Jessie winced. “I don’t think my stomach could handle it this early in the morning. Do you have any mint?”
Adeline continued to the end of the table and poked at a few of the darker truffles. “Yeah, these look like they could use a loving home.”
“Oh, you didn’t need to ruin perfectly good ones,” Jessie said, though she looked delighted that Adeline had.
“So, what’s this amazing news you have to tell me?” Adeline asked as she placed Jessie’s chocolates in a small box. “I have to warn you, though, if it’s about Leanne and Isaac’s engagement, I already know. She called me last night.”
“Oh, no, that’s old news.”
Adeline didn’t bring up that they’d only gotten engaged the previous afternoon. If the engagement that had been in the making for fifteen years—and nearly didn’t happen—was old news, whatever Jessie knew must be earth shattering.
Jessie leaned forward, an excited glint in her eyes. “Leanne’s script is finally being made into a movie. Like, a genuine Hollywood movie. She’s named it Amaretto. Doesn’t it sound dreamy?”
Oh.
Why hadn’t Leanne said anything the previous evening? Adeline’s heart sank, but she tried to look happy for Leanne—becoming a famous screenwriter had been a childhood dream. But she also knew that Leanne’s fiancé, Isaac, wouldn’t want to leave Starlight Ridge. He wasn’t a big-city kind of guy, preferring surfing the coastal waves. Adeline wondered how he was taking the news.
“So…when are they moving out to LA?” she asked, cautious.
Jessie hadn’t lost her enthusiasm, which Adeline didn’t understand. Why wasn’t she more devastated that Leanne and Isaac would be leaving them?
“That’s the best part. They aren’t going anywhere.”
That should have made Adeline feel relieved, but instead it made her feel worse. If Leanne was going to try to balance Hollywood and family life, it wouldn’t work. It certainly hadn’t for Adeline’s father. She wouldn’t wish on anyone what her own family had gone through.
“I guess if Isaac is okay with her traveling a lot…” She trailed off when she saw Jessie was already shaking her head.
“You don’t understand. They don’t have to go anywhere because the movie is going to be filmed here. In Starlight Ridge. Not only that, but you’ll never guess who is starring in it.”
Adeline was afraid to ask.
When she didn’t respond, Jessie said, “Eli Hunt.” She paused dramatically, allowing the name to register. “In fact, he’s in town. Right. Now.”
Adeline sank onto a stool near the counter. This was terrible. How could something like this have happened? Since Adeline’s father had left them, her mother had purposely kept her from the Hollywood life. And now it had landed in Adeline’s lap.
“You…don’t look as excited as you should,” Jessie said, now looking more concerned than giddy.
“I am,” Adeline said, plastering on a smile. “Leanne deserves every good thing that comes her way, considering how long and hard she worked for this.”
Jessie raised an eyebrow. “Yes, she does deserve it, but this is an amazing thing for our town as well. It will put us on the map, so to speak. Once this movie comes out, how much do you want to bet—and I know how you love your bets—that we’ll have so many tourists, it will set us up for the next decade?”
That was probably true, with a big name like Eli Hunt attached to it. But was it awful that she’d prefer things stay the way they were, even if it meant scrimping and saving to get through their off season?
Probably. But she’d prefer Starlight Ridge remain undetected—untouched. Unmaimed. Because that was what Hollywood did to everything it touched—left it worse off than before.
“You’re right,” Adeline said, handing Jessie the small box of chocolates. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I just hope that Eli Hunt knows what he’s getting himself into, coming to Starlight Ridge.” She grinned, hoping it came across as genuine, and didn’t let it slip until after Jessie had left, already snacking on the chocolates before she’d even made it outside.
Adeline frowned as she finished boxing up the rest of the chocolates.
So, Eli Hunt was in Starlight Ridge. She hoped he wouldn’t get too comfortable, because the last thing their small town needed was to be overrun by those Hollywood types. Especially good-looking ones.
3
It had only been a few days since Jessie’s early morning visit, but Adeline was already seeing the effects. She drummed her fingers on the counter. Only two customers had been in that day. Two. Ever since Mr. Hollywood had showed up in town, it seemed no one had time for chocolate anymore. She glanced at her phone. Three thirty. Adeline had already had a lunch break. And a midday snack break. She’d cleaned her store.
Twice.
Sigh.
Excited voices erupted outside her store, and she peered out the front window. A small crowd had gathered outside Davis’s hardware store. That could only mean one thing.
Eli Hunt was buying lumber. Or a new toilet seat. Or he just really loved how half the town followed him around everywhere so they could bask in his presence.
Adeline snorted. Looked like it was time for another break. She didn’t even bother coming up with an excuse for this one. She just needed to put distance between her and the Hollywood Heartthrob.
Her gaze settled on the box of chocolates she’d been meaning to take over to Leanne to congratulate her and Isaac on the engagement. Looked like she’d have an excuse after all.
Adeline flipped the sign on her front door, letting folks know she’d be back in an hour, grabbed a light jacket, then slipped out the back door so she could walk behind the boardwalk stores undetected.
She could hear the excited chatter as she moved quietly along, knowing she shouldn’t judge her friends for their reaction to Eli Hunt’s presence and the fact that he was shooting a movie in their small town. This was the most exciting thing that had ever happened in Starlight Ridge.
But she still couldn’t help the feeling of disappointment that her town was no different than the rest of the world—starstruck.
It wasn’t fifteen minutes before the bed and breakfast came into view. Leanne was training with her dad so she could manage the place on her own and hopefully own it one day.
As Adeline approached, her footsteps slowed. The front door of the bed and breakfast was wide open, and that wasn’t normal. She took the porch steps two at a time, the box of chocolates tucked under one arm, cautious as she entered through the open doorway. A quick glance told her no one was at the front desk, and she moved to shut the door. It groaned at the effort, stubbornly refusing to move.
“Don’t worry about the door,” Leanne said, descending the staircase that led to the guest rooms upstairs. “Something to do with the hinges.”
Without the help of the sun, it felt ten degrees cooler inside than it had outside, and Adeline’s jacket wasn’t enough to keep out the chill. “It’s freezing in here. Do you want me to go grab Davis?” Wait, no, that was where Eli Hunt was. “Or Caleb.” The scuba shop owner wasn’t officially a handyman, but he did know a thing or two about fixing things.
Leanne waved her off, though she did it in a way that seemed to purposely show off her new engagement ring. “Thanks, but we have it covered. Should be done within the hour.”
“Ooh, let me see,” Adeline said, rushing forward as Leanne reached the bottom of the stairs. Her friend extended her arm, twisting her hand so the diamond ring caught the light just right. “It’s beautiful.”
Not only did Leanne’s eyes shine bright, but everything about her seemed to glow with happiness. “I know, right? But I wouldn’t have cared if he’d tied a piece of twine around my finger.”
Some people might say that just so they didn’t appear superficial, but Adeline knew Leanne meant every word. She and Isaac had been inseparable for the past fifteen years—outside the two years she’d spent in Hollywood, studying under one of the g
reatest, and worst-tempered, screenwriters in the industry. It had nearly ended her and Isaac’s relationship. But now that things were back on track, Adeline suspected they would remain inseparable for the next fifty years, if not more.
“True,” Adeline said, admiring the ring. “But a sparkly diamond never hurt either.”
“And neither does chocolate,” Leanne said, eyeing the box Adeline still held under her arm. “Is it too much to hope that that is for me?”
Adeline grinned. “Happy engagement.” She held out the box to Leanne. “I thought about giving you each your own box, but decided that now that you’re going to be married, you need to learn how to share.” She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Though if it’s causing too much pre-matrimonial strife, just say the word and I’ll run over with some emergency chocolate.”
Leanne took the box, and then, with an innocent smile, hid it behind the front desk. “What box of chocolate?”
“I saw that,” Isaac said, emerging from around the corner in his wheelchair. His eyes crinkled in amusement. “And I’ll be happy to take my half, thank you very much.” As he pushed himself forward, one of the wheels hit the corner of the open door and he found himself unable to get around it. Isaac held up a hand, keeping Leanne from helping.
“He says he doesn’t want to have to depend on other people,” Leanne whispered, “even though it’s not like he’s going to be in that thing forever. Probably only three months or so.”
Isaac grunted as he backed himself up to try again. “The doctor said it could be six months or longer.”
“I think it’s great that you want to be independent,” Adeline told him. He threw a victorious look toward Leanne, but then Adeline said, “It’s also okay to let Leanne help you for a while. You are lucky that surfing accident didn’t kill you. Taking it easy for a couple of weeks while you figure things out wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
Leanne stuck her tongue out at him, and he laughed.
“Fine. But just this once,” he told Leanne, who immediately ran over and grabbed the handles on the back of the chair.
The sounds of someone walking up the front path reminded Adeline that Leanne had a business to run. “Hey, I’ll let you get back to work, but again, congratulations.” She gave them each an awkward hug around the wheelchair.
“Actually, before you leave, there was something I wanted to ask you,” Leanne said as she maneuvered the wheelchair around the open door.
Good. An excuse to stay for a moment longer and give Eli Hunt a chance to get what he needed from the hardware store, plus some wiggle room so he could bask in the adoration of his mob of fans. Okay, it was only like five people. But in Starlight Ridge, that counted as a mob.
More footsteps. Adeline glanced out the open doorway and saw Jules, Leanne’s older sister, walking toward the side of the house, probably heading to the children’s garden that Leanne’s mom had built in the back.
“What’s up?” Adeline said, leaning against the front desk, her attention returning to Leanne.
Leanne’s eyes glinted with excitement, and she stepped away from the wheelchair as Isaac took over. “You’ve probably heard by now that my screenplay…you know, the one that I went to LA for…is being made into a movie.”
Right. Adeline should have realized Leanne would want to talk about her Hollywood success—this was huge. A dream come true. And what was Adeline going to do, avoid her friends forever, just because she had some daddy issues that made her dislike the film industry? This was an exciting opportunity for her friend, and Adeline needed to support Leanne, no matter her personal feelings on the matter.
Adeline pushed off from the desk and offered her friend a smile—a genuine one—and wrapped her in a hug. “I’m so sorry, I got caught up in your engagement and I completely forgot to congratulate you on your screenplay as well. This is a really big deal, and I’m so crazy proud of you.” Adeline stepped back, having managed to stop feeling sorry for herself long enough to be genuinely happy for her friend, and she felt lighter than she had since Jessie had stopped by her chocolate shop with the big news.
Isaac positioned his wheelchair next to Leanne and frowned. “I think you’re the only one in town that managed to forget about the screenplay, because the rest of the town is too busy talking about Eli Hunt to give themselves a chance to.”
Leanne smiled at Isaac, but it seemed a little sadder than it had a moment earlier. “Yes, the unfortunate timing seems to have overshadowed the engagement, so we appreciate your visit. It means a lot.”
“Of course. We’ve been friends forever, and that will always come first.”
Leanne hesitated. “With that being said, I hate to change the subject back to…” She looked at Isaac, like she needed his permission for whatever she had to say next. He gave her an encouraging nod, and her smile returned. Another crunch of footsteps distracted Leanne. She glanced out the window. “Oh, good, Eli is back. Looks like he was able to grab the part we needed from Davis’s store. I still can’t believe he volunteered like that. Even after meeting him once before in LA, I thought he’d be more…uppity.”
Adeline’s heart stalled. “Eli…like, Eli Hunt? He’s here?”
“Yeah, he’ll be staying at the bed and breakfast until he gets all the legalities finalized and he can get his trailer out here.” Leanne grinned. “Looks like I’m going to have a new signed photo to put in the entryway. He’s booked out the place for his entire crew for the next four months. Mom and Dad are ecstatic.”
“Oh, that’s great.” Adeline tried to put as much excitement in her words as she could manage while trying to figure out an exit strategy. She really didn’t want to be forced into small talk with the movie star. “Hey, I just realized that I’ve been gone from the store longer than I meant to be. I’ll…just let myself out the back.”
She gave Leanne and Isaac a quick wave, ignoring their obvious confusion, considering there was a wide-open doorway in front of her just waiting to be walked through.
As Adeline hurried away down the long hallway that would take her out the back entrance, she heard a man’s deep voice reverberate through the entryway, accompanied by sounds of metal on metal.
This was going to be a long four months.
4
Eli wiped sweat from his brow as he swung the door back and forth. The cool breeze from outside felt good against his skin. It had been a long time since he’d done something as simple as replacing a door hinge, but after seeing Leanne’s poor fiancé stuck in that wheelchair while she worked on making arrangements to house Eli’s film crew, how could he not offer to help when the front door suddenly stuck and wouldn’t close? He wasn’t used to feeling useful—like he was needed. It turned out that he liked it. A lot.
At first Leanne had said no when Eli offered to run to the tiny place they called a hardware store—like he was above mundane errands. That had only made him insist harder that he should go. So what, he made a lot of money making movies. He was tired of being treated like he wasn’t capable of more than that. The people he worked with were good at making him feel needed—like he was irreplaceable. Like he deserved all the pampering he received. And Eli had worked hard to ensure his success. Harder than most people knew.
But lately it hadn’t seemed like enough.
That was how he’d gotten the crazy notion that he wanted to produce his own movie. He wanted to do something he’d never done before. Do something that challenged him. He just hadn’t expected so many legalities and piles of paperwork. Eli had spent the past week visiting various parts of town and scouting out locations that would be just right for the film. Leanne had directed him to a hike that took him to Starlight Ridge, the town’s namesake. The location was perfectly romantic for the final scene of the movie, and Eli had immediately known he wanted to use it, but figuring out who he needed to talk to so he could request permission to film on the ridge had already been a headache. Starlight Ridge—the town—was so small that it didn’t even have a
mayor. It was overseen by a county government, and he’d been on the phone, transferred from one person to another, all morning. Fixing the front door of the bed and breakfast had been a welcome relief.
Eli breathed in a lungful of cold air. This—right now—wearing jeans and holding a hammer…it reminded him of home and made everything bearable. His dad would be proud.
“That looks great,” Leanne said, walking in from the dining room. “Who knew Eli Hunt would be so handy?”
Eli stepped inside and closed the door, making sure nothing weird had happened since two minutes ago when he’d last tested it. Knowing his luck, it could have broken again in that amount of time. “I’m not sure I can do much beyond this, so hopefully nothing else in your place breaks, or my reputation will be on the line.”
Leanne smiled and grabbed her purse from behind the front desk. “What do I owe you for the parts?”
“Nothing. It’s on me.”
She raised an eyebrow, though she seemed more amused than anything. “You sure? I’d hate to receive an online review claiming I make guests earn their keep by fixing stuff around the place, and having to pay for the repairs out of their own pockets, no less.”
Eli laughed. “It really wasn’t a big deal, and in fact, I should pay you for allowing me to fix your door. I haven’t had that much fun in ages.”
“Then you need to get out more.”
Leanne had no idea how true that was. And he wasn’t going to be the one to tell her.
“I’ll tell you what,” Eli said. “You point me toward somewhere good for dinner, and we’ll call it even.”
Leanne placed her purse back behind the counter. “That I can do. There’s a small diner on the edge of town that has fish tacos to die for.”
“A fish taco that’s worth risking an early demise? Sign me up.” Eli pulled up the GPS app on his phone. “What’s the address?”
Starlight Love Page 2
