Dev shook his head, like he was already anticipating their blank stares, but it was Grey’s turn to brighten. “Wait, you wrote that? You’re Dev Choudhury? That was one of my favorite books I read last year! I picked it up because they had it featured at my local bookstore.” She caught the eye of Nora, who had rejoined the conversation, and they exchanged a significant glance. “Does anyone have the film rights right now?”
Dev looked flabbergasted. In the months following the release, he’d grown more and more despondent over the sales numbers, especially when his publisher had declined to buy the proposal for his next one. “Um, it’s…no, I…”
Ethan wrapped his arm around Grey’s shoulder again and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. “Can’t take you two anywhere.”
Grey laughed, reaching up to cover Ethan’s ears, then looked back at Dev, fake-whispering, “We’ll pick this up later.”
They began to move through the crowd again, since enough people had stopped to surreptitiously gawk at them to create a traffic flow issue. Nora and Merritt took up the rear, though their conversation didn’t get far, as Merritt kept running into people she knew—Daniela, whose store Nora had already visited and was ready to gush over; Pam and Freya, inviting Nora to their weekly mahjong game, which Merritt had recently started attending; and, of course, the mayor, who didn’t even bother coming up with an excuse to introduce himself.
“I hope you have your wallet open,” Merritt teased, as they turned down another aisle of tables. “You know you’re part of the problem here.”
Nora laughed. “And what problem is that? Rich people buying vacation homes? What would you call yourself, then?”
“I’m a local,” Merritt said, and the words unexpectedly wrapped around her heart and squeezed.
Nora smiled, bumping her shoulder against Merritt’s. “I can see that.”
Nora stopped short in front of a table, leaning in to get a better look at one of the listings. “Wow, this is beautiful,” she said, scanning the code on the tented card so she could enter her bid on her phone—a feature Merritt had spent several frustrating days trying to set up before giving in and asking for Olivia’s help. Olivia, of course, had done it in an hour.
Merritt looked over and saw that it was Niko’s dining table and chairs. “Oh,” she said, her heart giving a traitorous thump in her chest. “I know the guy who made those.”
“Oh yeah?” asked Nora, her attention still on her phone.
“Yeah,” she said, trying to sound as casual as possible. “He’s—” Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a familiar head of dark curls on the other side of the room, her nerves jolting pleasantly when she saw him, like she’d conjured him. He was carrying a garment bag over one shoulder and a reusable grocery bag in the other, presumably on his way backstage.
“He’s right over there, actually,” she said, pointing him out, not caring if he saw. “Gray shirt, denim shearling jacket.”
Nora’s gaze followed Merritt’s finger. Niko turned his head to see them looking at him, then did a double take, stumbling. He lifted his hand to wave, then jerked it back as if thinking better of it, then, as if thinking better ofthat,did it after all, his face flickering from surprise to concern to a flustered grin.
Merritt waved back, and Nora glanced at her with an appraising expression.
“What?” Merritt asked, crossing her arms, but she had to press her lips together to stop from smiling—though she wasn’t sure what exactly she was smiling about.
Nora’s mouth twisted up in a knowing smirk. “Mountain air and sunshine, huh?”
“It’s not like that,” Merritt protested half-heartedly.
“Your face is bright red.”
Merritt pressed the back of her hand to her flaming cheek. “It’s hot in here.”
She was able to escape backstage herself soon enough, though it was too busy for her to risk trying to have a moment alone with Niko. As she sat with the other two judges—Susan, the head of the chamber of commerce, and Bill, the beloved principal of the local high school—she felt her phone buzz in her purse next to her. It was a text from Niko.
Before opening it, she glanced up to see him already looking at her. He looked away as soon as she met his eyes, focusing his attention back on the person talking to him, but she could see the edge of his lip twitching.
She opened the text.
u look really pretty tonight
She bit her bottom lip, unable to hide her smile, either.
So do you.
Are you ready?
She watched him tap out his response.
ready for it to be over lol
