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Confused, Jenna tilted her head. “She’s married to Teddy Baldwin. Why would she care who his brother dates?”
A Cheshire cat grin lit Anne’s face, and the high school Annabelle made a guest appearance. She leaned forward resting on her elbows, her eyes widening as she proceeded to spill the gossip. “Cheryl dated Ash but couldn’t drag him to the altar. She settled for Teddy and married him on the rebound. How could you have lived here for four years and not known?”
A waitress strolled over to refill their coffees. She looked directly at Jenna who smiled and nodded her thanks. As the waitress walked away, Jenna sipped the fresh brew and shrugged. “I guess the same way I’ve lived here for four years without anyone knowing my story. People only see what they expect to see.”
Anne picked up her own cup and tapped Jenna’s. “Touché.”
Chapter Six
“Doesn’t my mom look as pretty as a movie star?”
Ash nodded his agreement while Jenna fought the urge to react. She didn’t smile at the compliment, nor did she shrink from it. “W…what a nice thing to say. You are such a sweet kid.”
Janie’s smile displayed a wide set of teeth that crowded her mouth. “So, can I watch Twilight on cable?”
“No.”
“Damn.” She grumbled and stomped off to the living room.
“Jane Marie!” Jenna faced Ash. “She’s such a smart-ass. I should have known there was an ulterior motive for the flattery.”
His eyes made a lingering journey from her feet up to her face. “She may be a smart-ass, but she’s right.”
In a breezy sweep, Jenna fluffed her hair toward her face. She’d been masking her appearance with different cuts, colors, hats, and sunglasses for almost a decade.
“Thank you, but I’m just a suburban mom in a fancy dress.”
“Hardly.” Ash handed her a bouquet of perfect white roses. “Something beautiful for someone beautiful.”
“Oh. These are gorgeous.” Jenna brought the velvety blooms close and inhaled the scent. “Let me put them in water before we go.”
She rushed off to the kitchen. As she filled the vase, she caught her reflection in the glass insert of a cabinet. Her hair hung in golden waves to her shoulders, and black chiffon draped along her body. Jenna took a moment to study her image. She was fifteen years older than she’d been when she first became a presence in magazines and tabloids. The plump apples of adolescence no longer rounded out her face, and her cheekbones and jaw were more pronounced. Her eyes were no longer huge and curious spheres. They were ovals that followed the tilt of arched brows. At twenty-nine, her skin was unlined and creamy. At twenty-nine, she was still attractive. At twenty-nine, she was Jenna. Angel, a teenage pop star who’d enjoyed a fleeting career, was gone. Jenna dropped the flowers into a vase and returned to her foyer.
“I should be home by eleven,” she called to the baby-sitter before she and Ash stepped through the door.
Outside, a stretch limo rested at the curb. Blue iridescence shone in its glossy black paint. The driver held the door and its passengers boarded. Ash reached for a bottle of champagne chilling in an ice bucket. As the car rolled down the street he poured, and sitting intimately close, made a toast to theirfriendship.
At the historic Cromline House, they made an entrance like celebrities at a premier. Inside, Ash was greeted with hearty handshakes. Stocks were discussed over cocktails, golf handicaps at dinner, and business during dessert and brandy. Jenna engaged in small talk with the women at her table—Cheryl and two other wives of the town’s mucky mucks. Between courses Jenna and Ash danced.
By the end of the evening, Cheryl had sipped her way through an entire bottle of wine and listed in her seat. Wagging hands that looked rubbery and boneless, she pointed at Jenna. “I hate to say this, but your window displays aren’t in line with the rest of the shops on your street.”
Ash shot his sister-in-law a warning look and stood. He offered his hand to Jenna. “May I?”
Once again, they stepped to the dance floor. A resonant strike of piano keys blended with the mellow hum of a sax as the band played a standard from the forties. “I apologize for Cheryl’s comment. We only let her work at the real estate office because she nagged us about wanting to be involved in the family business. Being a Baldwin has gone to her head.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
From over his shoulder Jenna stared out at the town’s elite. As someone from middle class suburbia who’d also lived in the privileged world of celebrities, a small town with a defined hierarchy was a blessing. In Cromline, she’d found a niche somewhere between her wealthy neighbors and the generational townies. It allowed her to be a regular, a nobody.
Moving with grace, Ash led her around the floor. He wore refinement like a badge. Jenna supposed she should at least pretend to be impressed with his upper crust posturing. She’d sat in the limousine unfazed and detached, and it seemed to spark his curiosity. He’d asked too many questions about her past, but as always, she was vague.
They returned to the table for coffee. Cheryl added a long pour of cognac into hers and continued on about Rhapsody’s display windows. When she pronounced the word tiara “taria,” Jenna asked Ash to take her home. As they were leaving, he leaned toward his brother, and spoke clearly. “Keep that wife of yours in line.”
****
The next morning, Jenna inspected the sidewalk in front of her store. Not so much as a gum wrapper littered the ground. Her window displays were frilly but not overwhelming in their aesthetic. As she was about to unlock the door, Cheryl clip-clopped out of the gourmet coffee shop with a gigantic paper cup in hand.
“I’ll bet you need that,” Jenna said under her breath.
