be on the show.”
I nod and bite my lip.
“Which reminds me, this guy came in the other day.” She moves her chair to face me, leaning forward.
Unease wraps around me. She’s going to tell me something I don’t want to hear.
“It’s crazy, right, but you know the ongoing battle this town has with your cream cheese and the Andrews’ bagels? He asked me about my cream cheese frosting on my chocolate cupcakes and I said that I buy it in bulk from The Bagel Place. He said he bought a tub of your cream cheese and then went to Andrews Bagel and bought a dozen for a family brunch. And everyone raved about the combination.”
I nod. What exactly does she want me to say to that?
She pats my leg, then her gaze falls behind me, and her eyes widen in surprise. “Well, well,” she says softly.
I glance over my shoulder and spot Seth Andrews and his mother getting in line. Seth’s holding a coffee, his hoodie over his head, while his mom talks with Lucy from Porterhouse.
My gut twists. It’s not like I didn’t think anyone else from the breakfast crowd would show up, but why did it have to be them?
Audrey pats my leg. “No worries. There’s no contest when it comes to your cream cheese.”
And that’s exactly it—the cream cheese. But cream cheese can’t stand on its own. A bagel can.
I glance back once more and Seth notices me this time. He nods then smirks. I can almost hear him thinking, “Game on, Erickson.”
Chapter Three
Seth
I stare at Evan Erickson’s profile for three hours. Okay, I don’t stare because I’m not some creeper, but my gaze keeps returning to her direction as she scours her phone or talks to every person in line as if she’s their best friend. Her smile is immediate, her warmth radiating to everyone but me.
I sip my now-cold-ass coffee and push the hood of my sweatshirt off my head.
“That’s Evan,” Mom says—not in a whisper, mind you. We’re only five people behind Evan, so she looks at the sound of her name.
I inwardly roll my eyes. “Way to be chill, Mom.”
“I didn’t know if you’d recognize her.”
Sometimes I wonder how my mom thought I attended Cliffton Heights High School without interacting with Evan. The town might not be Pleasantville small, but it’s not a major city. Hell, I had to be lab partners with her sophomore year until she flirted her way into a seat change.
But I’m not going to tell off my mom. That’s not cool and she’s already nervous as hell about this audition thing. My dad’s stubborn ass should be standing next to her. I washed my hands of the bagel company as soon as I left for college at eighteen, but it keeps sucking me back in.
So instead I say, “I do.”
“She’s really grown into a beautiful woman. Her hips are good. Won’t have a problem carrying a baby.”
I peer down at my mom and blink a few times. “Did you really just check out whether she had child-bearing hips or not?”
Mom slaps me on my stomach and a few local business owners glance back, apparently not surprised to see me buckle over slightly. I toss my coffee in the trash can just to act as if my mom can’t give me a beat-down.
“It’s important at her age. I saw her last weekend by the lakefront with Brock Floyd.”
I roll back on my heels. Why is it that as soon as you hit stardom level or a certain degree of wealth, people refer to you with both your first and last name?
“Jenny’s probably over the moon about the possibility of her marrying into that family.”
There’s a longing in Mom’s tone that irritates me. My parents are only getting older. Trevor isn’t reliable anymore. Before his stint in rehab, he broke into the business and stole everything in the safe—including my grandma’s heirloom diamond necklace. Putting all their valuables in the business safe wasn’t my parents’ smartest decision, but when your son robs you blind at your own house, it’s hard to find new hiding places.
Now I’m the lucky safe holder, including the diamond necklace they had to purchase back from the pawn store at double the cost because they weren’t willing to press charges against my brother to prove it was theirs and get it back without having to pay for it. It helps that I’m roommates and friends with a police officer. But my life has gone from smooth