Page 56 of Always You (A Lilac Bay Novel)

“What’s that?” David called out.

“Its a tweet stream,” Andrew called from the bar as tweets began scrolling down the screen. At the bottom, in big block letters, was the website to vote for Lilac Bay. “Now we can see what everyone has to say about us.” He raised his voice a little. “And make sure you all vote!”

“Awesome!”

There was a loud murmur of agreement, and then giggles and shouts as people started reading the tweets. “Wish I lived somewhere that pretty,” Jenny read. “Oh, that’s sweet!”

There weren’t all so sweet. One guy declared the lack of automobiles in an American town to be a “commie travesty.” A lot of them seemed focused on how hot Heather Dale was. But, for the most part, the audience reaction to our island was pretty positive.

“Hot redhead, three o’clock,” Andrew read off as he took his seat again. “Hashtag, I’d hit that.”

I laughed, slapping his arm. “It so didn’t say that.”

“Well, it should,” he pulled out his phone. “Think I could get it trending?”

“You’re horrible,” I laughed, pulling his phone back.

Now that the pressure of the show had lifted, everyone seemed to be in a great mood. Cora offered a round of drinks on the house, which got a huge cheer, and our table decided to order some more food. For the first time in weeks, I felt like I could relax.

Until Andrew’s stupid brother opened his mouth.

“Man, I hope we make it to the next round,” Edward said. “I want to see that footage of trivia night.”

“It would suck to get kicked off now,” Posey agreed. “We barely got to enjoy it.”

“We should probably be prepared for it, though,” Zane said. “You never know with TV. Anything can happen. I mean, how many times has the Bachelor given his rose to the absolute worst choice? And who can forget the Jennifer Hudson fiasco onIdol?”

“What’s with all the negative talk?” Andrew demanded. “I thought we were great!”

“I think we were, too,” Zane said. “I’m just saying it’s good to be prepared for anything.”

“Well, maybe don’t say it.” Andrew’s voice was sharp. “Some people at this table worked really hard on this. We could at least let them have a night to enjoy it.”

Zane’s eyes flashed to my face, widening. “I’m so sorry, Riley—”

“No, it’s fine,” I assured him, surprised at Andrew’s reaction. Okay, so maybe their comments had sent my heart plummeting to my knees, but he didn’t need to be so touchy on my behalf.

“You did a great job,” Zane said, reaching for my hand. “Really. We all appreciate this so much.”

Edward was watching his brother, an unreadable expression on his face, but Zane must have nudged him, because he tore his eyes away to look at me. “We really do, Riley. Thank you.”

“You guys don’t have to—”

“We should toast,” Libby interrupted, raising her glass. To my horror, most of the people in our section quieted down at the sound of her voice, turning their attention to us.

“To Riley James,” she called loudly, and that got the attention of just about everyone else. All over the pub people were raising their glasses to me. “For putting Lilac Bay on the map!”

There was a chorus of “To Riley!” across the pub, and I did my best to bury my flaming face in my glass, offering them a weak wave.

“Oh, don’t even pretend like you didn’t love that,” Andrew said in my ear as everyone went back to their own conversations.

“Shut up.”

He laughed, and the brush of air from his breath, so close to my ear, sent little goose bumps down my neck. I pushed him away. “Stop breathing on me.”

“Another thing you’re too afraid to admit you love,” he said, lifting his glass.

I shook my head at him, more than a little relieved when he turned to answer something Libby was asking. I took a long sip of my beer before bringing my hands up to my face. The condensation from the cold glass felt good against my flaming cheeks.