The Rise of Rachel Price T-Girl Pt. 33

As Rachel basked in the warm glow of success, she couldn't help but feel grateful for the opportunity to share her work with such an enthusiastic audience. The joy of the moment was palpable as the bustling energy of the crowd merged with the rich history of City Lights Booksellers, creating a truly unforgettable experience. Yan Crammer rushed around; he was as giddy as a child at Christmas. Some of the executives from Chronicle Books had turned up to witness the line that had formed outside the shop for themselves. Yan was rushing around, his face beaming with an undeniable sense of pride, his eyes sparkling with a mixture of joy and accomplishment. Never in the history of publishing had a chest been so puffed out. Rachel wasn't sitting in his praise; he had done a huge job. The pre-orders for a book of poetry had never been higher. Even a few critics had been fooled. Others had sidetracked themselves about Levant.

"Well, you've got to admit it was an impressive performance," Charlie said over coffee Yan had organised a mobile coffee cart to come into the store for the launch. He had thoughtfully found one which could even serve nitro-coffee just for Rachel. They stood near by watching the crowds devolve into general book buying. The trio stood to the side of the temporary performance space and near the large screen Yan had used to help get questions from a media stream. This had been disconnected and was now playing a live news station and was begging for someone to switch it off.

Charlie had slipped in during the reading with some nitro coffee for Rachel and Samantha. Twitter and Instagram feeds were filling up. Now that the opening had died down, Rachel had finished an impressive signing. She was hanging around in case any latecomers wanted a signed copy.

Rachel and her friends had a chance to stand near a tall table and talk. Samantha had done a lot of behind-the-scenes work to get Charlie to talk to Rachel again. Rachel was still unforgiven for the incident with Logan, but Charlie was willing to talk. Charlie had made it plain to Samantha that Rachel and Charlie would never touch each other again. After much pleading, Samantha had convinced Charlie to let Rachel be a "platonic friend." After seeing Hunter, Rachel was not in a position to be in a lifeboat alone. Rachel rather rudely she still didn't feel responsible for encouraging Logan, but she was wise not to say that to Charlie.

They had all watched Levant on the political debate live on TV the night before, and most Californians could talk of little else. Levant had gone against his main rival, Gorr, and a few others in a gubernatorial debate on live TV. The discussion had begun about half a second after the end.

"He lied almost continuously," Rachel said about Levant.

Charlie shrugged. "Gorr struggled."

"Gorr. He had all the facts. All Douglas did was keep coming up with these made-up stories about people he had met who had been disadvantaged by wind power and stuff, right Samantha?" Rachel said.

"Yeah, sorry to say, the commentators afterwards said your dear husband-to-be fluffed it," Samantha said.

Charlie looked over. "Yeah, I didn't think he would go with actually mentioning the whole 'gropegate' business. I mean, talk about the pot calling the kettle black. I've had to settle three cases against Levant in the last year. I've lost count of the number of court cases filed against him. You would think it would do more harm than good to mention it."

The morning before the TV show, one of Greg Gorr's campaign staff had announced on morning television that she had been groped by Greg Gorr. This had immediately been dubbed 'Gropegate' on social media. Gorr had initially denied it. By late afternoon, Gorr supporters were being interviewed. Many were being asked if they supported Gorr or deplored his treatment of women--women in the plural. Rachel felt a slight tension about this. It seemed to be a weird double standard. Douglas had been tense about this, and she had been drafted in by Lucy to act as the head live-in masseuse.

"Yeah, Gorr will be fine. All he has to do is point out all of Levant's court cases," Rachel said.

Samantha leaned in. "Levant offered to sleep with Charlie and me, that was after touching me. Anyway, why are we here failing the Bechdel test in our own conversation?"

"Okay, we will stop, but I'm just feeling relieved. I don't think he's going to be carrying on after this. I think his governor ambitions are over," Rachel said, taking a sip of her nitro coffee.

Some women, one younger, one older, and one fairly round man with a crinkled nose approached. "Hey, we love your outfit," the first one said. "It's a Samantha Kline dress, right?" the man said.

Rachel nodded. "Yes, and to prove it, I have Samantha Kline right here," she said, pointing at Samantha.

"Wow, that's fantastic," one of the more orange-looking girls with overdone eyebrows said. "Can we take a selfie?"

"Well, only if I can take one of you and put it on Instagram too," Rachel said.

Everyone nodded enthusiastically.

Rachel relaxed. She still spoke to her mother regularly. Every time she dialled, she thought about the fact that this might be that phone call. The one where Mom said, 'I was looking at this photo of Rachel Price and I noticed how much she looks like you,' or 'this reporter, this detective came to the house and...' There was always a slight tension at the start of the phone call until Rachel knew the time of accusation had passed. Rachel knew Mom didn't look at Instagram, so she was safe with selfies. They had also copies of her book, which she signed. Even Rachel's signature was more flamboyant, and out going than Denver's mono-script, Rachel noticed.

After they had all assembled and taken pictures, everyone began looking at their phones and walking away.

"I saw your husband on the news," the older woman said. She had bright orange hair colored to hide the grey. "He really stuck it to that other guy. I don't like that sort. They are too smug, you know. Telling people what to do all the time. You know, tell him he's got my vote, your husband. Good seeing ya."

"Right," said Rachel, now a bit astonished. Normally, she would say she wasn't married to Levant, but getting that response was curious. After the group had left, they got back to talking. Charlie was pulled away for a moment by Hector, wanting a word.

Now that no one was looking, Rachel rubbed her leg against Samantha's.

"You can see how mad he is. When are you going to get out?" Samantha said, looking away and checking if anyone was listening.

Rachel looked around. "Not until my mom is better. You know, Levant gave them a new house? I don't believe it. I've got to leave, but leave right. But I've got a plan now. I'm collecting more info. Then I'm going to leave it with someone in case Levant does something to me or my family. Also, if we can find someone we can trust in the FBI, then perhaps."

Samantha looked seriously at Rachel. "I'm not asking Kitty again."

"Why did you two split up, if you don't mind me asking?" Rachel added.

Samantha pursed her lips. "Kids."

"Were you for or against?" Rachel asked.

"For. She couldn't see herself tied down like that. What about you?" Samantha said.

Rachel had paid a few more visits to Samantha. Levant wouldn't allow Rachel near a man on her own. Even Peter had been replaced with a woman trainer. Either Levant didn't care about Samantha or he didn't know. Rachel was still surprised Samantha would take the risk.

"Well, with the right person, for." Rachel said before putting her vermilion lips to the coffee. The smell was deep and dark, like a smooth Columbian forest running through you nose.

"Good to know," Samantha said, looking at the buzzing crowd. "I might think about that next time."

Rachel almost giggled but just smiled "My dear girl don't start going straight on me now. Although technical If I'm wearing the Hollywood pants does it count. I don't want to be responsible for the LGBT+ police taking your sisterhood membership away from you any time soon. What is wrong with me? I mean I have the wrong parts for Levant. I have the wrong parts for you."

Samatha shrugged "yeah but we both share a dislike of polls being stuffed up us."

"I like the way you always think of the positive side." Rachel said. "Look there is Mel."

Rachel waved at Mel. Mel had just walked into the bookshop.

She came over and Charlie managed to disengage from talking to Hector.

"Yo Mel" Rachel said "come and have some nitro coffee with us."

Mel came over "I have some data for Mr Levant have you seen him? He said he would be around the hotel today." If Rachel noticed her English was less German she didn't say.

"Chicago last I heard." Rachel said. "Have you tried email?"

Mel came over and, taking a chair, stood around the table. Charlie joined them. "It's too complicated for email. I have to explain it."

"Try me," Rachel said, waving at a barista to bring a coffee over for Mel.

"The polling has come in. Very high approval. Most of the demographic thought Mr. Levant did very well, and they agree with him. This is matched with a sentiment analysis of the Twitter feeds," Mel said.

"Oh, look," said Charlie, pointing at the TV set in the corner, which flashed the latest news headlines under a muted set. They had used it to get questions from Twitter and someone had switched it to the local channel, "GORR UNDER PRESSURE TO RESIGN FROM ALL SECTORS OF THE PARTY," the headlines repeated.

"Seriously?" said Rachel.

There was beep from message on her Apple Watch. Only three messages got to her watch: Levant, Samantha, and her mother. Rachel excused herself and took out her phone. Her face dropped when she read the message.

"What is it?" Samantha asked, seeing Rachel's expression.

"It's my grandpa," Rachel said, her face dropping. "It doesn't look good."