Page 74 of Her Movie Star's Secret Plan

Epilogue

One Year Later

Tessa tooka bite of wedding cake and looked across the room to where Alexis gazed into Owen's eyes. She wasn’t surprised when Alexis announced that she was marrying Owen six months ago. And now their happy day had finally come. She couldn’t believe it had already been a year since she’d been sitting in the same room for Lauren and Chase’s wedding. The time had flown by. But her life hadn’t gotten any better. She was still painfully single, and she felt stuck in her job as a reporter forThe Maple Creek Examiner.

She barely made enough to cover her expenses, and she was terribly overworked. Over the years, the newspaper had shrunk as more citizens turned to social media to get their news, a fact that greatly frustrated her. She was grateful for the older citizens who still loved to read print. There were only two reporters for theExaminer,and the editor just announced she would be retiring soon. Tessa desperately wanted the job, but the other reporter had been working for the paper longer, and Tessa wasn’t sure she would be able to impress the editor enough to land the position when it opened up. One day she hoped to become a reporter for a big city newspaper or magazine, but she didn’t see that happening any time soon. Not unless a miracle happened.

Across the room, Benson joked around with Chase and Kane. The three guys probably hadn’t been together since Chase had married Lauren. Unless they liked to hang out in New York City. Tessa didn’t know what that must be like for them. She longed to live in the city. She couldn’t help but feel envious that Benson had made it big and got to live his dream. Kane was another story. He was born into a family that already had money. But Benson had been a regular guy before his rise to stardom.

Benson left the two guys and walked across the room to some leggy blonde. Benson was always hitting on some girl. He’d been like that in high school, too. He probably dated half their senior class at some point during high school. He’d been the quarterback, so it had been easy. The girls flocked to him. But Tessa hadn’t. She’d made it clear to him early on that she wanted nothing to do with him. She wasn’t interested in any guy who even remotely resembled a player. She’d had to put up with him at the reunion and then again for both Lauren and Alexis’s weddings.

“You got a thing for Benson?” Carrington leaned over to her.

“What? No way. He repulses me.”

“You could’ve fooled me. You’ve been staring at him all night.”

“No, I haven’t.”

Carrington raised her eyebrows at her. “I have eyes in my head.”

“If I was staring at Benson, it’s because he’s been making a fool of himself, and it’s entertaining.”

Carrington’s lips twisted up into a smile. “He’s pretty hot, too. Let’s not forget that part.”

Tessa crossed her arms. “Those are your words, not mine.”

“Alexis and Owen look happy, don’t they?” Carrington said in a dreamy voice.

“Blissfully happy. I totally saw them coming too.”

“I didn’t,” Carrington said. “Not until we went to the spa that day.”

“I saw it on the opening night of Hadley’s.”

“That’s right. You were there with her that night. I forgot you two were going there that day,” Carrington said.

“I heard he bought the house he was staying at when he opened Hadley’s. He and Alexis are going to live there when they come back to Maple Creek to run Hadley’s andIcing on Top.”

“That’s awesome.” Carrington looked across the room at the happy couple. “Alexis really did get everything she wanted, didn’t she?”

Tessa nodded. “She sure did. And a bunch of stuff she’d hadn’t even dreamed of.” Alexis and Owen had opened a bakery in California that was thriving. So far, Alexis mostly did wedding cakes for LA’s elite. Word had spread after Lauren’s wedding, and she became flooded with work.

“To think she was so depressed when we went to the spa.”

“I know. I’m glad to see her happy.”

“Is it depressing for you to be here and see them so happy, knowing you have no one to go home to?” Tessa asked. She’d been focused on her career for such a long time. Now that she was going to so many of her friends’ weddings, she was starting to feel a void in her own life.

Carrington shrugged. “Well, I live with my dad, so I have him.”

“You know what I mean, someone romantic.”

“I’m okay with it. I don’t date much anyway,” Carrington said.

It was true. Tessa hadn’t seen Carrington date much over the years, and she’d known her since high school. “Why not?

“Newsflash, we live in Maple Creek. There aren’t a lot of options here. Most of the guys are either old or already married,” Carrington said.

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