Page 89 of So in Love
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“Ican’t believeI let you talk me into this.”Crystal scowled at Alaina as they walked down the sidewalk of downtown Blueville toward Bitsy’s Café.
“Come on.You love Bitsy’s donuts.I can’t believe you don’t go in there.”
“It’s not that I don’t.I just…” She let her voice trail off before she completed the sentence.She didn’t go there before noon since it was one ofthat woman’sfavorite places to hang out.But Alaina didn’t know that.She came back to Blueville even less than Crystal did.
Which made Alaina’s presence incredibly exciting.A woman came out of the shop in front of them and stopped short.“Oh!It’s our famous actress!”She smiled broadly.“Wait until everyone hears this at bridge later.Will you take a picture with me?”
Alaina, always kind and gracious, smiled warmly.“Of course.”
The woman handed her phone to Crystal.“Do you mind?”
“Not at all.”
It was the tenth or so photo she’d snapped that day.After their French toast breakfast, they’d gone to Crystal’s family’s feed and hardware store where Alaina had held court with several of Blueville’s dads and granddads who saw the store as their version of a coffee shop.Crystal’s dad had coffee available, and they stopped in to shoot the bull.Today they’d been delighted to fawn all over Alaina.And Crystal, if she were being honest.They were the people of Blueville who made her visits worthwhile.Which was why she rarely ventured anywhere else in town.And certainly not to Bitsy’s Café.
Alaina put her arm around the woman who laughed up at her.“You are so tall!”the woman said.“Or maybe it’s just that I’m so short.”She turned her attention back to Crystal and smiled wide.
Crystal took several pictures before handing the phone back to the woman.“Here you go.”
“Thank you.”The woman tucked her phone back into her purse.“Bye!”
“So what’s the deal with Bitsy’s and everywhere else in town?”Alaina asked, as if the entire encounter was completely unremarkable, which to her it was.Really, it was to Crystal too.She’d been around Alaina’s fame since the very beginning.
“There’s no deal,” Crystal said, though her gait started to slow as they approached the café.
“Bull,” Alaina said.“You gave me a billion excuses at the store as to why we didn’t need to go to Bitsy’s.I’m not buying it.Plus, your mom made me promise I’d take you through town today.She said it would do you good.What does that even mean?”
“Nothing.”
Alaina let out a frustrated groan.“You’re impossible.”
They got to Bitsy’s, and Crystal peered in the window, scanning the interior.It looked safe…
Alaina opened the door with a disgruntled frown.“After you.”
Crystal squared her shoulders and walked inside.She looked over the space again and froze, her eyes landing on the man bent over a crossword puzzle at a table in the corner.
She let out a little gasp and turned her head but Alaina was already walking away.The stinker.She’d lured Crystal here under false pretenses.
Did she really care?
Crystal walked over to Jamie’s table.“Do you know a five-letter word for remorse?”
He looked up, his vivid hazel eyes burning into her.She had a visceral reaction, her entire being swaying toward him.But she held herself stiff.
“I do, in fact.”He used his foot to push the chair next to his out.
She slid into it and set her purse on the floor.Words stalled on her tongue.She took off her coat and draped it over the back of the chair.At last she said, “I’m sorry.But you already figured that out, crossword genius.”
“Actually, I’m stuck on one.”He looked down at the newspaper.“‘Phoebe of Gremlins.’I can see her, but can’t think of her name.”
“Cates.You know you can google that, right?”
He looked horrified, his eyes widening.“That’s cheating.”
She pulled back, her hands up.“My bad, sorry.If you had googled it, you’d learn she was married to Kevin Kline.”
