Page 41 of A Fall to Remember

“Exactly.” Jim tapped the tip of his nose twice. “You’ve hit the nail on the head. Misdirection. Sleight of hand. The caption is gushing about these beautiful, savory hushpuppies, and yet they are nowhere to be found in the picture. In this business, that translates into one thing—engagement.” He paused and met her eyes. “As we discussed, though, you get the final word. Are you okay with this? Does it feel authentic? Please, say if it doesn’t work for you. I can make any tweaks you want, or we can scrap it.”

“No, no. It’s perfect.” Miranda laughed. Her tone was light and silky. “That’s seriously a picture I would take. I probably have a dozen or so photos like that saved on my phone. I’ll start to take a picture of something and then get caught up in a conversation.” She shot him a thumbs-up. “Yeah, it’s good.”

“Alright. Let’s do it.” He clicked the post button. “Now we sit back, enjoy our appetizers, and wait for the comments to roll in. Like I said, magic.”

31

PETE

“So how cool is it that everyone is like obsessed with your mom? She has like serious goddess energy,” Lacy asked, scrolling through her phone. She hadn’t put it down yet. She was constantly checking social and texting, barely listening to anything Pete said.

“She’s my mom. It’s kind of hard to separate that out.” Pete took a sip of the wine, catching Shelby’s eye. She waved her hand wildly in a circle, encouraging him to keep talking. He didn’t know what else to say. “We’ve always been a team. It was just the two of us growing up. But I don’t know any different. She made things easy. I never felt like I was missing out on having a dad. Plus, I had my uncle, aunt, cousin, and grandparents. We would always tease that the Green Grocer was our own Brown Family Empire.” His thoughts drifted to childhood memories of him and Elise walking to the store after school. Mom would make them grilled cheese bites and cups of soup for a snack, and they’d do their homework at the end of the deli counter or at one of the tables. He loved being a part of the shop. He always felt proud that Mom knew everyone and everyone knew her. He had been raised by the entire community.

“Oh, my God. Check it out.” Lacy interrupted his thoughts. “Your mom posted again. I can’t even. She’s so adorable. Like, where are the hushpuppies? Are they at the table with us? I have to comment.” She typed rapidly with her thumbs. Then she turned to Shelby. “Should I tag myself in Miranda’s latest post?”

“No. That’s not necessary,” Shelby said with a curt smile.

Pete could tell she was on edge again. Was it the post? Had Jim and Mom gone rogue again? Normally, he had a steadfast rule that he would never have his phone out on a date. But was this a date? It was feeling more and more like a scripted episode of The Bachelor. He broke his own rule and checked Mom’s post.

Fortunately, it was benign. A poorly cropped photo of her plate.

He could live with that.

But then why was Shelby so upset?

Lacy grabbed his arm and yanked her toward him. She planted a kiss on his cheek and snapped a selfie. “That’s perfect. I’m tagging everyone in this.”

Pete sighed. This wasn’t how he expected the evening to go. It was clear that Lacy had no interest in him. She was here for the “likes.”

“You should put your arm around me,” Lacy said, nudging his waist.

He hesitated. Shelby nodded, giving him a thumbs-up, so Pete placed his arm around Lacy’s shoulder, awkwardly. He could already imagine that the photos from tonight would turn out like the awkward family photos that made him and Elise laugh until they cried. He tried not to feel so cardboard and stiff, but this was bizarre.

He just needed to get through tonight, and then tomorrow he would tell Shelby and Jim, thanks but no thanks. This wasn’t for him. Dating was hard enough without feeling the pressure of a camera pointed at him or having to pretend to be cozied up with a woman who would otherwise have zero interest in him. He’d made a mistake.

First thing tomorrow, he was going to fix it.

32

SHELBY

Shelby hadn’t anticipated that Lacy would be this into Pete. It was a good thing for Voyager, but why did she feel every muscle in her body seize each time Lacy squeezed Pete’s arm, kissed his cheek, or batted her fake eyelashes at him?

There was only one way to stomach this dinner—the content.

You’re here for the content.

Just the content.

She tried to make that her mantra as she forced a smile while Lacy yanked Pete from his seat to go dance during a break between courses. The setting was picture-perfect; at least that was a win. The dance floor was backlit by a thousand twinkling stars, the rising harvest moon, and strings of lights. She used the chance to huddle with Jim. Should she ask him to swap places? Would that be too obvious?

Yes.

You’re a professional, Shelby.

Act like it.

“Hey, Jim, can I steal you for a minute?” she asked, heading for the other side of the table where servers cleared plates to make room for the next course. She wasn’t even sure what she wanted from him. She just needed to talk to him.