“It’s not burned. It’s perfect,” she argued.
“Agree to disagree,” Dana replied as they walked on.
CHAPTER 22
“Dana, hey,” Jill said.
“Oh, hi,” Dana replied as she walked into the café with Samara in disguise. “Uh... This is my friend Jill. Jill, this is…” Dana looked over at Samara, silently begging her to help her out here.
“Friend?” Samara asked.
“Babe, got a table!”
Jill and Dana both followed that voice, and Willa, Jill’s fiancée, waved at them from about ten feet away.
“Are you staying or just getting stuff to-go?” Jill asked.
“Um…”
“We’re staying,” Samara replied. “Samara,” she introduced herself and held out her hand for Jill to take.
“Samara?” Jill looked harder. “Oh, shit. You’re–”
“Jill, keep it down,” Dana told her.
“You’re…”
“Yeah, that’s me. Incognito tonight, though, so can we maybe just call me Mara so that no one puts two and two together?”
“Yeah, sure,” Jill said. “I heard about the movie. Congrats, Dana. Want to join us? We’re having a date night, but we just dropped my sister off with my mom, so now, we can talk about the wedding without fifty questions about being a flower girl.”
“Sorry?”
“Jill and Willa are engaged,” Dana explained, nodding toward Willa, who was looking at the three of them in confusion. “And Jill has a kid sister who will be in the wedding,” she added before they walked over to the table where Willa kissed Jill.
“This is Mara, Dana’s friend,” Jill said. “Mara, this is my fiancée, Willa.”
“Nice to meet you,” Samara replied and held out her hand for Willa to take.
“Uh… Mara?” Willa asked, clearly recognizing Samara.
“She’s incognito,” Jill explained.
“Oh. Got it. Have you two ordered? The line isn’t too long yet.”
“Not yet. I’ll go wait in line, though,” Dana said. “Want to sit down?”
“Can I come with you?” Samara asked.
“Sure,” Dana replied. “We’ll be right back.”
She then took Samara’s hand without thinking and entwined their fingers before she realized what she’d done and let it go.
“Why’d you let go?”
“Sorry,” she said. “I just meant to keep you next to me because this place gets crowded. I didn’t mean to, like, really hold your hand.”
“Oh. I didn’t take it that way. I got it.”
