Posey spots me immediately, her cautious eyes following me as I weave through the tables to where the hostess seats me. Mandi follows her sister’s vision and smiles over her shoulder at me.
“Good morning, Gavin. I see your fans didn’t disappoint.” Mandi nods toward where Fran and her gang sit and laughs at her own joke.
“Haven’t missed a day yet.” I shift my vision to Posey. “Posey.” I nod.
“Gavin.” She’s sitting on a chair and her knees are up to her chest, coffee resting between her hands.
“Sit here, Gavin. I have to head back in anyway.” Mandi stands before I have a chance to sit at my table.
“I was going to leave too.” Posey’s feet fall to the ground.
“No, you weren’t. Please, Gavin. Take my seat. I’ll send Ellis over.” She leaves us, ignoring the death glare from her sister.
“I don’t have to,” I say, my hand on the back of Mandi’s vacant chair.
Posey exhales with a huff. “It’s fine. Being the youngest, I’m not really good with being by myself anyway.” Her arm extends for me to sit down. “Get a soufflé. You won’t regret it.”
“Done.” I never open the menu.
The cutest smile crosses her lips, like she likes that I trust her opinion that much. “So, when am I cutting your hair?”
I run my hand over my sweaty head. “Is Friday cool? With the pancake banquet on Saturday, I want to be picture ready.”
She chuckles and brings her legs back up to her chest, resting her coffee between her hands again. “What it must be like to be Gavin Price.”
Her tone suggests it would be wonderful, but she has no idea. If I could disappear and have no one remember me as an actor, I’d give up everything it gave me. But that can’t happen, so I have to live this life in what half the time feels like a foreign body.
“What must it be like to be Posey Greene?” I ask in return, hoping to keep the attention off myself.
She scoffs. “Boring.” She raises her eyebrows.
“What?”
“One word. Tell me what it’s like to be Gavin Price in one word.”
Ellis comes over, and the distraction gives me time to think after I order a coffee and soufflé. Posey talks to her a little bit, but once Ellis leaves the table, Posey’s eyes find mine. She doesn’t voice her question again, but her green eyes make it clear she’s waiting for my answer.
“Drained,” I answer honestly.
Her smile tips to a frown. This is exactly why I like to keep the topic of conversation off of me. “I don’t believe that.”
I lean over the table. “And I don’t believe one ounce of you is boring.”
“Maybe you just need to relax. A massage might do you good,” she says.
“Are you volunteering?”
Her expression doesn’t change, but her cheeks pinken. “I’m your hairdresser. The massaging stops at the scalp.”
“Have I told you how much I love it when you wash my hair?”
“No, but the sexual noises you make give it away.”
I almost spit out my coffee but manage to swallow it. “I think we’re actually building a friendship here,” I say once I recover.
“You shouldn’t think so much,” she says, but she chuckles.
God, how will I ever break this woman?
I’ve never been a fan of the pancake banquet, especially when I volunteer to help out. It’s held in the high school cafeteria, and you have to buy tickets for certain time slots, which means I’m here all day when I would usually be making money at my salon. I’m opening up tomorrow to make up for not working today.
I put on my Vote Greene pin, leaving my mom at her booth in the corner of the room. Although if I know her, she’ll be everywhere but there all day, probably passing out pancakes as well.
Naomi Needles approaches as I finish adding plates of pancakes to my tray. “Where’s Gavin Price?”
“Not my day to let him out of the cage,” I say and walk away, but her heels click on the linoleum behind me.
“Come on. He’s supposed to be here, right?”
“I don’t know, Naomi. Why?” I glance over my shoulder at her.
We went to high school together. She married and divorced her high school sweetheart when he decided he wanted to move up north to a more remote territory to live off the grid. She stayed here and is raising their three-year-old daughter. These days she hangs around with a whole gaggle of young moms.
“Because we want pictures. I’ve been trying to track him down for weeks.”
“Track him down?” I place some pancakes in front of the people, patiently waiting. “We’re in Sunrise Bay. The town isn’t that big. Where exactly are you looking?”
She twists her face into annoyance and shakes her head at me. “I’m not an idiot.”
“Never said you were.”
“From what I hear, he always seems to be around you. Even if you cut him.”
“Don’t believe everything Nikki says.” I head back toward the kitchen to grab another tray, trying to lose her, but she hangs on like a trained K-9.
“Are you guys dating?” Naomi leans forward, but I slide between two chairs so she can’t get side by side with me.
“He’s campaigning against my mom.”
“Okay, so he’s available then?” She turns toward her group of moms sitting at one of the tables and gives them a thumbs-up.
There are no pancakes ready, so I have no choice but to wait. “Are you guys going to propose a group sex thing?”
Naomi scoffs. “Seriously, Posey?”
“So they’re just your cheerleading squad?” I voice my second guess, and the snarkiness in my tone is clear, even to me. This is not jealousy I’m feeling. It’s just annoyance at Naomi because I never liked her.
“No, we just wanted to make sure he’s available. Which, thanks for the info.”
She’s cute in her tight jeans and short sweater that shows off how having a kid hasn’t affected her figure. Her hair is curled and her makeup is done perfectly. I don’t have a three-year-old and I can’t look that good.
Lucky for me, a round of applause steals her attention and I turn to see her little groupie corner cheering because Gavin just walked in. He’s wearing jeans and a black V-neck T-shirt that says Vote Price across his chest. He lifts his arm in a wave and Naomi is instantly gone from my side, heading right over to Gavin’s.
I groan and turn back to see if the pancakes are ready. This is the last place I want to be today.
“Naomi Needles,” Adam says from behind the griddle. “She’s been a thorn in your side all these years.” He flips a few pancakes.
“What are you talking about?” Adam is the closest to me in age of my stepbrothers.
“Come on. You both liked that douche Anton Powers, remember?”
“I never liked him.” Lie. I was in love with him. Secretly of course, because he was prom king to Naomi’s prom queen. Now he’s gutting his meals and surviving off the land. “Just give me the pancakes.”
He laughs and puts them out for me to take.
“I can handle those.” Gavin’s next to me, his arms outstretched for the tray.