AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Then don’t ogle at her, silly.” Colette chuckled.
Sarah closed the glass door on the case and then came to stand behind the register. Her smile held the same level of friendliness as she looked from Colette to Valerie and then back again.
“Well?” she prompted with a polite smile. “What can I get for you?”
“I think Colette has talked me into the apple streusel and the caramelized onion egg tart,” Valerie answered. “And also, one of your iced vanilla lattes with oat milk, please.”
“Iced?” Sarah’s eyebrows shot up. “In this weather?”
Valerie shrugged. “What can I say? You can take the girl out of California, and however the rest of that saying goes.”
Both women chuckled, and Valerie felt herself truly beginning to relax. She had been slightly nervous when she’d realized that not one, but both women knew exactly who she was and was intimately familiar with her work. Despite the initial enthusiasm on Colette’s part, both women were talking to her and reacting to her as if she was any other person. And she found that she rather liked it.
So often in her line of work, she got branded as an ‘other.’ People saw her on a silver screen and assumed that they knew her, that they could say wild things to her in public or make assumptions about her because of a five second clip from an interview. Social interactions could go awry relatively quickly. And Valerie didn’t complain about it. It was something that she knew just kind of came with the job. But she couldn’t help but find it nice when people treated her exactly like she was—a fellow human.
“Some of my favorites,” Sarah said with a smile and a nod as she rang in Valerie’s order.
Sarah announced the total, and Valerie eagerly handed over her credit card, leaving a big tip while she was at it. Colette placed her order for a pumpkin and peanut butter cupcake next, and then Sarah began putting the pastries on trays for the two women.
“Do you mind if I join you at your table?” Valerie asked Colette, suddenly not wanting to sit alone in the crowded bakery.
The other woman gave her a soft, welcoming smile as she nodded. “Of course.” Colette turned to Sarah. “You can put those on one tray, so we don’t dirty a dish. And come join us whenever you’re done with the drink, if you don’t have too much work to get done.”
“I’m always down for a little gal time!” Sarah said with a grin that mirrored Colette’s.
She turned her back on them, fiddling with the espresso machine as Valerie followed after Colette toward the table she’d been sitting at earlier. As Valerie took off her coat and draped it over the back of one of the wrought iron chairs, she noticed the discarded wrapper of one cupcake and a half-finished cappuccino already at the table, along with a book resting beside them.
“How long have you been here?” she asked as she settled into her seat and plucked her pastries off of the tray.
“Since earlier this morning,” Colette explained. “Sarah’s one of my best friends, and I like to come here to read.”
“It seems like a great place for it,” Valerie answered honestly, and the other woman gave her an earnest nod.
“It is.” She took a bite of her cupcake, taking a moment as she sighed with pleasure and chewed. Finally, when her bite had been fully swallowed and she washed it down with a sip from her mug of cappuccino before turning her focus back to Valerie. “Plus, my boyfriend is working on a big painting right now and has been at his studio almost all day. So I would have just been at home alone, and it didn’t really sound all that great.”
“Your partner is an artist?” Valerie asked as she bit into the caramelized onion tart.
Flavor exploded across her tongue and her eyebrows flicked up. Colette noticed the change in her expression and smiled.
“I told you it was good,” she mused. “But yes. Zach owns his own gallery here in town.”
“That’s amazing,” Valerie responded around a bite of tart. “I’ll have to stop in and check it out.”
Colette opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Sarah approaching. Her friend carried a large iced drink in one hand, and a mug of something steaming in the other. She set the iced latte down in front of Valerie before pulling out one of the empty chairs and plopping into it.
“So what are you lovely ladies chatting about?” Sarah asked as she took a long sip from her mug.
“Zach and his gallery,” Colette answered proudly, but then Sarah made a face.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Sarah said, reaching over to pat Colette’s hand affectionately. “I love Zach, but I thought we’d be talking about something a little more interesting. I mean, we have amovie starat the table.”
She whispered the words ‘movie star’ like they were naughty, and it prompted Valerie to throw her head back and laugh.
“All right,” Valerie said once her chuckles had subsided. “What do you want to ask this movie star?”
Colette and Sarah’s eyes both widened.
“You don’t mind?” Colette asked, voice filled with awe.
