Page 5 of Wish You Were Her
“Right,” said George. “I’ll be in the office. She’s arriving this afternoon.”
Jonah watched his employer vanish through the door with a “staff only” sign at the back of the shop, then yelped as he found himself being grabbed by the collar, Simon dropping his professional act completely now that George was gone.
“Dude, relinquish your creepy possessiveness of the work computer and let me google something for you.”
Jonah grumbled but allowed his friend to drag him over to the ancient computer. It took an embarrassing five minutes for Google to load and then Simon was typing furiously while Jonah, who was far taller, peered over his shoulder.
Allegra Brooks.
Google knew what Simon wanted before he had even finished typing the fourth letter of her name. Millions of results appeared, from an IMDb page to multiple articles published in the last twenty-four hours.
“She’s, like, freakishly famous. Not just small-town famous,globallyfamous. She just won all the awards for… acting and shit.”
Simon was breathless with excitement but Jonah was barely listening. He was staring at the three pictures of Allegra Brooks that had appeared at the top of the search page. One was from a modeling shoot for a magazine he had never heard of, and the other two looked as though they were from film premieres.
She had the most voluminous hair and large, incredibly kind eyes. She was smiling in one of the pictures and Jonah had to remind himself to breathe.
“Oh, God,” he said shortly. “She’s coming here?”
“Yup,” said Simon. “And I am going to be the one doing the training, my guy, make no mistake. You just relax.”
Jonah said nothing. He moved swiftly away, leaving Simon to the computer, and began sorting the books from their latest delivery onto his trolley. His brain categorized them by cover and genre, his hands moving with a quickness that only years of practice and a touch of brilliance could achieve. He sorted through the boxes of new books, and started wheeling his trolley to the appropriate shelves.
Simon glanced up from his scrolling to peer over at his friend. “You okay?”
Jonah moved to the next box of books. “Fine. Never better.”
Simon’s brow furrowed but he did not question his friend’s strange shift in mood. “Want me to do the morning emails?”
“No,” Jonah said quickly. “I’ll do that.”
“Thank God,” Simon said with a relieved exhale. “I’m going to start on the window.”
They swapped positions, Jonah moving to stand by the old monitor while Simon wheeled the trolley over to one of theshop windows so he could begin constructing a new display. Jonah went to close the internet search but paused, staring once again at the images of Allegra Brooks.
He closed the search and opened the shopfloor email. He instantly spotted a reply, one he had been hoping to find, so he saved it as a reward for getting through his professional obligations. He replied to people about pre-orders, author events and the upcoming festival and once they were all cleared, he finally opened the one he had been waiting for.
Subject: Twitter Recovery
Dear ex-Twitter addict,
Please accept my apologies, I did not intend to bring up a sore subject. I hope your recovery is going well. I’m so envious, however, because I have to do social media for work and I loathe it. I understand your need to cut yourself off from the rubbernecking. Are you in a group? A program?
In all seriousness, social media is addictive and makes people way sadder than they realize and so I’m glad you’re free. Feel bad for the rest of us.
Yours,
A friend from out of town
“Why are you smiling? Is someone asking where to find something on Amazon again?”
“I’m not smiling,” Jonah said, answering Simon with a forced expression of neutrality. He moved the email to a folder he knew Simon would never check—the handover notes—and started drafting a response.
