Page 27 of Never Date a Celebrity

“Do I want to feed the horses? Is that even a real question?” Amy held her hands out. “Pass me the apples.”

Imogen smiled and handed them over. Maybe this was what first dates were really about—finding out if the little things lined up. So far, so good.

“So, how did you get to Ballyluck today?” Imogen asked when they started walking again, after she spent five minutes enraptured by Amy’s joyous expression while she fed and petted the three very appreciative horses. “It’s a bit of a trek from where you work. Or are you staying nearby?”

“Oh no, our hotel’s not far from the set. The Emerald Grand?”

Imogen let out a low whistle. “Fancy.”

Amy chuckled. “Yeah, it’s nice. The studio also has cars that the crew can use to get around if they need to. Or sometimes they hire cabs for us if the cars aren’t available.”

“For the whole crew? That’s good of them.”

“Well, some of the crew are local, so they have their own transportation.” Amy lifted a shoulder. “It depends. Obviously, us Americans didn’t come bearing cars. Do you drive?”

Imogen nodded. “I have a car, but I barely use it. I hated driving around Belfast because of the traffic so I walked most places, and now I hate driving here because I enjoy looking around me too much.”

“I can understand that,” Amy said, gazing out at the expanse of green around them, framed by trees in the process of losing their leaves, blotted with only the odd barn or farmhouse in the distance.

Imogen thought she heard something behind them and turned around to see what it was, but there didn’t seem to be anything there—probably one of the animals. It wasn’t the busiest of trails, though Imogen had run into one or two people along the way before.

“It is peaceful,” Amy said as they continued to walk along. “I can see the appeal of leaving the city to come here. I can’t imagine it’s an easy place to meet people though.”

“I don’t know. Sometimes pretty Americans come into my bar.”

“They do? Tell me more about these pretty Americans. Do they come in packs or one at a time?”

“Um. I didn’t know you’d have follow-up questions and now might be a good time to tell you that sometimes I exaggerate.”

“You? Pourer of Ireland’s best Guinness? No way.” Amy grinned. “What’s the exaggeration this time? The prettiness of these Americans, or the volume of them?”

“Definitely the volume. If anything, the prettiness was understated.” Imogen wasn’t sure where she got her bravery from to come right out and say things like that, but everything felt easy with Amy. Imogen didn’t overthink or second-guess herself, she just went with the moment. And it felt good. Maybe she hadn’t forgotten how to date after all.

“Bartenders can be such charmers,” Amy said breezily. “I’ve heard about your sort. Got you sussed.”

“Except I’m only new to the job—basically a baby bartender. What if I told you I actually hail from insurance?”

“Then I would say that the charm is much more of a surprise. I’m not sure that I’ve ever met any charming insurers before.”

Imogen held her hands out to the sides. “Now you have. Believe me, it’s a surprise to both of us.”

Amy chuckled. “I don’t think you give yourself enough credit. Maybe it’s something to do with that being very very single thing that we talked about before.”

“Ah. You did warn me that you would come back to that.”

“And I will. But not yet. I plan to warm you up with lots of other questions first. That way you’ll be so exhausted from answering me that you’ll give up the information without a fight if only to shut me up.”

Imogen regarded her. “That’s either brilliant or conniving. I’m going with both.”

“You’re probably right. But me being transparent and upfront about it takes the sting out a little, huh? Besides, there’s a waiver in there that you don’t really have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”

“Oh, and only now you mention it.”

Amy gave her a sheepish look. “Well, it’s there in the small print. You can now consider yourself fully briefed.”

Imogen would quite happily answer any question that Amy had, but this time it wasn’t going to be a one-way street. “How about we take it in turns? I happen to be very interested in finding out more about you too.”

“Deal.”