Page 53 of Always You (A Lilac Bay Novel)

CHAPTER 10

Two weeks after the Fish Fry, what felt like half of the town gathered in Cora’s pub to watch our national television debut.

We were joined by scads of tourists, excited to see the town they were visiting on TV. Our appearance on the show was already helping bring new visitors in, and that was just from the commercials. Reports from the hotels and inns told the mayor’s office that occupancy was up twenty percent from the same week last year.

“I’m so nervous,” Jenny said, for what felt like the tenth time since we'd sat down.

“Did you do a talking head?” Zane asked from the other end of the table.

“I don’t think so,” Jenny said, her nose scrunched up in confusion.

“A talking head is when the producers interview you from off camera,” Zane told the table. “It’s a little but like a confessional, but usually during those the producers aren’t in the room.”

“How do you know that?” Andrew asked him.

“I watch a lot ofThe Bachelor,” he said, nodding wisely.

Andrew turned to me, already rolling his eyes. “We’re going to have a town full of television experts by the end of the night.”

“Be nice,” I said. “Everyone is just excited.”

“You say that now,” he said. “This afternoon Fran asked me what I thought the show’s market share was going to be. I don’t even know what thatmeans.”

I snorted into my plate of cheese fries. He definitely had a point. For the last two weeks all anyone could talk about was the show. Who had gotten interviews, who might end up on camera, what footage they would use. Jill Franklin was telling everyone who would listen that one of the camera guys had flirted with her, and she was positive that meant she’d be featured in the show. The mayor was also happily sharing that Gina had complimented his public speaking abilities and he was looking forward to his own talking head.

It had gotten even worse in the last week. After shooting footage for two episodes—the crew had come out for a second time the week before to have us compete in a pretty intense, highly complicated trivia night—everyone seemed to be an expert. Or thought they were, at least.

“What about you?” I asked him. “Did you do any talking heads?”

He made a scathing noise. “Absolutely not.”

“You seem pretty high and mighty for the guy who made all this happen in the first place,” I pointed out.

“I’m not high and mighty. I think the show is a great thing for the town. I’m just not a fame whore.”

“That’s right.” I flicked his knuckles as he reached for one of my fries. “You prefer to be a regular old whore.”

“You pain me, Riley,” he said, sighing in a long-suffering kind of way that made me want to both smack him and laugh. “I’m not a man-whore. I much rather prefer to think of myself as—a good Samaritan.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Really. And what would be your good deed for mankind?”

He grinned. “Making this package of manly perfection available to as many women as possible.”

I mimed puking under the table and he laughed, taking advantage of my distraction to grab a few fries.

“I believe in generosity, you know. It would be cruel to deny the female population my charms.”

“You can finish the fries,” I muttered. “I’m pretty sure I’m about to be actually sick.”

He smiled again, pulling the plate towards him, and I turned to Jenny in the hopes of finding some conversation that didn’t make me feel like hurling. To my further disgust, she was giggling at Andrew’s antics.

“Oh, don’t encourage him,” I said. “He’ll be impossible.”

“He’s funny,” she said.

“See?” he cried, pointing a fry in her direction. “Jenny sees my charm. Maybe she should take over best friend duties.” He winked at her.

“You’re lucky to have me,” I told him. “Your ego might explode if I wasn’t around to keep you in check.”