Page 9 of Wish You Were Her

“I need some air!” he said flatly, as he made a hasty exit. “Carry on without me.”

“Don’t mind Jonah,” Simon said to Allegra, as she watched her sparring partner exit. He gave her a genuinely sympathetic smile and spoke with understanding. “He’s one of those booksellers who doesn’t like people touching the books.”

For the briefest of moments, while they’d passionately debated books, Allegra had entertained the idea that Jonah was the bookseller emailing her.

But Simon was light and friendly and funny, just like his emails. Jonah was…

Not.

“I think I was a bit rough on him,” Allegra said begrudgingly.

“Don’t let him upset you,” Simon said, nudging her in an overly familiar fashion.

“I’m not upset,” she replied, and it was the truth.

“He doesn’t really like anybody. He tolerates most of us, but books are his only love.”

“And good luck to him.”

She broke off some of the doughnut and offered a piece to Simon, who gladly accepted.

“Hey, a bunch of us are going to the arcade tonight for drinks. You are totally welcome to come along.”

“There’s an arcade? Grace didn’t mention that on the tour.”

“It’s just off one of the dirt paths, beyond the maze. It’s one of the few places in town that stays open late and serves more than lemonade.”

“I don’t drink, I’m afraid. Still allowed?”

“Of course.”

“And who’s ‘us’?”

“Me and my friend Skye. Jonah, unless you’ve scared him out of town.”

“What about Grace?”

Allegra noticed Simon’s face flicker slightly with distaste. “Grace Lancaster?”

“Yeah. She was super nice, squiring me around town. She can come too, right?”

Simon hesitated and Allegra wondered if there was some deep, dark reason behind his reluctance. She didn’t like to think it could be snobbery—that Simon thought of Grace as someone who was beneath him.

“Sure, she can come.”

“Great, I’ll text her.”

“Wow, lucky Grace,” he said with a grin, picking up the empty doughnut box and dropping it in the bin.

Allegra smiled, curiously. “What?”

“First person in town to secure your phone number.”

Allegra didn’t know what to do with her face so she just shrugged and said, “One of my numbers. I have too many.”

“Well, can I have one of them? Or your email address?”

Allegra almost told the truth. She almost revealed that she was the person he had been emailing but then a familiar, ever-present thought interrupted her.

Just because the emails were starting to mean something to her, it was no reason to believe that they meant anything to him. She was an all-in kind of person. But that was not the rest of the world.

So she held her tongue.

“I’ll be there,” was all she said.

When closing time arrived, Jonah was alone in the shop with George.

Courtney, Allegra and Simon had all gone to a meeting with the Lake Pristine Tourist Board and Jonah appreciated the quiet they left in their wake.

He sold an economics book to a visiting tourist and some picture books to frequent customer Mrs. Heywood for her grandchildren and then began to cash up.

“Jonah?”

George’s voice sounded from the office door and Jonah froze by the till. “Uh-huh?”

“Can you take it just a little easier on Allegra? Please.”

Jonah looked over at his boss. “I didn’t realize I wasn’t.”

The lie fell flat and they both knew it.

“She’s new to town, she needs a bit of a break. Just be nice, son. She has a mad life. And I know the festival is your project, you do so much for it and I’m grateful. But she’s only helping out. She’s not taking anything away from you by just helping out.”

“I know,” Jonah said stiffly, avoiding eye contact and busying himself with receipts. “Sorry if I seemed…”

“It’s all right, son. She’s only here for the summer. I’m sure she makes lots of boys nervous, you won’t be the only one. Can you just pretend to be nice for a summer?”

Somehow, the word “pretend” irked Jonah. He felt prickly about it. “Fine.”

“I can do all of this. Go and meet Simon. It’s Saturday night.”

Usually Jonah would protest and stay to show his commitment, but when George dismissed him, he made swift work of grabbing his things and leaving the shop behind. He walked to the arcade for Saturday Night Debrief with Simon, trying not to get worked up about George’s gentle reprimand.

Simon was usually a little hard to handle when he was with their other friends from school. It rekindled the immature side of him, in a way that Jonah struggled to find amusing.

At eight o’clock, the sun was still out in Lake Pristine and as many people were heading out to the beach as returning from it.

The lake was a constant source of distraction during the hot summers in town.

People were shutting up their shops and running with great urgency, desperate to cool off in the water.

Soon the marquees for the festival would be arriving, and before long the maze would open for its summer season.

Jonah felt some of the day’s stresses slipping away as he reached the arcade, which was already filling with Lake Pristine’s younger crowd. He heard Simon before he saw him and gravitated toward the sound of his laugh.

Simon was in their usual booth with his friend Skye, and her friend, Kerrie. The latter hurriedly fiddled with her hair on noticing Jonah.

“Evening, troops,” Jonah said.

He was about to slide in next to Simon when his friend held up a hand.

“Someone else is coming, sit next to Kerrie.”

Jonah exhaled wearily. He knew exactly who Simon was anticipating.

“I’m really nervous to meet her,” Kerrie said conspiratorially.

“I’m not,” scoffed Skye. “That show she’s on is pretty terrible.”

“They killed her off,” Jonah offered.

“Yeah, well, I’m not surprised. She wasn’t very good on it.”

Kerrie frowned anxiously, glancing at her friend. “You said yesterday you’ve never seen it.”

Skye stalled but rallied in an instant. “Yeah. I stopped watching. It’s a drag, Kerrie. Lots of people think so.”

Jonah was about to roll his eyes but as he perched on the edge of the booth there was suddenly a presence next to him.

Allegra had obviously gone home to change, because she was no longer wearing the sundress from earlier.

Instead she was in denim shorts and a band shirt, with her hair scraped up. She looked effortlessly chic.

“What’s a drag?” she asked, with an impish, knowing smile.

Skye, if she had been a different kind of girl, could have laughed off her own insecurity and taken the moment as an opportunity to make an interesting friend. But she was not a different kind of girl.

“Just talking about a TV show,” she said, looking Allegra up and down, slowly.

The latter didn’t mind. She continued to smile sunnily and then turned to hold her hand out to Kerrie. “Hey, I’m Allegra. Nice to meet you.”

Jonah watched Kerrie’s hand tremble as she reached out to take the one being offered to her. “I’m Kerrie. It’s… it’s literally so cool to meet you.”

Jonah saw what felt just like his own annoyance flash across Skye’s face and he was surprised by how distasteful it looked. He wondered if he seemed as bitter when he reacted to the sycophancy.

“I love your rings,” Allegra said to Kerrie, nodding at the girl’s fingers and smiling.

“Oh, my God, you can have all of them,” Kerrie babbled, laughing a little too hard.

Allegra slid in next to Simon, who was gesticulating frantically for her to do so. Jonah felt another familiar pang of irritation.

“I’ve told Grace we’re here,” Allegra said to Simon.

Before he could respond, Kerrie leaned over with a tentative smile.

“Can I just say something?”

Jonah wondered how many times Allegra would hear this over the summer. “Of course.”

“I follow you on Instagram and you always look so amazing. Just so beautiful. Like, every picture.”

When Kerrie stopped to take a breath, Skye smirked and said, “That wasn’t a question.”

“Skye,” Kerrie said softly, sounding slightly betrayed.

But she soldiered on. “I am being so serious right now, Allegra, I don’t want this to sound offensive.

Not even a bit. But… you’re… I mean, one of the reasons I love you so much is because you’re so beautiful but you’re not, like, this skinny girl? If you know what I mean?”

Allegra forced herself to keep smiling. She was proud of her curves but it would never stop being strange, having people openly comment on her body and her looks within moments of meeting her.

“It’s just nice to see a mid-size girl getting loads of attention, you know?” Kerrie concluded, her eyes searching Allegra’s face for approval. “And you’re going to be a princess in that new Disney movie. I saw an article about it online!”

“Just her voice,” Skye interjected, before taking a long slurp of her glass of blue slush.

Allegra paid her no mind. She could see Grace had arrived and was talking to a woman who looked like management. They seemed friendly and relaxed with one another and then the woman pointed Grace in the direction of their booth. Allegra waved her over.

“Can we budge up a bit for Grace?” she said to Simon and Skye.

“I don’t remember inviting her,” Skye said with a thin smile. Simon, too, seemed reluctant to let Grace in, but eventually did so when Allegra looked at him, forcing a pleasant smile onto his handsome face. She was a little dismayed by this new show of social snobbery.

“Who was that?” Allegra asked Grace as she sat down next to her.

“That’s Hera. She runs this place.”

“Do you come here a lot?”

“Sometimes. With my brother and sister-in-law.”

“Sister-in-law?” Skye let out a piercing laugh. “Your brother isn’t married.”

Grace narrowed her eyes at Skye, not the slightest bit afraid of the other girl. “Not yet, but he will be.”

“You’re that desperate to be able to say you’re related to Jasper Montgomery? Whatever floats your boat.”

“At least Jasper knows my name,” Grace said, with enough spice in her tone to make Allegra smile. She wondered who the mysterious Jasper was. “You’re just some girl who could never get into her mum’s ballet school. Didn’t your dad even try calling them one winter?”

Skye’s mouth dropped open and she made a choking sound of disgust. “You can’t afford to be this rude to me, Grace Lancaster.”

“Hey, now,” Simon said, nudging Skye. “Stop. You started it, she finished it, we don’t need an encore. Be cool.”

“How’s the festival planning going, Jonah?” Kerrie asked, pushing some of her hair over her shoulder and smiling hopefully at the bookseller in question.

He shrugged one shoulder. “Fine, thanks.”

“It’s keeping you busy.”

Allegra wondered if Jonah knew this girl was keeping an eye on his availability.

“I’m so over the festival,” Skye said wearily.

“The whole population tripling. Completely random people rocking up in town. People who don’t belong.

” She cast a sideways look at Allegra, which only made the latter want to choke down a laugh.

She was curious about the small-town dynamics that were currently at play, but she could see how annoyed Grace was.

Even Kerrie looked disturbed. So Allegra got to her feet and smiled a civil smile at the table.

“Not really my vibe in here. Grace? Kerrie? I’m going back to the bookshop flat if you want to join me. I make really good virgin cocktails.”

“I’m there,” Grace said, without a moment’s hesitation.

“And me,” Kerrie said, almost clambering over Jonah to get out of the booth. She turned back to throw him another expectant smile. “You staying here?”

Allegra watched Jonah nod in reply. He was clearly oblivious to the way Kerrie’s voice softened when she spoke to him.

She wanted to tell Kerrie that he wasn’t worth it, that he was far too cantankerous, but she refrained. It was none of her business, after all.