Page 3 of Her Movie Star's Secret Plan

“Instead of going to college, you raised me and got a job waiting tables. That was what gave me the idea that I wanted to open a restaurant. I wanted to be like you. I had no idea how much work it really was until I got much older.” Eventually, they put her in as a manager when he was in high school, and she began working longer hours.

His mom smiled and nodded.

“I’m so glad that you found a good man. It does my heart good to know you get to stay home with your girls like you always wished you could do with me.” The circles he remembered being beneath her eyes when he was growing up were now gone. Her hands were softer, and he could tell she’d recently been to the salon because her nails were done, and her hair had recently been highlighted.

“Matt, thank you for taking such good care of my mom.” His stepdad, Matt, was a tech guy for the local community college, and he made good money. “I can rest easy knowing that you’re there for her. It’s a huge weight off my shoulders. I know it’s not my responsibility to worry about her, but I do it anyway.”

“That means a lot, Owen. Your mom is the best wife to me and mother to my daughters that I could ever have asked for.”

Owen hugged his stepdad, and then he turned to his mom.

“I wasn’t expecting any of this tonight.” She laughed through her tears. “I thought I was just going to have a nice dinner.”

He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a big hug. “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, son.”

He said goodbye to his family and walked around the restaurant, greeting different members of the town who had come to support his grand opening. Mr. and Mrs. Wheaton sat with their daughter, Aubrey, who ran the Whitmore House, where Chase and Lauren were getting married.

Alexis sat with Tessa, a girl they’d gone to high school with. Alexis had her dark hair down, loose around her shoulders in glossy waves. She wore a classy red dress, and he had to fight to keep his eyes off her long slender legs. She’d looked beautiful in the flower shop, but she was a knockout tonight.

He hadn’t realized Alexis was coming. He walked up to the girls, giving them his Hollywood smile. Alexis looked up at him, starstruck for a moment before composing her features back into the stoic expression she’d used earlier that day.

“Was everything okay earlier?” Owen asked.

Alexis blinked. “It was fine. What do you mean?”

“You seemed distant at the flower shop.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to come off that way.”

“You’ve known me for years. I don’t want anything to be weird between us.”

“Nothing’s weird. Except for the fact that you left and came back all famous. It’s a little hard to take in, Owen.”

“I can see how that might be hard. But you knew me when I was a nobody. Before I ever wore designer jeans. I had ripped jeans in high school because I couldn’t afford to get new ones, not because I was trying to look cool.” That boy was an awkward loser who had no idea how the world worked.

“But you’re not that kid anymore,” Alexis said. “How are we supposed to know how to talk to you now?”

“I’m still me.”

Alexis stared back at him, but he couldn’t read her expression.

“Mind if I sit down?” he asked.

Alexis didn’t answer at first. But then Tessa spoke up. “Sure.” Tessa moved over, and Owen sat beside her.

“We’re going to be in this wedding together, so we might as well get over this awkwardness now,” Owen insisted.

“You’re the best man in Chase and Lauren’s wedding, right?” Tessa asked.

“That’s right. Are you in the wedding too?”

“Yep. I’m one of the bridesmaids.”

“Cool. I remember you hanging out with Lauren back in high school. What do you do for work now?”

“I’m a reporter for theMaple Creek Examiner.”

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