Page 73 of Lucky Star

“It’s excellent,” I agreed, taking another drink. “We’re going to need a few growlers for the house while we’re here.”

“Sure, stop by tomorrow and I’ll give you a tour.”

I rubbed my hands together excitedly. “Be careful or you might not be able to get rid of me.”

“You ain’t kidding,” Cameron laughed. “I’ve never met a girl who loves beer as much as this one.” He planted a kiss on my neck sending shivers down my spine.

“No wonder Drea liked her from the start. She and I fell in love over hops and barley.” His eyes caressed Drea’s face with warmth and relaxed affection.

We spent the rest of the evening by the fire consuming several excellent beers, ate our weight in fresh fish tacos, and talked about what it was like to live and work in a small town versus in the thick of Hollywood. While they were fascinated by Cameron’s career, they never seemed overly interested in the idea of him as a celebrity, which I appreciated since he was about to be thrust into the spotlight in a major way. Once that happened, the chance of him meeting new people who didn’t think of him as a movie star would be slim to none.

“Looks like we closed the place down,” I remarked, taking in the empty seats around us. With the room vacant, I could see how nice it was. I noticed a running theme to most of the places we’d stopped into while here—organic materials paired with industrial chic design that featured a lot of wood, stone, iron, and glass. The large windows of the restaurant overlooking the dark, silent water beyond reminded me of the house we were renting, if it had been built on an industrial scale.

Alex watched me admiring the room’s lines and curves, and her face split into a proud, happy grin. “My boyfriend’s the architect. The place you’re staying, too. In fact, that’s his house.”

“Wait, what? I didn’t even know you had a boyfriend.” I watched as the sparkle in her eyes dimmed just a bit, while Drea’s eyes dropped closed and she shook her head.

Oops.

Alex didn’t notice her friend’s reaction—or she chose not to acknowledge it. “Yeah, he’s based in Vancouver. I met him last year when he was here for a bachelor party. He couldn’t resist my scones.” She smiled saucily.

My guess was her scones weren’t the only thing had drawn the absent architect in.

Thad fell in love with Eagle Harbour,” she continued, “and then he fell in love with me. When the vacation house he’d build won some prestigious award, he drew up plans for this place with a chef he was friends with. A year later it was open for business.”

“So your boyfriend co-owns this place, too?”

“Why do you think they haven’t kicked us out yet?” she laughed.

“I was beginning to wonder. I just assumed it had something to do with Hal’s beer supply.”

“Well, there’s that too,” Drea said sleepily as she laid her head on her boyfriend’s shoulder.

“I know I said it as a joke earlier, but it really does seem like your little group runs this town, or at least owns most of its businesses.”

“It’s a great place for young, creative entrepreneurs to set up shop,” responded Stewart, easily switching from his laid-back surfer persona into his role as the town’s mayor. “Canada has excellent tax incentives—as I’m sure you know with your movie being filmed up here. And the locals are really proud to support home-grown businesses. When you factor in the money from tourists, running a small business here is a sound financial investment.”

For the next several minutes, Stewart and I continued to discuss his plans to inject even more money into the local economy, while across from us Cameron, Hal, and Drea were deep in conversation too. Every so often I caught his warm laugh breaking through and my heart contracted. It’d been so long since we’d hung out together with a group of friends, and tonight made me realize how much I’d missed it.

“I hope you don’t mind me saying,” Stewart said, breaking into my thoughts, “but you aren’t what I expected.”

“Me, or us?” He chuckled and tried not to show his embarrassment. We both knew he wasn’t talking about me. I was a nobody.

“Well, you guys, I suppose. I’ll be honest, it’s hard not to hear all the gossip. According to Dolly, you were this brazen hussy and Cameron was a no-good philandering cheat. Arrogant too.” He glanced Cameron’s way and shook his head. “Obviously, she was completely wrong.”

“A couple months ago he was just a working actor, struggling to make it big. The only people who might have recognized him were fans of the Hallmark Channel or Lifetime made-for-TV movies. Suddenly he’s cast in one of the most highly anticipated films of the decade, and now his face is everywhere. I’ve seen it happen to others, but I never thought that’d be us.”

“That must be hard.” Stewart’s eyes flashed with sympathy.

I leaned forward and dropped my voice low. “You don’t know the half of it.” All the beer I’d drank had me saying things I probably wouldn’t have otherwise, but I felt comfortable with Stewart, and I believed he could be trusted. That might come back to bite me in the ass later, but I couldn’t go through life questioning the motives of people I genuinely liked and respected. I just had to believe that some people had my best interests at heart. “There are whole online communities devoted to him and Jillian, his co-star. They honestly believe they’re in love, or that she’s secretly pregnant with his baby and they’re already married. Meanwhile, he has a real-life fiancé—” I jerked my thumb toward my chest “—who he can’t talk about. Apparently, I’m bad for business. ‘Hard’ is an understatement.”

“But thanks to Dolly, the word is out, right?”

“Well, something’s out, all right. I don’t know how bad it is though because I’ve been too afraid to check in with my boss or go on any of the gossip sites to see what’s being said. Since my mom isn’t blowing up my phone, I can only conclude things have died down. Or they’re so bad she can’t even bring herself to repeat what’s being said.”

“I can’t imagine what it would be like if I had to deny Shea.” Stewart turned to stare at the lovely sprite sitting in the chair opposite him. She was talking animatedly with Drea, waving her hands back and forth as she regaled the group. “I don’t think I could do it.”

He turned his deep brown eyes back to me, and while I knew he wasn’t judging me, I still felt that horrible sinking feeling I got every time I remembered persuading Cameron to go along with the studio’s plan.

“Yeah, well, clearly we couldn’t either. I mean, we kind of blew our cover immediately.”

He raised an eyebrow and grinned, a look that told me he was onto me.

“Yeah, okay. I did it on purpose.” I gasped, immediately wishing I could take it back. I’d just admitted—out loud—that I’d sabotaged a very expensive PR campaign for an even more expensive film.

But instead of censoring me, Stewart’s face broke out into a wide grin and he leaned over to squeeze my knee. “Thatta girl.”

“You’re not going to say anything, are you?”

“Hell, no.” He glanced over at Shea again. “I’d have done the exact same thing.”

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