Unbelievable.
The rest of the afternoon was just as surreal. Sara noticed several people staring and a few pointing at her as they meandered up the tree-lined streets. Each time it happened, Josh gave her hand a gentle squeeze, told a bad joke or generally teased her to distraction.
Claire did her best to put a generous dent into Josh’s credit balance, growing happier with each store they entered. Sara felt the same way but for a different reason. Away from the looming tension about the fate of the ranch, she and Josh relaxed into an easy camaraderie that made hope bubble in Sara. She hadn’t felt the sensation in years: the possibility of a normal life.
She floated along on that feeling until they stopped for dinner at a quaint bistro at the edge of the shopping district.
The young man at the host desk informed them that without a reservation, the wait for a table would be over an hour. Claire gave a sigh of disappointment, as the cozy restaurant had been her first choice.
As Sara turned to scan the street for nearby options, a gray-haired woman approached her from the sidewalk. “Are you Serena Wellens? The one who used to be a movie star?”
Sara sucked in a breath, unused to hearing her failure phrased quite that way. She forced a smile. “I guess you could say I used to be Serena Wellens. And yes, I was an actress. I go by Sara now.”
She waited for the criticism to come—as it always did. It was human nature, Sara thought. People loved to sit in judgment of others’ lives. The explosion of the internet and media outlets made it easy to feel like you had insight into someone else’s business, no matter how untrue so much of what was published could be.
Josh’s warm hand pressed against the small of her back, reminding her to take a calming breath. “Is everything okay here?” he asked.
Claire came to stand beside her, grabbing hold of Sara’s hand. “Let’s find another place,” she said, and gave Sara a small tug.
Sara glanced at Claire and leaned against Josh ever so slightly. He and Claire have my back, she thought. They literally have my back. One thing about being in L.A. that she’d hated was the feeling of being alone against the world, as though she had no one but herself to depend on. She’d never been her own best defense. April had been there, but in the past few years had gone through so many of her own troubles, Sara hadn’t wanted to be a burden with her own insignificant worries.
Still she stood transfixed by the stranger in front of her, like a deer in headlights. “We should go,” she whispered.
“Wait.” The woman took a step forward and Josh moved even closer. “I have to thank you first. My daughter, she’s in college now, but when she was younger her father and I got divorced. It was messy and she was caught in the cross fire.”
“I’m sorry,” Sara responded automatically.
“Jessica, that’s my daughter, closed off emotionally. She’d barely even look at me. But she loved your show. So every week we’d watch together. It was the only time she’d let me sit next to her. We’d talk during commercials. I swear Just the Two of Us saved our relationship.” The woman dabbed at her eyes. “I’m sure that sounds stupid to you but it’s the truth.”
Sara reached out and took the woman’s hand. “It doesn’t sound stupid. I’m flattered that you told me.”
“So thank you. We’ve been following Amanda’s career since the show ended. Not hard since she’s everywhere these days.”
“She’s had an amazing career,” Sara agreed woodenly.
“When are you going to make your comeback? You were a much better actress than she was on the show. I’m sure that hasn’t changed.”
“My life has gone in a different direction.”
The woman let out a bark of laughter. “I read the tabloids but I don’t believe half of it. It’ll happen when you’re ready. You have a natural gift. Always have.”
Emotions clogged Sara’s throat. “Thank you again,” she whispered.
The maître d’ from the restaurant peeked around Josh. “Ms. Wellens?” he asked. “The manager has found a table for you.”
“I’ll let you get on with your evening,” the woman said, and with a last squeeze of Sara’s arm, scuttled down the sidewalk.
Sara met Josh’s questioning gaze. “That was different, even for me,” she said, trying to make her tone casual.
He gave her a knowing nod. “Looks like Serena got us a table.”
“She’s good for something, at least.”
Josh rubbed his hand over his face and gave a weary look around yet another store filled with racks of women’s clothes. How many different shops had he been into today? More than in the past ten years if he had to guess. After eating, Claire had led them from one end of the ritzy neighborhood to the other.
She’d promised this would be the last one, and Josh couldn’t be finished soon enough. His knee ached, his head pounded and all he wanted was to get out of the city and up into the mountains again. Sara had gamely kept up with Claire’s boundless energy, but even she’d begun to wilt a little as she’d followed his daughter back to the fitting rooms.
He’d also noticed that in the whole day, Sara hadn’t purchased one thing for herself. All of her attention remained focused on Claire’s needs. He knew Claire had never had that with her own mother, and it made his heart open to Sara all the more.
“I’m not sure that’s your size,” a voice said next to him.
Sara stood just to the side of a rack of dresses, eyeing him with a smile.
He looked down at the soft fabric he clutched to his chest, then held up the dress. “It would look good on you,” he said softly.
Her eyes sparked, whether with humor or temper he couldn’t tell. “Today isn’t about me.”
“You haven’t seen anything you want?”
“Doesn’t matter.” She sighed. “I don’t have the money for new clothes.”
He ignored the way his gut tightened at her comment. “I thought maybe Colorado wasn’t trendy enough for you.”
“What do you know about trendy?”
“More than I ever wanted to after today.” He held the dress out. “Try it on,” he coaxed, suddenly wanting to see her in something other than her chosen uniform of jeans and shapeless T-shirts.
“No point,” she answered, but he thought he saw a sliver of longing in her gaze. Josh knew all about longing these days. Although he found it hard to believe, Sara had almost as many walls built up as he did. Right now, he wanted to crash through each and every one of them.
“You’re right, though,” he told her. “It doesn’t matter what you wear. The bottom line is you’re beautiful.”
She took a step toward him and reached for the dress. “I’m not sure—”
“What do you think?”
He and Sara turned as Claire came from the back of the store. Josh felt his eyes widen. “I think you have thirty seconds to take that off and put on a decent outfit.”
Sara’s mouth dropped open as her gaze traveled up and down Claire. The saleswoman who’d followed Claire from the dressing room quickly backed away as Sara shot her a glare.
His daughter wore a skintight, black lace concoction that revealed more skin than it covered. Suddenly, he saw her not as his little