He looked like he had been carved from metamorphic rock, a touch paler than he had been at the Oscars, but strong and whole. And cold. AJ cringed at how she must appear to him.
“This is a far cry from Hollywood,” she said, glancing around the atrium.
“It’s a far cry from New York,” he said warily.
AJ suddenly felt the need to justify her presence. “My brother had an accident.” Tears filled her eyes as soon as she spoke the words.
Noah’s brow creased. “I’m so sorry,” he said in a low voice. “Mike?”
“Pat,” said AJ, tears gushing down her face.Fuck.“Sorry, it happened in January, I don’t know why I’m crying. He’ll be okay, there have just been a lot of surgeries, and he still can’t walk—”
Shut up, shut up.AJ crossed her arms and looked at her feet. She watched Noah’s shoes take another step toward her.
“AJ, there you are!”
AJ’s head whipped up. Raven Mabon-Fay was marching toward them, her eyes glinting at the sight of Noah. “And you must be AJ’s fiancé!”
Noah glared at Raven. “Absolutely not,” he said vehemently.
AJ felt so cut by this she couldn’t breathe. “Raven, no,” she managed. “This isNoah Drew.”
She waited for recognition to dawn, but Raven wasn’t listening. “I can always tell when a couple is in love,” she crowed.
“Noah.”
Eudora had entered the atrium from the other side, a bright-orange Band-Aid visible below her cuffed cashmere sleeve. Her eyes went directly to the two-carat Elsa Peretti on AJ’s left hand.
“Your aura is usually green,” Raven was saying, “but it’s lavender right now, my dear, positively radiant. As is yours,” she said to Noah.
“Noah,” said Eudora, more forcefully this time. “It’s time to leave, dear.”
Noah was still looking at Raven with intense revulsion. Eudora reached him and took his arm in hers. “Nice to see you, AJ,” Eudora said, formally. “And congratulations.”
“Yes,” said Noah, now glancing down at AJ’s ring and back up. “Congratulations.”
With that, Eudora led Noah from the entryway. Raven turned toward AJ, confused. “So that…wasn’t your fiancé?”
AJ stared after Noah, her heart pounding. “No,” she said finally. “It wasn’t.”
That afternoon, AJ couldbarely contain herself. She had half a mind to get in the car and drive to Brian’s, but the idea of seeing Brian in this agitated state wasn’t at all comforting. At least here, no one was really paying attention to her.
Noah must have come home for Easter. That wasn’t a crime. Technically. But why, of all places, did he have to be at Simmons?
Their entire exchange made AJ want to apply for foreign citizenship. The way she’d blubbered up her guts…then Raven, accusing him of being her fiancé…
Absolutely not.
AJ shuddered. Clearly, his feelings for her were long gone. Of course they were. He was an Academy Award–nominated movie star, and she was a mean drunk.
Mike, who was usually good for a distraction, was up in his room broadcasting a game ofSuper Smash Bros.to his fans. When Libby’s car pulled in, AJ took that as her cue to leave the house. She grabbed Emily, and the two of them headed downtown to Reel World Video.
“Emily, hi, sweetie!” said Storm, winking at AJ from behind the register.
Emily was mostly into romantic comedies these days. As the twins perused the shelves for one she hadn’t seen, AJ felt the musty scent of the store easing her nerves.
“The Proposal?” AJ ventured.
“I don’t like that one,” said Emily. “The dog gets stolen.”
