Page 49 of Wish You Were Her
Perhaps he hadn’t told anyone about it because it would seem pathetic. He was so lonely that a stranger sending emails had become a lifeline for him.
“Who are you so dressed up for, son?” Pete asked the question as he brought a water jug to the table, as well as some menus.
“Kind of like a date,” Jonah admitted.
Pete’s eyes widened and then his entire face broke into a beaming smile. Jonah instantly tensed.
“Alice!” called Pete, his voice frantic with excitement. His wife walked over to Jonah’s table, expectantly. “You were right. He’s meeting someone!”
Jonah cringed. This was what George Brooks liked to call the Lake Pristine Tax. Your business was never your own, everybody took an interest in your life as though it was a long-running television show.
“I’ve always said you’re the most handsome young man in town. You should be out every Friday night!” Alice said. And while the words were complimentary, they were accompanied by a pat on the cheek that spoke to her almost familial bias.
“Thanks,” Jonah said, coughing on the water he was trying to sip from.
“So, what’s their name?” The question came from Pete.
Jonah thought very hard about whether he should just lie. “I don’t know.” But he had always been terrible at anything other than the pure truth.
“You don’t know?” Alice blinked down at him. “Is it… some kind of internet thing?”
Pete and Alice still refused to have Wi-Fi in the cafe so the suspicion in her voice as she asked him the question was unsurprising, and it made Jonah smile.
“Kind of. Got talking via email. Tonight’s our first meeting. She’s from out of town.”
“Oh, that’s actually quite romantic!” Alice said, her whole attitude transforming in an instant. “Like lonely hearts!”
“Well,” Jonah bristled slightly at that description. “I’m not sure—”
“I’m going to get you a candle for the table,” Pete interjected. “And, Alice, dim the lights a little more. Set the mood!”
Jonah grimaced as they fussed, suddenly feeling a stabbing pressure for the whole thing to go well. He wondered if he would have to apologize to his email girl for the antics of the Lake Pristine elders.
“Good luck, darling,” Alice whispered as she finally returnedto the counter. “You look wonderful, it will be great. I bet she’ll be beautiful!”
A flash of someone else coursed through Jonah’s mind at Alice’s words but he quickly slammed that lid shut. He couldn’t think about her. She was from a different story, one that had no room on the call sheet for someone like him.
She was too special. Too much of everything.
He just needed someone nice and normal.
“I just hope she likes me,” Jonah said quietly, more to himself than to anyone else.
Under all of the blunders, the faux pas, the unintended offenses, there was one single, steadfast flame that never went out.
He wanted someone to like him. Someone special.
He could live with being an irritant to so many other people if he could just be a balm for one.
Lake Pristine looked like a dream as Allegra walked along Main Street. The summer sun was cooler and night was starting to gently cut in. There were flowers everywhere, roses, hydrangeas and marigolds wherever it was possible to hang them. The air was warm and the people all around her were untouched by worry. The festival site stood up ahead, fully mounted marquees ready to hold audiences of readers and authors from all over the world. People were already exploring the exterior of the site, looking with interest and asking volunteers about the program.
Allegra spotted Grace leaving the ballet studio and the other girl’s eyebrows shot into her dark hairline as she laid eyes on the actress.
“Allegra!”
Allegra smiled, feeling delighted and shy all at once. “I have a date. This isn’t all for the book festival.”
“With Simon?” Grace asked, filling in the story for herself and taking in Allegra’s ensemble with unguarded wonder. “He’s going to pass out when he sees you.”
