Page 83 of Wish You Were Her

He pulled his ancient laptop toward him and he started to write, what he always did when he had too many feelings to process and the air wouldn’t come. He wrote his friend an email. He poured out everything he felt. Everything that he knew was inevitable.

But for some reason, he didn’t release it. His finger hovered over the “send” button but he could not bring himself to do it. He saved it to his drafts and fell into a tormented sleep instead.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Allegra couldn’t sleep.

Her father had brought her a tray of food along with a disapproving aura, but they hadn’t exchanged words. Her phone remained switched off. It was her first day off from the festival and she planned to spend it in hiding.

She knew what was going to happen anyway. Press would already be descending on Lake Pristine. So, Natalie and her management would have a car come to collect her. One with tinted windows and a surly, silent driver. It would spirit her away, back to the city. To her empty apartment.

Back to the glamorous grindstone.

Back to colleagues instead of friends.

Back to stone.

As late morning slipped into her room, her self-pity was interrupted by a knock on the front door. Her father was manning the shop downstairs, so Allegra slipped into the hall. She cracked the door open a little, just in case her father had unwittingly sent a journalist up to their flat.

It was Jasper Montgomery.

Her face was so full of empathy, Allegra feared she might cry if she had any tears left.

“May I come in?”

“Sure.”

Jasper stepped into the flat, her interior designer eyes landing on every piece of furniture in a sweeping survey of the room. She was obviously not too impressed but she smiled warmly at Allegra.

“This is fucking shit.”

Allegra laughed at the woman’s bluntness. “Yes, it is.”

“I can’t believe they get to do this to you.”

“Yeah, well. Price of fame.”

“I’m checking the security tapes. If they even brushed at the borders of our land at the Lakehouse, I’m suing them to within an inch of their lives.”

“Thanks.”

They sat on Allegra’s bed and Jasper took her hand. “Have you spoken to anyone?”

“No. My publicist, briefly. She’ll be putting a plan together. They’ll have me out of here by tonight.”

Jasper scanned Allegra’s face, as though trying to catch her tells. “Is that what you want, though?”

“Doesn’t matter what I want. I’m the one who fucked up.”

“You did not fuck up, sweets. You got preyed on by a horrible photographer and an unscrupulous editor.”

Hearing Jasper say it made Allegra feel like some of the curse was lifting. “I—it’s not just my reputation, everyone I work with will be worried about implication.”

“Well, if anyone gives you a hard time about this, they don’t deserve to work with you.”

Allegra felt her breath quicken and her jaw start to tremble. “I might have ruined Jonah’s life. Those pictures will be online forever.”

“Allegra,” Jasper said her name softly. “Jonah will not agree with that assessment. You haven’t ruined anyone’s life, least of all his.”