Page 52 of Not Exactly a Small-Town Romance

“Tibet,” she whispers.

“Do you want to see that one? I’ll take you.”

She laughs at that. “You’d take me to Tibet?”

“Sure.”

She walks forward, uncomfortably close to the edge. This tiny overlook doesn’t have a guardrail or stone wall like the more popular spots. It’s brush and rock that simply falls away.

Then she sits, her legs dangling over the abyss. “It’s beautiful. Vast. And not empty at all.”

I sit next to her. “What did you expect?”

“I don’t know. I guess for it to be desert down there. But there’s everything.” She gestures into the chasm. “Trees. Water.”

“Most pictures you see are the South Rim. It’s more desert. That’s where the touristy areas are.”

“I like this. There are birds.” The wind rushes through the piney trees, stirring up dust. “Isn’t that a line from one of the love songs fromThe Music Man?”

I can almost hear the words. “Yeah. It’s called ‘Till There Was You.’”

She leans her head on my shoulder, and finally, I relax, too. Kelsey has always been rather impulsive and prone to outbursts.

Sometimes she hits a little too close to home.

And other times, she trips herself up.

Like when I found her on Hollywood Boulevard a few days ago.

She’d stumbled right into my arms.

Like a meet-cute.

Except this is not something we’re supposed to have. This trip is not for us.

I resist the urge to put an arm around her, or draw her close.

I’m a prop. Something to lean on.

Just like Ken.

Chapter 17

KELSEYGETS THESURREY WITH THEFRINGE ONTOP

I don’t know why Zachery refuses to let his marble walls down. Maybe it’s a rich-people thing.

He’s so kind, so courteous, so gallant.

And yet, he won’t talk about anything that matters.

We take in the glory of the Grand Canyon and pose for a selfie to show ... I dunno, Jester, I guess. Zachery can’t exactly post it to his star-studded Instagram.

Zachery snaps it on my phone, but I touch mine to his to transfer the file like I do all our shared profiles when we’re working.

Then we get in our separate cars and keep going to our next stop, the small town of Dillville, Colorado. This time, there is no live conversation, and no music challenge.

It’s a lot less fun.

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