Wish You Were Her(57)
“Get in!”
Jasper Montgomery, Lake Pristine’s twenty-three-year-old golden girl, was a sight for sore eyes. Allegra seemed hesitant but after noticing Arthur Lancaster in the passenger seat, and Grace in the back, she piled into the beat-up old car without a second thought. Jonah followed suit and, as he pulled the door shut behind them, the car tore off into the woodland surrounding Lake Pristine, leaving the unforgiving mob behind in the dust.
* * *
“Hoo, this is the getaway car!” cried the beautiful girl in the driver’s seat.
Allegra stared at the back of her head, feeling dazed. She had to be Arthur’s girlfriend, the one Grace always spoke about with such reverence. Arthur, the cinema manager, sat in the passenger seat and he watched Jasper with a look that made Allegra feel like giving them some privacy.
“You okay, sweets?” Jasper asked, throwing a quick look to Allegra through the rear-view mirror.
“Fine,” Allegra said, smiling gratefully at the stranger. “But thanks. That’s not the worst I’ve seen, but it can get a bit ugly when you’ve nowhere to go.”
“Not many places to escape to in this damn town,” Arthur muttered darkly.
Jasper flashed him a look. “I know a place.”
Allegra glanced away. The looks the two of them shared felt so intimate that it smarted. They were poking a wound that Allegra was not prepared to bandage up just yet. She turned to give Grace a sideways hug.
“Thanks for the rescue,” she said, to everyone in the car.
“We should have prepped for this,” Jonah said, sounding frustrated. “We should have known the fans would stay in town.”
“You didn’t think Pamela would even come,” Grace pointed out, leaning across Allegra to glare at Jonah.
“No,” Jonah admitted. “But … it wasn’t a lack of faith in you, Allegra.”
“No, just past experience with temperamental authors?” She turned to smile at him as she asked the question. He slowly smiled back and they stared at one another for a moment, his eyes dropping to her mouth. They were incredibly close, side by side in the backseat.
“Anyway,” Arthur Lancaster’s deep voice interrupted the moment. “We’ll drop you back home after they get bored, Allegra. And we’re not going far.”
“Jasper, isn’t this the ditch you crashed this car into?” Grace asked cheerfully.
“Gracie!” cried Jasper. “You’ll have them thinking I’m a dangerous driver.”
“I feel like I’m meeting a local legend,” Allegra said.
“You are,” Arthur, Grace and Jonah said all at once.
“No, you’re not.” Jasper batted the compliment away while checking her mirrors. “I’m mostly a chauffeur, these days. Driving her highness in the back to all of her auditions and callbacks.”
Allegra glanced at Grace, who was beaming.
The car was moving very smoothly now. Allegra watched Arthur’s hand slip across and grasp Jasper’s, the one that was not gripping the steering wheel. Their fingers interlocked. She knew they were long-time residents of Lake Pristine and she wondered how many drives they had taken together, with their hands laced together just so.
Jasper pulled up next to the large house by the actual Lake Pristine. It still looked like a sleepy little mansion from a holiday card. It sat alone by the glassy lake, making it seem like a fortress and a haven all in one. Jasper ushered everyone inside, after checking that they hadn’t been followed. She grinned at Allegra and said, “Any trespassers show up, I’ll set my old cat on them.”
Allegra chuffed out a small laugh and followed her inside.
“No offense, Jasper, but this house looks a lot nicer than the last time I visited,” Jonah said bluntly.
“You’ve been here before?” Allegra asked. She realized everyone knew one another in Lake Pristine, but the Montgomery house always seemed so separate and intimidating.
“Yep. For the annual Montgomery Christmas Party.”
“I redecorated it all for Dad’s birthday,” Jasper said. “They’re in Florida right now, but I’ll pass on your compliments.”
“You’re a decorator?” Allegra turned to Jasper again.
“She’s a designer,” Arthur said firmly, the pride in his voice unmistakable.
Jasper invited everyone into the large, glossy kitchen and she poured some ice-cold water. Grace was immediately very at home, fetching a tin of tiny cakes to pass around. Allegra and Jonah stood beside one another by the breakfast bar and his fingers brushed against hers, out of everyone else’s view.
“Did you grow up here?” Allegra asked Jasper, staring up at the high ceiling.
“Yes,” Jasper said, as she switched on a kettle.
“It’s unbelievable.”
“Thanks. I think so, too.”
“Do you still live here?”
Jasper smiled. “No. I live with this one now.”
She jerked her head toward Arthur, whose serious face softened for a moment.
“I’m going to build her a house on the other side of the water,” he said quietly, brushing his lips across her knuckles.
Jonah wandered into the small den area while Grace excitedly spoke to Jasper about another dance callback for the conservatory she wanted to go to. Allegra followed him and they sat, a little away from the rest of the group, on one of the sofas, staring out of the ceiling-to-floor windows that looked out over the whole lake.