Page 21 of Her Movie Star's Secret Plan

“Instead of promoting my own restaurant?”

“Hadley’s is promoting itself. That damage is already done. Think about how Maple Creek works. Everything is word of mouth here. Find the town gossip and get her to spread the word for you.”

“I’m already doing that with Hadley’s.”

“Exactly. Your name is powerful because of the movies you’ve made.”

“So, I just need to post on social media about Alexis’s bakery and get everyone to flock to her doors.”

“That may work on some level, but most of the little old ladies of Maple Creek aren’t even on social media. They’re in the grocery stores, the coffee shop, the bookstore,” Chase said.

“The cute little gift shop on Main Street,” Owen replied.

“Exactly.”

“So what? Do I put flyers up in that location or something?”

“You’re the best advertisement there is, Owen.”

“Me?”

“Use that award-winning smile to your advantage. Go in person to these locations and spread the word about Alexis’s bakery.”

“You mean give a personal recommendation?”

“Yes.”

Owen considered the idea for a moment. “That could work.”

“But you can’t let Alexis know about this. She would hate it.”

Owen furrowed his brow in confusion. “Why not? I would think she’d be grateful.”

“She won’t see it that way. She’ll see it as you trying to give her a handout. She hates charity. With her, you can’t let her know what you’re doing.”

“I can see her being like that.”

“She probably has some big plan of her own laid out to save her bakery. You’ll just be secretly supporting that plan, so she doesn’t know what you’re doing behind the scenes.”

* * *

Owen launchedhis secret plan into action on Sunday morning. He stood in front of the mirror and adjusted his tie. He wasn’t usually the church-going type, but he knew it was the perfect place to spread the word about Alexis’s bakery. He could eat cookies with all the little old ladies of Maple Creek and tell them how much better Alexis’s cookies were. He’d found out from his restaurant records that Hadley’s had just picked up a contract with Maple Creek Methodist to provide cookies for their cookie hour. But none of the people eating the cookies would know that. Only the organizer would have that information.

He could infiltrate the crowd and let them know his opinion on the best place in town to eat cookies.

He ate a blueberry muffin from the batch he’d bought atThe Icing on Topthe night before, and he headed out the door.

He’d never been to the Methodist Church before, but he’d driven past it enough times to know exactly where it was. He walked into the chapel and unexpectedly saw Alexis sitting with her parents, along with Chase and Lauren. He was surprised to see Chase at church with his parents after the falling out they’d had for so many years. His parents hadn’t approved of his career in the music industry. But they were working to put those differences aside now.

After the service, he approached two white-haired ladies. He thought it best to steer clear of Alexis in case she got wind of what he was up to. “Excuse me.”

“Ooh, look. If it isn’t Owen Hadley at our very own church.”

“Could you tell me where the cookie hour is being held?”

“Of course, we can. It’s right this way.” The other old lady looped her arm through his.

“Thank you! I really appreciate that.”

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