Page 59 of Tell Me Again
“Spring is a few weeks ahead here,” she murmured, enjoying the buds blooming on the trees that lined the sidewalk. Cars streaked by and people just getting off work hurried past on either side of them.
Trevor continued to hold her hand, using his body as a shield when the crowd on the sidewalk would have jostled her.
“The snowstorm put everything on hold in Colorado,” he answered. “Even Mother Nature. It’s been warm enough this week that spring will be there soon.”
She clapped a hand over her mouth as a giggle bubbled up in her throat.
“Are you laughing at me?” He steered her toward a green awning hanging off a redbrick building around the corner.
“We’re talking about the weather,” she said, and didn’t bother to hide her smile. “Everything there is between us, and we’re talking about the weather.”
“Weather is underrated,” he told her, leaning so close that his breath tickled the sensitive curve of her ear. “Especially a night as perfect as this.”
He held the door open and she walked through, the smell of garlic and spices making her mouth water. The hostess seated them at a small table in the corner of the restaurant and a waiter arrived almost immediately to take their drink orders.
“Do you even notice it anymore?” Trevor asked when they were alone.
“What?”
“People staring.”
She glanced around and met the curious gazes of the couple sitting a few tables over. They looked away quickly, heads bent together as they whispered.
“Sometimes I do,” she admitted. “But I’ve trained myself not to look. Besides, I’m getting old enough to be irrelevant.”
He threw back his head and laughed. He didn’t laugh often, and it softened his features to reveal the boy she once knew. “That will never happen. Even if you weren’t famous, you’re too beautiful not to notice.”
“I can blend in if I want.”
“Like a peacock in a barnyard of chickens.”
She made a face. “I don’t think of myself like that.”
“That’s one of the things I liked about you when we were younger. You didn’t rely on the way you looked.”
“Are you kidding? I was five foot eleven and flat as a board freshman year of high school. The only thing I could rely on was having to wear jeans that were too short and the boys calling me ‘giraffe neck.’”
“Your neck is perfect.”
She let her hair fall forward over her shoulders. “When I was modeling, it wasn’t really me.”
“You said you saw Bryce when you looked in the mirror after she died, but it wasn’t her on those covers and in fashion shows. The success belonged to you, Sam.”
“Maybe, only I never believed my own hype. I faked it better than Bryce because I wanted out of Colby more than I wanted to take my next breath. But I never felt totally comfortable in front of the camera or with the attention fame brought. In my head I created a different persona, a woman who loved people looking at her. Pretty much the exact opposite of me.” She traced her finger over the rim of the water glass. “That woman made the way she looked into something powerful, a way to manipulate the camera to her own end. It was all smoke and mirrors. I fooled everyone.”
“You wouldn’t have fooled me.”
“That’s not true.” She did a little pantomime, sucking in her cheeks and flashing a bit of attitude. “It’s like an on-and-off switch,” she told him. “In the end, even I stopped knowing the difference between where the make-believe piece ended and real life began.”
“Show her to me,” he murmured.
“Who?”
“The other you.” He leaned forward. “I want to prove to you that I can see past whatever mask you try to use. There’s something between us that neither one of us can deny. Iknowyou, Sam, and this is about you trusting me as much as it is me trusting you.”
