Wish You Were Her(39)

“I’ve always said you’re the most handsome young man in town. You should be out every Friday night!” Alice said. And while the words were complimentary, they were accompanied by a pat on the cheek that spoke to her almost familial bias.

“Thanks,” Jonah said, coughing on the water he was trying to sip from.

“So, what’s their name?” The question came from Pete.

Jonah thought very hard about whether he should just lie. “I don’t know.” But he had always been terrible at anything other than the pure truth.

“You don’t know?” Alice blinked down at him. “Is it … some kind of internet thing?”

Pete and Alice still refused to have Wi-Fi in the cafe so the suspicion in her voice as she asked him the question was unsurprising, and it made Jonah smile.

“Kind of. Got talking via email. Tonight’s our first meeting. She’s from out of town.”

“Oh, that’s actually quite romantic!” Alice said, her whole attitude transforming in an instant. “Like lonely hearts!”

“Well,” Jonah bristled slightly at that description. “I’m not sure—”

“I’m going to get you a candle for the table,” Pete interjected. “And, Alice, dim the lights a little more. Set the mood!”

Jonah grimaced as they fussed, suddenly feeling a stabbing pressure for the whole thing to go well. He wondered if he would have to apologize to his email girl for the antics of the Lake Pristine elders.

“Good luck, darling,” Alice whispered as she finally returned to the counter. “You look wonderful, it will be great. I bet she’ll be beautiful!”

A flash of someone else coursed through Jonah’s mind at Alice’s words but he quickly slammed that lid shut. He couldn’t think about her. She was from a different story, one that had no room on the call sheet for someone like him.

She was too special. Too much of everything.

He just needed someone nice and normal.

“I just hope she likes me,” Jonah said quietly, more to himself than to anyone else.

Under all of the blunders, the faux pas, the unintended offenses, there was one single, steadfast flame that never went out.

He wanted someone to like him. Someone special.

He could live with being an irritant to so many other people if he could just be a balm for one.



* * *



Lake Pristine looked like a dream as Allegra walked along Main Street. The summer sun was cooler and night was starting to gently cut in. There were flowers everywhere, roses, hydrangeas and marigolds wherever it was possible to hang them. The air was warm and the people all around her were untouched by worry. The festival site stood up ahead, fully mounted marquees ready to hold audiences of readers and authors from all over the world. People were already exploring the exterior of the site, looking with interest and asking volunteers about the program.

Allegra spotted Grace leaving the ballet studio and the other girl’s eyebrows shot into her dark hairline as she laid eyes on the actress.

“Allegra!”

Allegra smiled, feeling delighted and shy all at once. “I have a date. This isn’t all for the book festival.”

“With Simon?” Grace asked, filling in the story for herself and taking in Allegra’s ensemble with unguarded wonder. “He’s going to pass out when he sees you.”

“I just hope…” Allegra glanced ahead at Pete’s Cafe. “I hope … we connect properly now. When he finds out it’s been me, you know, writing to him.”

“Okay,” Grace said, “maybe he’s just making an ass of himself every now and again because he’s so nervous around you. He obviously likes you. I mean, every guy for a hundred miles does.”

“Well, all but one,” Allegra said, but Grace didn’t hear her.

“My brother used to make such a fool of himself around Jasper. Now they’re the most in-love people you’ll ever meet.”

“You’re being nice,” Allegra said gently. “I know you don’t think that highly of Simon.”

“I think neutrally of Simon,” Grace corrected. “But I think highly of you. And if you think you’re getting something else from his emails, then he deserves a chance to prove that to you.”

“I think…” Allegra looked up at the sky which was like a mess of paint colors all spilled across a dark table. “I was someone who struggled for so long with expressing how I really felt. With showing people who I really was. It’s why acting felt so freeing. But I don’t want to struggle anymore. I want people to have good faith and patience and see the best in me, even if I say the wrong thing. So, I need to extend that to him.”

Grace regarded Allegra. Allegra could feel the chasm that fame created between two people. Grace could only offer advice from her own lived experience. One that was so different from Allegra’s.

“I hope it works out for you both,” was all Grace said, but it was enough to make Allegra smile.

“Thank you.”

“Want me to check that he’s in there before you go in?”

“God, yes.”

Allegra hovered as Grace moved to the cafe window.

“We were supposed to meet at seven. I’m a little late,” she said, when Grace did not immediately confirm Simon’s attendance.