Page 13 of Wish You Were Her
Simon and Grace exchanged a look, the former raising his eyebrows in an attempt to make the latter smile. But Grace was duly chastised. She offered her friend an apologetic smile, which settled the matter in Jonah’s mind.
Simon made himself busy on the computer and Jonah was halfway up his ladder once more when Allegra and her mother finally emerged. Jonah watched Allegra smile at her phone and inwardly rolled his eyes.
She probably loved that she was a hot commodity online. (And everywhere else.)
“Sending emails?” she asked Simon airily.
Jonah watched Simon quickly close his browser. “Yup. No one tells you how much emailing you have to do in the book world.”
Allegra smiled as if he had said something much more adorable and Jonah scowled at his shoes. Grace nudged him as she stepped forward to address Allegra.
“Hi.” Grace tucked her hair behind her ears a little self-consciously, and held out her hand. “I’m Grace. Your dad mentioned you might like a tour, so here I am!”
Jonah looked up to see if Allegra was horrified at the suggestion. Was she far too above the residents of Lake Pristine to accept their company? But the actress was beaming. “I’d love a tour. Thank you.”
Chapter Five
“I am literally a phone call away, like I said,” Roxanne whispered in her daughter’s ear as they hugged goodbye. “Promise. If your dad gets too hyper-fixated on the festival, and you need someone to vent with, call me. I can get out of any meeting. We’re on summer hours at the office, Fridays aren’t even a real work day anymore. I promise, anything!”
“I’ll be fine,” Allegra assured her. “Honestly. I’m good. Now leave so I can start having fun.”
Her comment had the desired effect because Roxanne laughed and slipped into the driver’s seat. She wound down the window as the engine started. “Love you, kid.”
“Love you, Ma. See you in the fall.”
“I can come get you any time. Or Natalie can. Or Maria. Or David, or Sanchez—”
“Go! I’m fine.”
Her bags had been taken in by an overzealous Simon and as Allegra waved goodbye to her mother, she felt bittersweet. When the car was long out of sight, Grace Lancaster crept out of the bookshop and smiled meekly at her.
“My mum is always coming and going,” Grace said, in an obvious bid to be supportive. “You guys seem close?”
“I haven’t seen my parents in ages,” Allegra said honestly.However, that was all she revealed, as she was feeling private. “So! Show me Lake Pristine.”
The two girls set off into the heart of the town and Allegra slipped her cap and dark glasses back on.
“Can I be brutally honest about something?” Grace asked a little mischievously.
“Sure.”
“The cap and sunglasses may be a good disguise in the city, but they make you stick out like an apple in an orangery here.”
Allegra had to laugh. “Okay, I’ll lose the hat, but the glasses have to stay.”
“A good compromise.”
Allegra regarded Grace. She looked fresh-faced and perfectly at home, with a quiet confidence that made her small frame seem larger and her walk more purposeful. She was pretty.
People waved to her with genial smiles as they passed. She was obviously a beloved member of Lake Pristine. Everyone knew everyone here, it seemed. Everyone was famous. Which, in a wonderful way, meant that nobody really was.
“So, this is Main Street?”
“Yes! So, this is where you come if you want cake, coffee, books, groceries, fabric or to sit in this lovely romantic bandstand. Church is up that little road, and Mrs. Montgomery’s dance studio is over there. The festival usually sets up all its tents around the maze—there—and the woodland over there. Then, right up ahead, is the jewel in the crown.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“My brother’s Arthouse!”
