Page 59 of Stay for Forever

“I had to rush off to take care of my animals,” I lie. It’s happened often enough for the lie to sound believable. Some what.

Ashlyn’s too caught up in the story to question my words. “Apparently, a whole bunch of teenagers figured out Maverick Langston is in Winter Falls, and they invaded the town and accosted him.”

“Accosted him? Did they hurt him?”

He didn’t appear hurt when I left. No, he seemed perfectly happy to bask in their adoration. I knew I shouldn’t get involved with a movie star. What was I thinking? I’m an idiot. No, I’m worse than an idiot. What’s worse than an idiot? A nincompoop? A feral cat that refuses to be potty trained?

Ashlyn waves away my question. “He wasn’t hurt. No need to worry. I’ll bet he can perform just fine.” She wags her eyebrows in case I’m confused with what she means by ‘perform’. I’m not.

“How did they find him anyway?” I ask, although I already know. Stupid man posted a picture of the falls on social media. What did he think would happen?

“He posted a picture on social media,” Aspen confirms my theory.

Ellery yawns and rolls over. “I saw the post. It didn’t mention the location.”

“It doesn’t have to. If he didn’t disable geotagging, anyone with a bit of hacking skills would be able to uncover his location. Don’t worry, Juniper,” Lilac reassures me, “I can show him how to disable geotagging. Today’s incident won’t be repeated.”

Today’s incident won’t be repeated, but not for the reasons she’s thinking. “I heard the gossip gals confronted the fans,” I blurt out in an effort to change the topic of conversation to any matter other than a drawn out discussion of me and Mav.

“I think you’ve changed the subject enough now. Time for you to tell us what’s going on with you and Mav,” Aspen announces. Dang. She caught me.

I frown at her. “Who says there’s something going on?”

Ashlyn wags her phone at me. “Every single person in town.”

I growl. Stupid town Facebook page. As if the townsfolk don’t gossip enough, there’s also a Facebook page to ensure everyone hears the gossip at lightning speed.

“We went to breakfast together. Big deal.” I thought it was a big deal. I thought wrong.

“This pillow says you lie.” Ellery holds it up.

“You mean the pillow Bark Twain farted on?”

Ellery gags and throws the pillow on the floor. When I burst out laughing, she sticks her tongue out at me.

“You’re cruel.”

“How’s Honey doing?”

I was planning to train the puppy I gifted to Ellery myself, but the second Cole bought her a house, she insisted I hand the pup over, which meant I missed all the puppy cuddles. Puppy cuddles are the best.

“Enough!” Aspen barks and Indiana Bones howls before dashing out of the room. I wish I could follow him. “Tell us why you’re laying in bed feeling sorry for yourself when we know for a fact you were all loved up with Mav this morning.”

I glare at her. Aspen’s my big sister, but it doesn’t mean she’s privy to every single thing happening in my life. I’m allowed some privacy, aren’t I?

Her eyes soften and she reaches out to squeeze my hand. “I’m not being nosy.”

Ashlyn snorts. “I am.”

“We’re worried about you. We didn’t know why you were acting like a grumpasaurus these past months.”

“I knew.” Ashlyn raises her hand.

Aspen ignores Ashlyn to continue, “But now we know about Maverick, we want you to be happy.”

I roll my eyes. “Just because you drank the Kool-Aid doesn’t mean the rest of us have to.”

“The Kool-Aid is quite yummy,” Ellery mumbles into her pillow.

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