Free Father Knows Best by Lynda Sandoval Page A

take a picture of us. A keepsake.”
    “Ah.” Thomas draped his arm across my shoulders and flashed this unbelievably sexy (too old) smile. He looked like the star, not me. And he was mine for the summer!
    Snap!
    “Can you take one more, please?” I asked.
    The lady moved closer, focusing on us from the shoulders up.
    Snap!
    Thomas and I broke apart, and I moved forward to the lady. “Thank you so much.”
    “My pleasure.” She handed me the phone, then extracted a pen and a wrinkled receipt from her giant handbag. “Now, what’s your name, dear?”
    “Caressa Thibodoux,” I said. “And yours?”
    “Oh, who cares about me,” she said, flapping a hand. “I’m just a tourist. But you! Why, you’re an up-and-coming celebrity.”
    I laughed.
    “Anyway, it’s Esther. Esther Newberg.” She aimed her finger at me and grinned. “And I’ll be looking for you in People and US Weekly, Miss Thibodoux.”
    Everything around me bubbled, like a freshly poured glass of 7-Up. Esther made me feel like such a star, I didn’t have the heart to tell her I was strictly a behind-the-scenes part of Broadway, and unpaid, to boot!
    Floating on the effervescence, I returned to Thomas’s side.
    “Ready?” he asked, clearly amused by my excitement.
    “Definitely,” I said. I couldn’t wait to get to Tribeca and explore. We gathered my luggage and made small talk as we carted it to Thomas’s Town Car. He stowed everything in the trunk while I climbed in the backseat and stealthily texted the photos Esther had taken of us to Lila, along with the message: News—he’s my bodyguard, not just my driver. I get 2 spend all summer w / him .
    As we exited the airport property, my cell bleeped.
    Thomas glanced back in his rearview mirror.
    “Sorry,” I told him, waggling my BlackBerry where he could see it. “Incoming text.”
    He chuckled. “Guess I’m gonna have to get used to that sound, right?”
    I giggled, then opened the message from Lila.
    It read: OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Yeah. Exactly how I felt.
    Lila: He does look older tho, C .
    She was right, of course. Definitely over twenty-one. But it didn’t matter, because guys weren’t on my radar at the moment. Still, who had expected Thomas? Harmless eye candy, and I got to hang with him for the whole summer!
    I texted: Older, 4-sure. Don’t worry, not looking 4 any more Bobby Slade-esque luurve, just having fun, fun, fun.
    I slipped my BlackBerry into my bag and grinned to myself.
    New York City, watch out! Caressa Thibodoux’s in town.

Chapter Six
     
    Meryl
     
    I slid the antique cash register drawer closed, enjoying its familiar coin jangle, and handed the customer her change. “Here you go. Be sure to use two droppers full of the green tea extract in an eight-ounce glass of water.”
    “Thank you. I will,” she said with a smile.
    “Come back and see us!” I called out as she headed toward the door, trying not to sound as desperate as I felt. I don’t know exactly why I’d been worrying about this lately except that it seemed like business might be slowing down. To say I loved my job at Inner Power was a gross understatement. Everything about it fit me—the serenity, the size of the store, the products we sold, the women I worked for.
    But we’d been deathly slow all day thanks to a steady, chilly rainstorm hanging low over White Peaks, and weak sales always set me on edge. I guess people felt they could only get metaphysical in good weather or something. In any case, the lack of foot traffic had me tightening my shoulders and searching my brain for ways to bring in more business. There had to be something. Reese, one of the owners, had sensed my tension earlier and asked about it, but I put it down to missing Caressa. Which I did, but that wasn’t the real reason I’d been stressing. The truth is, I don’t want to lose this job.
    I’ve been with Inner Power for two years now, and I can’t think of another place in White Peaks I’d rather work. But