chatted briefly with the other guests before grabbing some dinner to take back to her room. She was tired and had three big days ahead.

Her phone beeped. It was a text from Josh.

Teagan woke up Friday morning and checked her Amazon rankings first thing. She’d done a promotion for the second book in her Desert Suns series, and sales had spiked. More reviews had come in, mostly with praise and begging for Book 3, which she’d spent her entire holiday break working on. Teagan shook her head in disbelief, grateful but still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

She grabbed a latte and an egg-and-cheese sandwich before working on her book for a while. That was the cool thing about being a Special Guest—capital S, capital G—she didn’t have to sit there all day, waiting for a sale. Now, she could take her time and arrive when she was scheduled to speak on a panel or sit at her table to greet readers and sign books.

Once she got to the convention center, the day whizzed by. After her panel about female sci-fi writers, a rush of readers came to her table. Some were new readers wanting to meet her and buy her books, others had read her stuff and wanted her to sign a book or answer a question, while others wanted to chat about their own budding writing careers.

“Your hair!” one young woman with dark curls exclaimed. “It’s not pink anymore!”

“I needed a change,” Teagan said, unable to offer any other explanation, mostly because she didn’t know why she’d changed it.

“I liked it pink! But it’s pretty this way, too. I changed my major, you know. To biology, from business.”

Teagan grinned. “Good for you!”

“You used to teach biology, right?”

“I still do. Up in Denver.”

The young woman looked through the book display and selected two. “These are the ones I’ve been waiting to buy from you in person. Will you sign them?”

“Of course!” Teagan leaned over and opened one of the covers. “What’s your name?”

“Amanda.”

Teagan signed the books and swiped Amanda’s credit card. “I’m giving you a student discount,” she said with a wink.

“Thank you!”

“Good to meet you, Amanda. Keep studying…” she added, waving as the curly-haired student wandered off into the crowd.

Saturday was a blur. When Teagan arrived at her table, a small crowd awaited her. Between selling books, signing books, talking with readers, and being in and out of panels, she’d forgotten about lunch. By Saturday night, she was happy but tired. Nevertheless, she ignored her fatigue and attended the costume party that evening. She had no costume, but she had plenty of fun taking pics with the con attendees and chatting with other authors. The costumes were amazing—Harley Quinn and Deadpool and Star Trek uniforms and even a giant Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy. They paraded around in merriment and showed off for contests and, over the evening, took off their cloying masks and went crazy.

Teagan had a few drinks and stuck around far longer than she’d planned before she finally headed back to her hotel. It was dark and really cold out, but the chilly air refreshed her after such a long day. The streets and sidewalks had been plowed and shoveled, and were free of snow and lingering ice. As she walked, a white Chevy truck drove by. She stuck her tongue out at it, giggling a little. It was the first one she’d noticed in months.

Sunday, she slept in late. The con didn’t need her until noon, allowing her time to lounge and relax before she had to return to the convention center. That day lacked Saturday’s craziness but was still quite busy. Teagan had no panels and was only scheduled to sit among her fellow special guests, selling books and chatting with readers. She lingered at her table for longer than she needed to, enjoying herself too much to think about the long drive home or a new batch of college students.

When Teagan noticed that her stacks of books had dwindled, she ducked under her table to root through her boxes and replenish her stores. From under the table, she saw feet approach. She grabbed a stack and came up for air, ready to greet another reader. Then she froze.

There, standing right in front of her, was Aaron.