Wish You Were Her(82)
Perhaps it had all come to a point.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Photographers followed Allegra to a hot yoga session. She ended up hiding in the bathroom for the entire hour, too anxious to brave the class and face the irritable faces of the people who had been forced to push their way past paparazzi to get into the studio. She emailed Natalie, who reminded her about a style consultation for the premiere.
“We need to talk about our narrative for press on the movie, post photos,” Natalie added in a voice note.
Jasper texted, asking if Allegra needed a pickup from the back of the building. Allegra felt horrible asking, but Jasper would hear none of her apologies. They drove to the cast recording of Sunday in the Park with George for fifteen minutes before Allegra was able to relax, knowing that no one had seen or followed them.
“Ready to be back in Lake Pristine?” Jasper asked.
“Yes,” Allegra said. “I don’t like how I left things with Dad, I took off like I did something wrong, and I know I didn’t.”
“Parents have a way of making their kids feel guilty over stuff they would never dream of judging others for.”
The words suspended time for a moment and when Allegra glanced at Jasper, she noticed a touch of melancholy on the woman’s face. She wondered, not for the first time, what it must have been like, growing up autistic in a tiny town. To have everyone witness your worst days, and your disability before you were even able to give it a name.
“So, how are things with Jonah?” asked Jasper, in what could only be described as a big-sister voice.
Allegra let out one final cough of indignation, as her chest was almost clear, and gave Jasper an affronted look. “We’re … friends.”
“You’re friends?”
“Yes. Former work colleagues, now friends.”
“I don’t have pictures of me and my friends like the ones that leech took of the two of you.”
“Low blow, bringing up the pap.”
“Then don’t lie to me, kid. Friends? Please.”
“We are.”
“Allegra,” Jasper said her name with exasperation, and it made the actress laugh. It was fun. It felt like being in a scene from a sweet movie, where the emotional stakes were high but there were no nasty plot twists. It was the kind of movie she wished her life could be.
She kept laughing, enjoying their play. “We are, Jasper.”
“That boy cooked for you. He looked ready to yell at me if I didn’t tell you that he wanted to see you. He almost killed Simon because of what he told that editor. Never mind that kiss.”
Allegra’s smile faded and she winced. “Yeah, that’s…”
“He is in love with you, Allegra.”
Allegra blinked, “Don’t be silly.”
“He is. I’ve watched enough old movies to know.”
Allegra was momentarily distracted. She smiled. “You like old movies? Me, too.”
“My new favorite is Shop Around the Corner. Jimmy Stewart. What a mensch.”
“I’ll have to watch it,” Allegra said.
“You should. But yes. He is hopelessly in love with you, girlie.”
Allegra shook her head and tried to be composed. “He is not!”
“No, he is. Jonah Thorne has always been a beautiful loner, who tolerates other people. But you, he more than tolerates.”
“We’re friends. All of yesterday and last night, he was a good friend, nothing more.”
“Exactly what kind of person would make advances on someone who has a chest infection, made worse by the threat of an autistic shutdown?”
Allegra made a noise of derision but she was smiling. “Okay, a bad friend would do that. So he was being a good friend. Like I said.”
Allegra didn’t know why she was denying anything. It was obvious she and Jonah were on a pathway that did not lead to friendship as a final destination. She just needed to bide time until it was her, the real her, he really liked and not some imaginary girl on the computer or film screen.
“Like I said.” Jasper turned the music up and sped the car into a long, easy sprint down the country road leading to her small hometown. “No pictures of me and my friends like the ones of you and him.”
“I think the whole aftermath scared him off.”
Jasper’s lips twitched but she kept her eyes ahead. “I’m not so sure.”
They drove in comfortable silence as Mandy Patinkin sang. When Jasper spoke, it was with a musing tone.
“Lake Pristine is a funny place. It sort of freezes in time, when you leave it. You can go for, like, ten hours, ten days. Ten years, even. And when you get back, everything is almost exactly as you left it. People haven’t moved on. They haven’t forgotten the version of you that they knew when you left. They’re not interested in who you’ve become while you’ve been away.”
Allegra glanced at Jasper. “She says with experience?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe that’s why my dad is so weird.”
“With you?”
“Yeah. Acts like I’m still twelve. Which, to be fair, was when he last saw me.”
“That’s a dad thing, as well as a Lake Pristine thing.”
They discussed Allegra’s home and interior design for the rest of the drive, but Jasper’s words about her small hometown returned to Allegra as the Welcome to Lake Pristine sign appeared ahead of them. When Allegra had called the shop, her father had answered. Thrilled at the news of her return, he had promised that there were no more paps lurking about.