Page 62 of Fake-Off with Fate
I shake my head. “I’ve been telling you that all along. You just didn’t believe me.”
Ashlyn finishes her glass of champagne in one gulp like she’s trying to gather her courage. “I know what Allegra Johansen looks like, Jamie. She’s the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I just think it would be hard to let a woman like that go.”
“Who’s the most handsome male movie star you can think of?” I ask her.
“Henry Cavill.” She doesn’t even pause before answering.
“Say you and Henry dated for three years …”
She doesn’t let me finish before interrupting. “Impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because I would never date a guy like that for so long before proposing to him.”
Her candor makes me smile. “You’d propose to him?”
“It’s Henry Cavill, Jamie. Of course I’d propose to him.”
I bet she would, too. “Fine. Say you and Henry had been dating for a year when he went away to make a movie.”
She shakes her head again.
“What now?” I ask.
“I wouldn’t let him go away without me. I’d want to protect my interests.”
“Let me try this again. You and Henry are away on vacation, and you catch him flirting with a waitress. What do you do?”
“I tell him to stop it,” she says.
“And what if he tells you he’s been secretly seeing her and that he won’t stop?”
The outrage on her face is clear. “I’d tell him to take a hike!”
“Even though he’s the most gorgeous man you’ve ever met?” Feeling the need to tease her, I add, “Present company excluded, of course.”
The nodding of her head picks up speed. “Fine, I get it. Looks have nothing to do with the quality of person. But even so, Allegra is a knockout.”
“A knockout who treated me like dirt,” I remind her.
Ashlyn takes a big breath before saying, “I’m glad you’re not going to get back together with her.”
“Really? Because it started to feel like you were trying to talk me into it.”
While staring at her lap, she tells me, “You’re too good forher. You deserve to find a woman who knows what a catch you are.”
“Do you think that woman might be here in Maple Falls?” I’m hoping she’ll say yes.
But instead of giving me the answer I want, she utters, “I suppose it’s possible.” And while that isn’t the definitive response I was looking for, it’s not a no.
Now that we know Ashlyn’s parents are safe, I say a silent prayer they don’t return home before I can win their daughter over.
CHAPTER 29
