Free No Time Like Mardi Gras by Kimberly Lang

seemed to be news somehow, and based on the counter at the bottom of the page, it was now everyone’s business.
    It was all there: how they were separated at midnight, leaving her Prince Charming with her watch instead of a glass slipper. A physical description of her and those details Kelsey had been checking—like the fact she had extensive baseball knowledge but didn’t enjoy the game and her double-jointed elbows. It ended with a plea for anyone who knew “Cinderella Jamie” to please contact someone named Callie with the info.
    That gave her pause. A second, less panicked look at the article showed her that it didn’t mention Colin by name or description, simply calling him Prince Charming and providing little detail to his identity.
    Kelsey snorted again. “That is you. Don’t deny it.”
    Jamie wondered if she possibly could. She looked over to see Kelsey messing with her phone.
    “I remember you taking his picture and putting his name into my phone in case he turned out to be an ax murderer or something,” Kelsey muttered, “but now I can’t find it.”
    And you never will. Wednesday morning, after deciding it would be best if she didn’t contact Colin again, she’d deleted both his picture and his name from Kelsey’s phone while Kelsey was in the shower. She’d felt a little silly doing it, but now she was thankful for her forethought.
    “Damn it, why can’t I find it?”
    Jamie let that question pass. She was on the internet. Again. No one in town knew her and there was no reason anyone—even those who followed sports obsessively—would recognize her from the description here, but still.... She didn’t want to be notorious again. Ever.
    But Kelsey had figured it out. Eventually she would make friends here, and what if one of them managed to put it together? Although it wasn’t specifically stated in the article, the subtext was that she’d hooked up with Prince Charming, and now she looked like a slut. Or maybe that was just her own guilty conscience talking. “You say this Ex Factor thing is pretty popular?”
    Kelsey’s amused look turned to pity. “ Very popular. And this article has gone viral. I doubt there’s anyone in New Orleans under the age of sixty who hasn’t heard about it.”
    And now she had to go job hunting in this atmosphere. Sweet Jesus, maybe she should just move. At least she wasn’t even fully unpacked yet. Of course, there was the slim hope that this would all die down quickly—the internet was fickle and had a short attention span.
    Dignity and distance. If she’d learned anything from that three-ring circus Joey had dragged her into, she knew how best to handle this. Do not acknowledge. Do not deny. Everything she said would be held against her, so it was best to say nothing. She forced herself to shrug casually and handed the laptop back to Kelsey.
    “That’s it?” Kelsey asked. “Aren’t you excited that Prince Charming is looking for you?”
    “Not like this, no.” She wanted privacy, not notoriety.
    “At least tell me who he is.”
    She tried to sound casual. “Nobody.”
    “Bull. You ditched me to spend the day with him. You liked him. And I do remember he was pretty damn cute, too.”
    Kelsey had ditched her—mentally at least—long before Colin had come into the picture, but she let that slide. “Look, I really don’t need to go rushing into anything with anyone right now. I’m still finding my feet here.” But Kelsey’s fingers were already flying across the keyboard. There was a flutter of panic in her chest. “You’re not emailing that Callie person, are you?”
    Kelsey paused and grinned over the screen. “Want me to?”
    “No.”
    “Pity. I’m just checking out what other people are saying.”
    “I don’t want to know.” Jamie pushed against the laptop gently, bringing the screen down, but not all the way onto Kelsey’s fingers. “I’m asking you to please just let this go. Don’t tell anyone you know who Cinderella is