Page 70 of Highlands Summer Wedding

After the movie, we’d gone to a diner and had pie. I’d had Traverse City cherry pie, and he’d had chocolate fudge pecan.

We’d shared our slices, laughed about silly subplots, and plotted to take over the world.

Together.

With the cell phone turned off.

All this time I’d thought of Max as the one that left, but he was only doing what he’d set out to do. I was the one who’d left.

And now I’d done it again.

He’d never give up film, but he had ripped up the contract for fake dating Cat.

He’d offered me a chance at a film deal.

I had a lot to think about.

If I wasn’t already too late.

But was he fake-dating me just to make Cat look sympathetic when she ended things with him? Was I just a piece on the chess board—or the Hollywood Walk of Fame?

As I walked down High Street, I saw a man walking quickly, the wind blowing his overcoat. That dark hair. It had to be Max. I walked quickly to catch up to him. I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned. It was not Max.

“Sorry. I thought you were someone else,” I mumbled, taking a step back.

The man continued on his way.

Mortified, I turned back—and nearly bumped into the actual Max.

“I thought that was you,” he said.

“Yeah?” I blinked, trying to process that he was here.

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I didn’t mean to… be here. It’s just…”

“It’s fine. It’s a small town.”

We stood there a beat as drizzle began to fall around us.

He looked cold. I wanted to pull his hood up.

“Do you need a ride back to…,” he asked.

“It’s too far to go back to the house. I thought I’d change at the inn for the rehearsal dinner,” I said, pointing toward Drumnadrochit like an idiot.

“I brought my clothes, too.” Max looked down, and there was a long pause. Finally, he couldn’t help but grin. “Sparkling conversation…”

“Pure cinematic gold,” I responded automatically.

“AmIright?” he shot back in his best Hollywood producer voice.

We both laughed, the tension beginning to ease.

Then his phone rang.

I started to back away, expecting him to answer.

Instead, he tossed it on the ground.