Page 21 of As They Are (Strawberry Springs #2)

I crossed my arms, feeling an odd sort of protectiveness making my spine straighten. Tammy didn’t have to do anything for the camera. And she certainly didn’t have to find a way to make Jude’s beer order happen.

Henry’s hand landed on my knee, and I took a breath to calm down. Any tension on camera could be used in a negative way. Madison had gone with my plan to be with Henry, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t cooking up something else in the background.

“Wren’s picked up on what we all feel. No matter how much we annoy each other, we care.” Henry’s voice was soft but firm. I didn’t know when I’d started to feel this way. Maybe it had started from the second I drove in.

“Seems like a good way for people to know everything about you.” Jude looked around with a frown. “And I bet nothing even happens here.”

“Things definitely happen here,” Henry replied. “Even if they’re not what you’d expect.”

Jude shrugged, seemingly unable to care. He always wanted the biggest and best of everything. He’d once told me it was how he’d gotten to where he was. He’d hit it big as a teen and then made his way through life always working hard. Or so I thought.

I loved working hard, so I’d thought we were made for each other. But his version of it was paper thin. It was being friendly for a camera. Kissing ass when they were rolling, and then nothing when they were off.

I didn’t know what I saw in him. All I knew now was that I regretted the time I wasted on him.

“All right, I have drinks. Coffee for the cutest couple in town.” She smiled at Henry and me, then it fell when she looked at Jude. “And a Bud Light for you.”

Jude didn’t waste time. He grabbed his glass of foamy liquid and drank it, but then his eyes bugged out.

“I’ve ... never had it taste like that before.”

“I thought it was your favorite?” Tammy tilted her head, looking like the pinnacle of innocence.

Henry used his free hand to hide his mouth, but I could have sworn he was smiling.

“It’s good,” Jude said, eyes on the camera. “Best I’ve ever had.”

“Glad I could scrounge one up for you.” Tammy pulled out her notepad and took our orders. Henry and I didn’t need the menu since we knew what we wanted, but Jude made a big show of asking about all of the best meals.

Tammy’s lips were fixed in a permanent frown by the fourth question.

“What about the burger? Is it butchered locally or ...”

“Cain would kill anyone who suggests that. He loves his animals more than anything, and they’re only for dairy. These are from a town a little north of here. There’s a big ranch up there.” She tapped her pen. “How about you try one and?—”

“Are they grass-fed?”

She let out a sigh. “I’m not sure. Like I said, you should try it first. It’s good. I promise.”

“Fine. I’ll get a burger.”

Madison cleared her throat in warning. This was getting awkward and fast.

“Coming right up,” Tammy replied. She gave Henry and me a roll of the eyes before she walked off.

“They’re gonna have to cut that,” Henry said under his breath.

“They’ll have to cut most of this, I fear.”

“What’s with the people here?” Jude asked. “Everyone usually loves me.”

“They care about Wren. The other woman you kissed was big news.” Henry’s voice was light, but it had a slight edge to it, like he was as unhappy about what Jude had done as everyone else was.

“But that was?—”

Now Madison cleared her throat harder. There was no talk about fake relationships on camera.

Jude sighed. “I’ll have to change their minds then.”

I wanted to tell him that I doubted the people here would care about his surface-level platitudes. But I kept that fact to myself. Seeing people not be fooled by him was refreshing.

Henry’s thumb ran circles over my knee, reminding me that we’d been touching the entire time. It was easy to pretend that we were sitting in a diner on a date. That we were here and enjoying it, just the two of us.

Oh God, I wanted that, didn’t I?

It would never work out. I had a whole life in the city, one that I was excited to get back to once the library was done. He liked small-town life, and probably didn’t like me that much, if the way he constantly left right when we were done was any indication.

I didn’t enter this thing hoping that we would end up together. I thought that after Jude, I would have learned my lesson.

Apparently not.

Because I was crushing hard .

The cameras, and by extension, Jude, were around until we got our food, but after our first bite, they announced they were done. Madison packed up and Jude abandoned his burger.

I was glad when they were gone, and Henry was too, judging by the way his shoulders slumped.

“Do you wanna leave now? I can take care of the bill.”

“No,” he replied. “Not having the cameras around is helping. And I wanted to tell you that the local businesses have already felt the show’s benefit.”

“They have?”

“Jade came to tell me that just having her shop on the show’s website helped. She makes candles, by the way. And sells different crystals.”

“Where is that at?”

“Jade’s Goodies.” He pointed out the window. “Mollie goes there often.”

“I should try to make it over there.”

“Jade wanted to know if she said something to upset you when you met her.”

I blinked. “She asked you?” Jade had done nothing wrong, and I felt terrible for being wary of her. She’d been here with Mollie when I couldn’t. I picked at my cuticle as I wondered if Mollie liked her more for that.

“She asked me to put in a good word for her, which I can. She’s a good person.”

“I don’t doubt that,” I said. “And Jade didn’t do anything wrong. This is all on me.”

“She mentioned being Mollie’s friend while you were gone. Is that what made you nervous?”

“Yep.” I sighed and leaned back. “But I’ll work on it. It’s not her fault. She does seem really cool. I might try to see her after I go to Mollie’s booth at the farmers market.”

Henry raised his eyebrows. “She has a booth today?”

“Yep, it’s her first one. I have to buy her out of everything she has.”

His eyes went to the farmers market and then back to me, lips pursed. “I don’t usually go since it’s so busy, but it would be nice to see her booth.”

I perked up. “Wanna join me?”

He considered it for a long moment. I wondered why he wouldn’t want to go. Was it too hot? Did he have plans after this? Just what did this man do in his free time?

“It’ll be a good chance to drive home that we’re seeing each other,” I added. Henry’s eyes flicked to me.

“That’s not a bad point. We’ll go after we eat.”

I’d never finished a meal so quickly in my life, but I was excited to see Mollie and get to act like Henry’s girlfriend in public. Tammy must have been keeping a close eye on us because she brought us the check shortly after.

“Did you do anything to Jude’s food?” I asked. “He barely touched it.”

She crossed her arms. “I have a reputation to uphold. That is nothing but the best.”

“And the beer?” Henry asked.

“Well, I served beer about ten years ago. Found an old can and brought it out.”

Henry gasped, and I let out a laugh. “That’s evil,” I replied.

“He should learn his lesson about cheating.” She said it easily as she grabbed his unfinished plate. “Though I doubt he will. There’re plates deeper than him, aren’t there?”

I laughed one more time, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Henry reaching for the check. I cut him off.

“I’ve got it,” I said. “Don’t worry about paying.”

I still hadn’t figured out how to repay him for doing all of this. A meal was but a drop in the bucket, but it was a start.

“No, I’ll cover it.” His voice was firm. “I’d be a bad boyfriend if I didn’t.”

“Don’t tell me you think the guy has to pay for everything.”

“I don’t think that. I just want to do it for you .”

My stomach flipped. The few dates I had been on, they took one look at me and decided that I could pay for my own food. It went against everything I needed to do to pay him back, but I wanted this.

“The classic ‘who will pay’ discussion,” Tammy said with a laugh. “How about this? It’s on me.”

Both of us turned to her at the same time.

“Tammy,” I said, shaking my head, “you can’t cover everything.”

“We ate, and we need to pay.”

“Oh, now you’re on the same side.” She rolled her eyes. “I just thought about it while you two were arguing. I don’t know why I even bothered with bringing it. I got my diner on TV. I’m good with you two having free food.”

“But—” Both of us said it at the same time.

“I’m walking away now,” she said as she snatched the check off the table. “You better leave before I kick you out!”

Henry sighed. “She will actually kick us out.”

“Fine.” I stood. “But I would have paid.”

“No, you wouldn’t have.” He said it like a fact, and I wondered if there was a future where we would be eating together again.

“Don’t underestimate how stubborn I am.”

“Oh, I’m not. But I also have a feeling you’d listen if someone told you to do something the right way.”

I paused, body warming at his words. I didn’t think of myself as a good order-taker, but there’d been a few times, particularly when I was in the abandoned library, where he’d firmly told me not to do something, and I hadn’t.

Maybe he was the key.

But Henry was already backpedaling. “I just meant ... I mean?—”

“So, the farmers market,” I said, deciding not to push it any further. He already looked like he’d started to regret every word he’d said. “Any tips as a resident of the town?”

“I don’t usually go to it, so I’m as new as you are.”

“So, we’re winging it.”

“That’s not my favorite way of doing things.”

I laughed and tugged him along.

I found Mollie on the far side of the square from the diner. She looked radiant in the sun and was talking to people animatedly.

I waited patiently for her to be done before I slammed my hand on the table and said, “I need all of the jam you have.”

“Well, you’re in luck. I have two left.”

“Two?” I asked with a gasp. Sure enough, her table was nearly empty. “You’re killing it!”