Page 14 of For My Finale
“I’ve had my fair share of celebrity encounters,” said Arty. “Mind you, I was press, so most of ‘em couldn’t stand me. Some of ‘em were nice, though.” He sniffed. “Bit of a tough life, if you ask me. I mean, the money’s alright, but then there’s the public eye, isn’t there? Can’t say I’d fancy it myself. But they sign up for it.”
“I suppose they do,” Blossom said. To be honest, she hadn’t really thought about it. Probably it wouldn’t be nice not to be able to go shopping or eat a burger without someone taking your picture.
“You’ve probably got bigger things on your mind though, haven’t you?” Arty asked.
“Like what?”
He frowned at her. “Rumor has it that Coffee-To-Go is poking around, want to rent that place around the corner and open a branch. You must have heard.”
Blossom felt a chill go down her back. She had heard, but she was busy pretending that she hadn’t. “Oh, please. That’ll never happen. Not in a place as small as this.”
“Stranger things have,” said Arty, chugging down the rest of his coffee. “Alright, back to the grindstone. See you later.”
Blossom was left alone again, stomach twisting as she thought about the bills under the counter. The cafe wasn’t exactly thriving, something that she really wished she didn’t have to think about. A big name chain moving into town could be enough to put her out of business entirely. She sighed andthen forced herself to smile.
“Look on the bright side,” she said to nobody at all.
But the words made her feel better. A little.
How much could her life really change? A silly movie star next door and rumors of a coffee chain? She shook her head. Nope. She didn’t need change. She was perfectly happy as she was. And if that meant ignoring said movie star and coffee chain, then that’s what she’d do.
The cafe door flew open so hard that the bell clattered against the glass.
“Have you heard?” Gloria said, clutching her chest and sweeping in like a hurricane.
“Yes,” sighed Blossom, sure of what Gloria was about to say.
But Gloria thoroughly ignored her.
“Lilah Paxton has moved to Bankton!”
Blossom switched on the espresso machine and poured some milk as Gloria began speculating about what had happened. Ignoring her new neighbor was going to be more difficult than she’d thought.
Chapter Six
Lilah put her hands on her hips, glaring at the bathtub as if she could intimidate it into revealing its secrets.
It didn’t work. But then, neither had searching for secret buttons, wall switches, or just getting into the water and hoping for the best.
She’d just have to face it. There was no jacuzzi function.
Hard to believe, but there it was. She’d spent half her life living in hotels and the other half living in a house that she couldn’t even map from memory. A mansion that quite literally had rooms she’d never heard of. She’d once walked into a butler’s pantry and had to be rescued by her housekeeper.
And every single place that she’d lived in had had a jacuzzi tub. Even the four star hotels, which, frankly, she could stand never having to stay in again. Even five star was pushing it. No, six and seven was where it was at. At least there she’d have a jacuzzi.
She crouched down again, clutching her towel around her, running her fingers along the side of the bath, tapping at the tiles, twisting the faucet. But… nothing. No jets. No bubbles. Just… water.
She groaned and slapped the side of the tub in frustration. Just a normal bathtub. Like normal people had. She sank onto the closed toilet lid, rubbing at her temples. She’d have to have a shower instead. Presuming, of course, that the damn thing worked.
What had she done?
A life of luxury and privilege replaced with this. Mud and a normal bathtub. The sink didn’t even have a mixer tap, for god’s sake. It had taken her ten minutes this morning to figure out that one tap had hot water, the other had cold, and she was supposed to… Actually, she didn’t know what she was supposed to do. Perhaps switch between the two extremely quickly?
But she had to make this work. At least for right now. There was no plan B. Not that this was much of a plan A, she thought as she showered and dressed. Not that there was a plan at all. Just… this.
And she wasn’t that spoiled. She was an adult, surely she could run a house as tiny as this one? Her stomach rumbled in hunger as she looked into the empty refrigerator. Alright, there was job number one then. Groceries.
She’d go into town, restock the kitchen, and who knew, maybe even make some friends. Small villages were supposed to be friendly, right?
