Emma slid the plates onto the table. They were leaning toward each other so far that it was hard to put the plates down.
“I can prove it,” Arthur was telling his costar. Then he turned toward Emma. “Thanks for—”
He stopped, startled. Maybe hehadn’tput Rusty up to this, Emma realized.
“Cut,” Rusty yelled. “Arthur, what was that?”
Arthur straightened, pulling up that megawatt smile once more. “Sorry, Rust. I didn’t know you were bringing old friends on board! Is Daisy okay?”
“She’ll be back tomorrow. We made do,” Rusty said, flipping distractedly through a clipboard. “Let’s reset.”
Emma walked back out of the frame, hoping her cheeks didn’t look as hot as they felt. She could see Hazel giving her a thumbs-up from behind the counter, which she resolutely ignored. She was worried that Hazel would try to apologize for burning Daisy again if she made eye contact, and Emma would snap at her again.
“Okay,” Rusty declared. “And…action!”
Arthur and his costar sank back into the conversation. This time Emma actually listened to their lines. They were talking about their exes and what had attracted them to them in the first place. Arthur was arguing that seduction was about playing a part. Showing them what they want to see.
“There’s an art to it,” he said.
That was Emma’s cue. She strode out, clenching the plates so her hands wouldn’t shake. She hated how much of an effect his stupid monologue was having on her. She’d been over their relationship in her head so many times since he left—wasit all an act? Did he ever really love her, or was she just something to entertain him before he escaped to bigger horizons?
“I can prove it,” Arthur continued. This time when he looked up at Emma, his dazzling smile didn’t falter.
“Thanks for that,” he told her as she set the food down.
Emma didn’t respond. She sometimes didn’t when it got this busy, just shooting customers a distracted smile and then heading off to whatever needed doing next. You don’t need to giggle, she told herself as she slid the cold coffee in front of him.Just need to look up at him and—
Arthur’s warm fingers brushed her chin.
Emma looked up, hand tightening around the coffee cup. Suddenly she was seventeen again, sitting under the bleachers after gym class. Watching him tip her head back with those big, gentle fingers. Saying—
“Hey, beautiful. I hope that coffee’s as sweet as you.”
Emma blinked, coming back to the present. His fingers were still on her chin. Thumb and forefinger, just like he used to. For a moment his eyes were so soft she could almost fool herself into thinking time had folded in on itself and they were back under the bleachers again that very first time.
Then he smiled. It was a movie star smile, the one she used to catch him practicing in the mirror.
White-hot rage blossomed all over her body. How dare he pull this crap on her? Showing up at her café, following her when she tried to storm off. And now he was touching her just like he used to, grinning like it was ajoke.
She could feel the director’s eyes on her, waiting.
You want a reaction?Emma thought.I’ll give you a reaction.
She turned the cup over, sending a torrent of coffee into Arthur’s lap.
CHAPTERFIVE
“Look on the bright side,” Jennifer told Arthur as he came out of the back rooms in fresh clothes. “She could’ve got you withhotcoffee.”
Arthur forced a laugh. He very badly wanted it to be a real laugh, but no matter how hard he’d tried to talk himself into it while he was getting changed, he couldn’t find the situation funny. Which was odd. It was a good anecdote. Something to bring up at parties when they’d talk about crazy exes. But Arthur just kept thinking back to Emma’s outrage. More than that, she’d lookedbetrayed. Maybe he’d gone too far with the chin touch. It was one thing to flirt with her for a scene; it was entirely another to improvise his old move. He couldn’t help it—it felt so natural. Like he was seventeen again, teasing her between classes. Trying to make that scowl slip into a smile.
Sometimes it worked. Other times, it backfired horribly. He’d been so eager to get a reaction out of her he’d forgotten how badly it could go.
“So,” Jennifer said, sipping coffee through a straw so she didn’t mess up her lipstick. “Badbreakup, huh?”
“It happened a long time ago. But yeah, I guess you could say that.” Arthur straightened his collar, scanning the crowded café. Emma was standing in the corner, looking murderous as Rusty bent close to whisper-yell at her.
Arthur grimaced. He had to get in the middle of that before somebody lost an eye.
