Page 4 of Dream On, Ramona Riley

Ramona scoffed. “I haven’t slept with Leigh!”

“I’m referring, of course, to the Golden Fuckboi of Clover Lake, Logan Adler.”

Ramona fought to hold in a laugh. “My point stands.”

“Fine,” April said, shoulders drooping in defeat. “If not dating, then what? Trip to New York? LA? Re-enrolling in RISD? You can—”

“I am not going back to RISD,” Ramona said firmly. She could think of nothing more humiliating. Plus, she could never afford it—or any school for that matter. She’d attended on a full scholarship before, something she was pretty sure RISD didn’t hand out to thirty-one-year-olds in the food service industry.

“Fine,” April said. “But have you even sent your portfolio to anyone? Agents? Talent scouts?”

Ramona pressed her eyes closed for a second, took a deep breath. She loved April, dearly and deeply, but Scorpios were all about transformation—at least, according to April—and Ramona was the kind of person who ate a turkey sandwich with avocado, spinach, and Havarti for lunch every single day of her life.

“I’m still perfecting it,” she said to April, thinking about her digital portfolio sitting on her iPad, half-finished, half-dreamed. “Plus, the chances of—”

“What the hell is happening in this kooky town now?” April asked. She’d stopped on the sidewalk about a block away from Clover Moon Café, brows furrowed. Ramona looked around, shops with awnings in deep hunter green, navy, and gray lining both sides of Lake Street. It was a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, so there werea lot of people out, but nearly everyone was clustered in groups of two or three, hovering over their phones and gesticulating excitedly.

“God only knows,” Ramona said, pulling April along, stopping in front of the café and checking her reflection in the window. Last week, she’d finished a dress rehearsal at the middle school and come into work with a fake eyelash stuck to her cheek and glitter in her hair. Honestly, she didn’t trust April to point out any irregularity in her appearance—April loved a good laugh too much and thought Ramona took herself too seriously anyway.

Ramona pulled her wavy brown hair up into a high ponytail and fluffed her fringe. Her myriad freckles were glitter-free, her dark brown eyes clear of any mascara smears or extra lashes. She had on a high-necked black-and-white top, abstract patterns swirling over the fitted cotton. It was one of her own creations, designed years ago when she was still working on her portfolio on a daily basis. Also, she had such a hard time finding unique pieces to fit her plus-size figure—her boobs in particular—she designed most of her own clothes back then. Luckily, most of them still fit. She smoothed her hands down her jeans just as April smacked her on the butt.

“You look hot,” April said. “In fact, let me get a shot for your dating profile—”

“Oh, what’s that? Oops, can’t hear you,” Ramona singsonged, then swung open the café’s door and let it fall closed in April’s face. She winked at her best friend through the glass and received yet another middle finger.

Clover Moon Café was a diner, coffee shop, and bar all in one. The atmosphere was warm with an amber wood bar top and tables with mismatched chairs, and Mason jar lights hung down from the pine ceiling in various shades of blue and green. Ramona loved it here, and as she and April sat at the bar so Ramona could eat before her shift, she reminded herself of just how lucky she was.

She loved her town.

She loved her café, even if she didn’t always love the work.

And she had a best friend who loved her enough to be a pain in the ass about, well, everything.

Ramona Riley was just fine, thanks very much.

“It’s happening in here too,” April said out one side of her mouth.

Ramona flicked the corner of the plastic menu she knew by heart, taking in how at least three-fourths of the diners were also staring at their phones and chattering a little louder than normal.

“Hey, dolls,” Marion said from behind the bar, setting glasses of water down in front of them. “The usual?”

“Marion, what the hell is happening around here?” April asked.

Marion popped her gum, her eyes going wide. “You haven’t heard?” She was in her fifties and had been working at Clover Moon since she was a teenager. Thus, she knew everything about everyone.

“Heard what?” Ramona asked.

Marion grinned. “You’ll like this, Mona.”

She took her phone out of her apron and clicked around, then handed it over to Ramona. April leaned in close to read one of Penny Hampton’s daily posts on her blog about the goings-on in town, aptly namedPenny for Your Thoughts. Clover Lake had a town newspaper, but if you wanted the gossip, thetrue stories, as Penny said, Clover Lake residents knew just where to find it.

“Holy shit,” April said, always a speed-reader. Ramona had barely made it past the first couple of sentences.

For several months now, Clover Lake’s mayor, Amira Gates, has been in secret—very tricky, Mayor Gates!—negotiations with Skylark Studios regarding the possibility of a feature film coming to Clover Lake’s shores. Well, those negotiations are at an end, and Hollywood is indeed arriving in our beloved hamlet in three weeks’ time.

That’s right, Cloverians, the full cast and crew forAs If You Didn’t Know, a romantic comedy based on the bestselling book, will arrive at the beginning of June. Prepare for celeb sightings and possible shutdowns for a few of our small businesses and a more-clogged-than-usual downtown. It might not be convenient, but it sure is exciting! Sources close to the mayor say the studio is paying handsomely for our cooperation, and we all know money makes the world go round. So buckle up for a summer like we’ve never had before!

“Is this for real?” Ramona asked. Penny didn’tlienecessarily, but she’d been known to stretch the truth for the sake of drama. “This sounds—”