Chapter 24 Nina
Nina
“Poor fella,” Grady says, watching with a sympathetic wince on his face as several people from the production crew surround Wes to make sure his head is all right.
I had my back to the glass-smacking incident and didn’t see what happened, but I heard the thunk.
It was a loud thunk. I’m actually not sure how Wes managed to hit his head?
Did he walk into the window, or something?
The glass is extremely clean. Or it was, before he left an imprint of his cheek on it.
I don’t have long to ponder the thought, though, since Harmony clocks what happened and rushes outside. “Nate!” The door closes, so I can’t fully make out what she’s saying, but I see her squat down in front of Wes. She coos and touches his forehead, brushing back his hair, and he laughs winsomely.
I tell myself to look away. I want to look away.
But it’s like when you accidentally type in a weird word combo and you pull up a GIF you were not expecting, one of the NSFW variety.
And you want to stop looking, but you’re also trying to figure out exactly what it is you’re looking at, and even though some part of you knows it’s going to scar your delicate psyche, maybe forever, you stare for just a second or two too long.
That’s how this feels. I watch on in soundless horror as Harmony leans in and presses her lips to Wes’s temple. His eyes dart up to mine.
I turn so my back is fully toward them, my heart racing. “Poor guy,” I echo unconvincingly, my heart in my throat.
When Lyle asked Grady and me to be extras on a date, I obviously realized there was a chance that it might be a date that Wes was on, but I figured, what were the odds?
Harmony was one of four Mountainettes, and each of them still had six contestants, so with all those variables in place, what was the likelihood that the one date I’d end up on would be with Wes .
. . ? And, okay, this is starting to sound like a really weird SAT question, but the point is, I’d like to go home now, please.
Only, Harmony will think it’s extremely strange if I suddenly leave.
She was so excited when she saw me sitting here in the bakery earlier.
“Nina!” she’d squealed. “Here for moral support. Oh, I love you! Thank you! Thank you!” Leaning in close, she’d whispered conspiratorially, “Confidential bestie-cousin secret? I think the guy I chose for this date is my front-runner.”
Harmony is the kind of person who thinks she’s in love every time she talks to a new guy, but I knew she must really like whoever this contestant was since she didn’t even seem to clock Grady sitting with me at the table.
And normally, Harmony would notice. There’s more than one reason I’ve kept Grady away from my family, and part of it definitely has to do with the potential awkwardness of my cousin deciding she’s in love with him at first sight.
Not only is Grady handsome, but he also sings and plays guitar, which has always been Harmony’s kryptonite.
Luckily—or so I’d thought at the time—she seemed too distracted by her impending date to take any notice of Grady, so I thought I’d just be able to catch up with my friend in peace, no awkwardness involved.
Stupid, naive Nina of five minutes ago. How little you knew about life.
“Everything all right?” Grady asks, pulling me back into the moment.
I look down to see I’ve torn the paper napkin in front of me into nervous shreds.
“Good. Fine. Great!” In hindsight, it might’ve been more convincing if I hadn’t said those three words right on top of each other.
Maybe I’ll get lucky. Maybe Wes will be concussed or something, and the date will be canceled. At the thought, I immediately feel bad, because I don’t want him to be seriously injured . . . but how serious is a concussion, anyway? Just a really mild one, preferably?
“All right, people,” Lyle calls out. “They’re about to come inside and start filming. I know it’s going to be really difficult not to watch what’s going on, but try to pretend like it’s just a normal day and you’re unaware of the cameras.”
So the date is going to proceed. That’s good, because it means Wes doesn’t have a serious head injury.
I’m already repenting that I wished that on him at all.
Because it’s fine! We can’t be together, and he has a job he needs to do, and I can’t betray my family.
So. It’s fine. I’ll focus my attention on Grady and pretend nothing is happening behind me.
When I look up at Grady again, his forehead is creased. “You sure you’re okay? You look all . . . squirrely.”
I’m not entirely sure what that means, but I know it means I’m making a face of someone who isn’t fine, which is dumb because I am.
Fine, that is. I make a concerted effort to relax my expression.
“Tell me more about the expo you’re going to.
” I raise an eyebrow at him. “Does that mean you’ve finally decided to go through with the pub? ”
He shrugs. “Eh, I dunno. An Irish guy opening a pub. Is it too cliché?”
For as long as I’ve known him, Grady has been talking about his pub.
Planning for his pub. Scouting just the right location for his pub.
He has the seed money for it, but he seems reluctant to commit.
A part of me wonders if it isn’t the Irish stereotype, but something else that’s holding him back.
Then again, a business is a big investment, so maybe he’s just making sure this is the right path for him.
“Just don’t fall in love with Knoxville and decide you’re going to leave Chicago.” I meant for it to sound like a joke, and I hope my voice doesn’t betray too much emotion at the statement.
Grady’s face softens. He nudges me with his knee under the table. “I’m not goin’ anywhere.” His eyes move to something just over my shoulder, and he frowns. “Ermmm . . .”
I start to glance behind me, before reminding myself that under no circumstances am I going to look at that part of the bakery during this “date.” “What?” A terrible thought strikes me. “Are they kissing?” I whisper.
“Noooo.” Grady drags out the word longer than necessary his brow furrowed in confusion. “Do you know that fella or something?”
Blank face. Blank face! “Why?” I ask as innocently as I can.
“He keeps staring over here. I swear, he just glared at me for smiling at you.”
Despite myself, I look over my shoulder. Wes and Harmony are seated at a table a few feet away. They seem to be talking and laughing, but sure enough, after just a few seconds, like he can’t help himself, Wes darts his eyes over to us. Seeing us both watching him, he looks quickly away again.
“He’s probably just nervous,” I hedge.
“Sure,” Grady returns, sounding unconvinced. “I always stare at pretty girls when I’m nervous, too. Really calms me right down.”
I glare at him coolly to show that I’m not impressed. “Your dry Irish wit is not appreciated right now, thank you very much.”
“Hmm,” is all Grady says in return.
I wait until he’s taking a sip of his water, and therefore hopefully won’t notice, before I glance back over my shoulder to see if Wes is still looking at me.
His leg is jackhammering like crazy under the table, but at least for the moment, he’s smiling and nodding at whatever Harmony’s saying. My stomach twists at the sight.
Pretend, I remind myself. It’s just pretend.
Although . . . is it? When Wes and I met, he was pretending to be someone he wasn’t, and we developed real feelings.
I developed real feelings, anyway. My gaze darts back and forth between Harmony and Wes.
It’s hard to know what I’m supposed to feel.
Jealousy, that he might actually start to like Harmony.
Worry for Harmony, if he’s only using her.
Frustration, that once again I’ve been sidelined, watching everyone else get to live their lives while I just wait around to be useful.
Then, as if drawn to me like a magnet, Wes’s eyes snap up to mine. I hurriedly twist back around in my chair and find Grady watching me with a knowing expression. “Hmmmmmmmm,” he says, drawing it out longer this time.
“Oh, hush, you,” I tell him.
Lyle’s voice cuts through the room. “Hang on just a moment, lovebirds!” he tells Wes and Harmony, before addressing everyone in the bakery all together. “The director wants to get some shots of just the two leads, so we need to clear out the room so we can fit in some additional equipment.”
The seasoned extras in the room seem to understand what that means, and they all rise to leave. I rise after them, willing myself with all the strength I can muster not to look over at Wes and Harmony again.
Grady stands. “Are you off for the day, then?” he asks me. “You wanna go grab a bite?”
Because the room is already significantly less full of people and noise, I wonder if his question carried over to Wes.
And I wonder even more what he’ll think about overhearing that—a man asking me out for a meal.
He doesn’t know that Grady is just a friend.
To the ignorant ear, it might sound almost date-like.
Except, no! I’m not wondering what Wes thinks about any of that. I don’t care. It’s nothing to me. Nothing, I say!
“Sure,” I tell Grady. “That sounds great.”
Lyle crosses over to us before we can go. “Sorry to get you in and out of here so quickly. It’s usually a longer process, but the bakery is on a tight schedule.” He gives me a meaningful look. “And I just heard Perry might be stopping by on set, so it might be a good time to take off.”
Ah, yes. The man who’s trying to fire me. I nod to show Lyle I understand. “Got it. We’ll get out of your way.”
“I’m gonna run to the jacks before they kick us out of here for good,” Grady tells me, motioning toward the bathrooms near the back of the room.
While I wait for him, I watch the production crew as they begin the difficult task of trying to figure out how to fit in the second camera. It looks like this might take a while. I move myself up against the wall to take up as little space as possible.
Despite my better judgment, I cast my eyes around the room, searching for .
. . nobody. I am definitely not looking for anybody in particular or wondering what he’s doing or if he’s gazing into Harmony’s eyes adoringly or giving her that crinkly smile of his that makes my heart skip a beat every time.
I am definitely not doing that because it would be stupid and pointless and definitely, definitely not something I would do.
The front door to the bakery opens with the jingle of a bell, and the sound pulls me from my spiral.
A man I don’t recognize enters. He is oozing with tan, white-toothed, vaguely plastic-looking Hollywood smarm, and my hackles instinctively rise, even though it takes my brain another moment to connect the pieces of whom he must be.
“Perry!” Lyle calls out loudly. Too loudly, really, but he obviously wants to make sure I’ve heard him. “What a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here?”
Shoot! When Lyle said he might be stopping by set, I thought he meant later, not within moments.
Grady is still in the bathroom, and I can’t just leave him behind; even if I could, Perry is standing right next to the front door, so I can’t exactly make a fast escape.
I have no idea if he knows what I look like, but if he does, and he catches me here, that will be the end of working in the wardrobe department.
No more laughing with Deja over the latest bizarre costume we’re supposed to piece together in less than a day.
No more singing show tunes with Lyle on our way to set. No more seeing Wes, full stop.
With my back to the wall, I slowly slide along it until I reach a door. I have no idea where this door goes, but it will at the very least take me into another room. Maybe I can hide out until Perry leaves.
Luckily there’s still so much commotion going on—between the crew setting up for the next shot and Lyle loudly laughing at something Perry said, probably to distract him from seeing my quick escape—that no one seems to notice as I open the door and slip inside.
Oh! It’s a pantry. A big, beautiful, well-stocked pantry. I’m not much of a baker, but Helen would be absolutely ecstatic if she had a pantry this nice. It’s also dark and cool and quiet, and I’m all alone. I let out a deep breath, relieved—
Until the door opens, and someone quickly slips inside. My heart freezes, more out of surprise than real fear. There’s no way Perry followed me into a closet, right?
But as my eyes adjust, my heart picks up speed again. Nope. It definitely isn’t Perry in the pantry with me.
It’s Wes.