Page 5 of Wish You Were Her

Allegra felt a little stab of satisfaction at the bookseller’s mortification, and then several things happened at once.

The affable blonde boy in the window leaped to his feet and rushed at Allegra, as if she were a long-lost love, and the shop door burst open to reveal her father, George Brooks, holding a brand-new fan still in its box.

“Ally,” he yelled. He darted toward her, as though wanting to scoop her up, and then composed himself. He dropped the fan by the door and quickly kissed her mother on the cheek, before turning to Allegra.

“Great to see you, kid,” he settled on. “You’re so… tall.”

“Well,” said Allegra, who felt suddenly awkward and unsure, “I was thirteen when I last saw you in person.”

Her career had meant family and friends falling by the wayside and the guilt, while always present, was suddenly loud and stifling.

The years had sped by while she flew all over the world and spent months on location in Ireland or Croatia or New Zealand.

Their video chats were always harried and rushed, usually from cars or airport lounges.

“Well, I see you on the small screen every Monday,” he reminded her. “I watch all of them. Reruns, too.”

Allegra smiled shyly. “Thanks.”

She wanted to say that people never looked like they did on television but she was highly aware of the two boys her own age standing close by.

“So, these are my two trusty booksellers. That’s Simon,” George said, gesturing to the blond by the window, and then to the one on the ladder, who had dark eyes, dark curls and a dark mood, “and this surly one is Jonah.”

“Thanks, fearless leader,” said Simon, and Allegra’s eyes shot to his face.

Hadn’t she heard that expression in one of the emails?

“Welcome to Lake Pristine,” Simon said warmly.

So here he was.

Allegra gave him the smile she reserved for red carpets and thanked him.

She wondered if he knew, too. If he had worked it out.

His enthusiastic greeting had been such a blast of warmth, it made her feel like they shared a delicious secret.

He was good-looking, too. Especially as he wore such a sun-filled smile.

The other bookseller wore a face full of thunder.

“Right!” Her father clapped his hands. “I think we should close up for an hour and have lunch out the back on the terrace.”

The five of them—two parents, two booksellers and one global superstar—sat around the outdoor dining table with a huge salad and a couple of takeaway pizzas.

Allegra felt like a little girl again as she watched her parents.

She chewed on a slice of chicken pizza and analyzed every move they made.

Her mother had remarked on the town being almost exactly the same and George had shrugged and quietly stated that it was better and brighter now that Roxanne was back.

Allegra held her breath but Roxanne merely smiled at the compliment and then looked away.

“How was the journey in?” her father asked her mother, quickly masking any disappointment he felt.

Allegra knew they would occasionally meet up while she was on location but she had never been able to fully analyze or label their relationship.

“Pretty good,” said Roxanne. “How’s the festival coming along? Surely it’s not just the three of you running things?”

“Not anymore. George caved and hired a PR firm two years ago and that’s what we do each summer,” Simon said.

Allegra had to admire how at home Simon felt with two complete strangers.

“So, how long have you both worked for George?” her mother asked the two booksellers.

“This is our third summer,” Simon answered. “Mary and Nick come in on the weekends to help, but it’s mostly been us for the last couple of years. We both used to hide here after school.”

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen,” Simon said, answering for Jonah too, who Allegra noticed was facing away from the group and staring into the distance.

“Going to university in September?”

Simon glanced at Jonah, clearly checking in with him and making space for him to join in. When he remained silent, Simon spoke once more for the both of them. “Me, yes, him, no.”

“It’s going to be a hunt to replace Simon,” George said.

The look of surprised delight on Simon’s face made Allegra wonder how often her father praised them for their work.

“I just have to say something,” Simon said, after everyone had eaten a little more of the food. He beamed at Allegra. “It is… surreal to be sat across from you right now.”

Allegra allowed a small, polite smile. People always thought this kind of fawning was enjoyable for her. For a while, maybe it had been. Now it just made her feel panicky.

“She’s just in need of a nice, chill summer,” Roxanne said, with only the tiniest note of reproach in her voice.

“Yes, no leaking Ally’s location, boys,” George said firmly. “She’s here for a break. Leaks will be a sackable offense.”

“Unrelated, but you need to get a mobile phone,” Roxanne told her ex-husband with a disbelieving laugh. “You have been impossible to get hold of these days. You only have the old landline in the shop, and you never answer it. We were praying the voicemails got to you.”

“The boss can’t cope with technology,” Simon interjected. “I even have to do your emails, right, George?”

Allegra smiled at that, while George shrugged and looked at her mother.

“You can always write me a letter, Roxy.”

Allegra watched her mother soften and look away.

“I should probably open the shop back up,” Jonah said, speaking for the first time, his voice deep and detached.

Allegra watched the dark-haired bookseller stalk back into the shop with a touch of dismay. She had tried to be funny about the little social blunder from before but he seemed extremely vexed. His pride was clearly wounded.

“I don’t think I’ve made a very good first impression with him,” she told the rest of the group.

“Oh, don’t worry about Jonah,” Simon said, edging his chair closer to Allegra.

“He’s only ever all about books. He’s actually pretty great, you’ll warm to him.

Now, I have a million questions about filming Court of Bystanders !

” He stopped as he read the changing expression on Allegra’s face, her sudden withdrawal at the mention of her job.

He changed tactics. “But you’re here for a break, so I’m going to be totally respectful of that.

So, Allegra Brooks, totally average teenager in Lake Pristine, what’s your favorite book? ”

As Jonah reopened the shop he tried to focus on anything other than his visceral embarrassment. He was used to saying the wrong things to the wrong people, but this was one of his worst offenses yet. It had been almost too unbearable, sitting there with everyone who had witnessed it.

Allegra, more than anyone.

At the table he had found his acute embarrassment morphing into complete rudeness. He’d found it difficult to look at her, and it didn’t help to watch Simon turn on his customer service mask. Allegra and her mother were already halfway-charmed.

He busied himself with Simon’s abandoned window display and when a familiar face tapped on the glass with a smile, he gestured for them to come inside.

“Hey, Grace.”

Grace Lancaster, his former classmate and friend from Lake Pristine High.

She had recently celebrated her eighteenth birthday and had, after getting a little tipsy on her older brother’s beer, forced Jonah to do karaoke with her.

He laughed fondly whenever he heard Stevie Nicks and remembered their terrible duet of “Blue Denim.” She peeked round the door with a hat over her dark curls and a denim jacket covering her dance leotard, and Jonah knew exactly why she had come.

“Is she here yet?” Grace asked. She smiled at Jonah knowingly. He knew she could read his irritation over all of the fuss.

“Who?” Jonah said, playing the fool. “The big movie star?”

“Of course the big movie star,” Grace chastised him, as she fanned herself in the shade of the bookshop. “Is she here? Is she beautiful?”

“She’s having lunch with Simon and her parents in the back,” Jonah said, moving to the computer.

“And you were made to stay here?” asked Grace, a laugh in her voice.

“No, I… I offered. She’s not my kind of book.”

It helped Jonah to think of other people as books. Sometimes they came in genres, just like novels.

The beautiful, romantic kind. The history-obsessed. The zany and particular. The pretentious and dull.

Sometimes they were recommended to you by other people.

Their covers didn’t always match the contents, and the ones with plenty of praise thrown their way were often the ones Jonah had the most trouble reading.

He had the disquieting sense that Allegra Brooks was the kind of book everyone raved about and adored and that fact alone made him want to avoid picking it up.

So, he wouldn’t read her. She clearly had enough people turning her pages, she didn’t need another.

He opened up the shopfloor email. He smiled in spite of himself as he noticed a reply from the anonymous pen-pal. He was on the keyboard in an instant, pouring out the frustration he was enduring after such a weird afternoon.

[email protected]

to: [email protected]

RE: New Arrival

Dear Friend,

I think I can call you that now, strange person who only wanted to know about festival dates. You have now been coerced through your own politeness into being my pen-pal. Sorry.

There’s a glamorous new arrival in Lake Pristine and I just made a complete fool of myself in front of her—

Jonah paused, his fingers hovering over the keys. He deleted the sentence and started again.

–and my colleague just made a complete fool of himself in front of her, so I’m dying of secondhand embarrassment for him. Nice to see our fearless leader so happy, though.

He didn’t want to be uncharitable to Simon, but his friend was far too enchanted by fame and it irked Jonah. Surely even Allegra could see through the boy’s flattering and toadying, even if Simon himself was oblivious to the fact that he was doing it.

Stay tuned to see how else my co-worker can make a spectacle of himself.

Kindest and fondest regards,

Bookseller

Before he could send it, Grace’s voice pierced his concentration.

“Hey, Simon.”

Jonah glanced up to see his colleague jogging into the shop, looking all lit up. He ignored Grace’s greeting. “I need the computer.”

“Why?” Jonah felt the urge to wrap himself around the old thing.

“I want to memorize her IMDb page and look at all her socials.”

“Oh, Simon,” said Jonah, looking at him with distaste. “Don’t be that guy.”

“Sorry.” Simon tried to elbow Jonah away from the computer, which prompted the latter to press “send” quickly on his email. “That’s the girl I’m going to marry.”

Grace snorted and Jonah finally relented and gave up the computer to his friend. “Do you need anything, Grace, or are you just here to stare at her?”

“I’m just here to stare at her, and don’t make it sound so sordid, this is the most exciting thing to happen here in a while.”

“This is not a zoo,” Jonah heard himself say, eyeing the pair of them with stern disapproval. “This is a person . George’s family. You can’t just hang about and gawk at her. Enough.”

Simon and Grace exchanged a look, the former raising his eyebrows in an attempt to make the latter smile. But Grace was duly chastised. She offered her friend an apologetic smile, which settled the matter in Jonah’s mind.

Simon made himself busy on the computer and Jonah was halfway up his ladder once more when Allegra and her mother finally emerged. Jonah watched Allegra smile at her phone and inwardly rolled his eyes.

She probably loved that she was a hot commodity online. (And everywhere else.)

“Sending emails?” she asked Simon airily.

Jonah watched Simon quickly close his browser. “Yup. No one tells you how much emailing you have to do in the book world.”

Allegra smiled as if he had said something much more adorable and Jonah scowled at his shoes. Grace nudged him as she stepped forward to address Allegra.

“Hi.” Grace tucked her hair behind her ears a little self-consciously, and held out her hand. “I’m Grace. Your dad mentioned you might like a tour, so here I am!”

Jonah looked up to see if Allegra was horrified at the suggestion. Was she far too above the residents of Lake Pristine to accept their company? But the actress was beaming. “I’d love a tour. Thank you.”