Wish You Were Her(18)

“It’s just nice to see a mid-size girl getting loads of attention, you know?” Kerrie concluded, her eyes searching Allegra’s face for approval. “And you’re going to be a princess in that new Disney movie. I saw an article about it online!”

“Just her voice,” Skye interjected, before taking a long slurp of her glass of blue slush.

Allegra paid her no mind. She could see Grace had arrived and was talking to a woman who looked like management. They seemed friendly and relaxed with one another and then the woman pointed Grace in the direction of their booth. Allegra waved her over.

“Can we budge up a bit for Grace?” she said to Simon and Skye.

“I don’t remember inviting her,” Skye said with a thin smile. Simon, too, seemed reluctant to let Grace in, but eventually did so when Allegra looked at him, forcing a pleasant smile onto his handsome face. She was a little dismayed by this new show of social snobbery.

“Who was that?” Allegra asked Grace as she sat down next to her.

“That’s Hera. She runs this place.”

“Do you come here a lot?”

“Sometimes. With my brother and sister-in-law.”

“Sister-in-law?” Skye let out a piercing laugh. “Your brother isn’t married.”

Grace narrowed her eyes at Skye, not the slightest bit afraid of the other girl. “Not yet, but he will be.”

“You’re that desperate to be able to say you’re related to Jasper Montgomery? Whatever floats your boat.”

“At least Jasper knows my name,” Grace said, with enough spice in her tone to make Allegra smile. She wondered who the mysterious Jasper was. “You’re just some girl who could never get into her mum’s ballet school. Didn’t your dad even try calling them one winter?”

Skye’s mouth dropped open and she made a choking sound of disgust. “You can’t afford to be this rude to me, Grace Lancaster.”

“Hey, now,” Simon said, nudging Skye. “Stop. You started it, she finished it, we don’t need an encore. Be cool.”

“How’s the festival planning going, Jonah?” Kerrie asked, pushing some of her hair over her shoulder and smiling hopefully at the bookseller in question.

He shrugged one shoulder. “Fine, thanks.”

“It’s keeping you busy.”

Allegra wondered if Jonah knew this girl was keeping an eye on his availability.

“I’m so over the festival,” Skye said wearily. “The whole population tripling. Completely random people rocking up in town. People who don’t belong.” She cast a sideways look at Allegra, which only made the latter want to choke down a laugh. She was curious about the small-town dynamics that were currently at play, but she could see how annoyed Grace was. Even Kerrie looked disturbed. So Allegra got to her feet and smiled a civil smile at the table.

“Not really my vibe in here. Grace? Kerrie? I’m going back to the bookshop flat if you want to join me. I make really good virgin cocktails.”

“I’m there,” Grace said, without a moment’s hesitation.

“And me,” Kerrie said, almost clambering over Jonah to get out of the booth. She turned back to throw him another expectant smile. “You staying here?”

Allegra watched Jonah nod in reply. He was clearly oblivious to the way Kerrie’s voice softened when she spoke to him.

She wanted to tell Kerrie that he wasn’t worth it, that he was far too cantankerous, but she refrained. It was none of her business, after all.





Chapter Seven


Jonah watched Simon look displeased as Allegra and the other two girls left the arcade. While Simon was foolish around Allegra, he obviously had enough dignity to suppress the urge to chase her out of the building. Instead he sank back into their booth in a sulk.

“She’s harder work than I thought.”

Jonah was used to Simon chasing girls. He had chased a lot of the people Jonah had had crushes on during school. When they would start going out, Simon would profess complete horror at the thought of stealing anyone away from Jonah. And the latter would always forgive him.

Still. It was refreshing to watch Simon work hard for once. Clearly Allegra wasn’t quite as taken in by Simon’s charisma as others had been.

Jonah regarded his friend. “You thought a global superstar was going to be easy to win over?”

“I kinda did, yeah. I mean, there’s got to be a real reason she came to spend the summer in this small town. I reckon she’s on the rebound.”

“That checks out, actually,” Skye said. “Apparently she was going out with that musician from Paisley Shine.”

“Terrible band,” muttered Jonah.

“Where’d you hear that, Skye?” asked Simon.

“Online.”

“I have got to do more research if Skye is ahead of me.”

“That wasn’t very nice of you. Treating Grace like that,” Jonah found the courage to say to Skye, albeit quietly. “And being rude to Allegra, too.”

“You’re one to talk,” Skye said, her guard finally coming down a little, now that she was the only girl at the table. “You’re not very nice to her. What’s going on there?”

Jonah scowled. “Nothing.”