Fake It Till You Bake It(30)

“Hi,” she said again after a few seconds of silence with an awkward wave to catch Staring Lady’s attention.

The woman blinked.

Jada offered up her most charming smile. “Any of our cupcakes catch your eye?”

The blonde blinked again like she’d forgotten they were indeed in a cupcake shop. She stared at the menu board, then dropped her gaze to the display case. “I’ll take a vanilla cupcake.”

“Coming right up.” Jada decided that it was for the best if she kept the conversation to a minimum. The lady was still staring at her. She boxed up the cupcake without asking if the woman wanted it to go or eat in store, which technically was bad customer service, but Donovan wasn’t there, so he couldn’t give her any more demerits. He had reluctantly left her alone only after she pointed out that she had demonstrated a reasonable ability to remove cupcakes from the display case and press a few buttons on the computer screen attached to the cash register. But not before he’d stared at her with a not-at-all insulting mixture of suspicion and reluctance.

The customer paid for the dessert and then detoured to one of the tables that had a clear view of the front counter, i.e., exactly where Jada was. Great. Luckily, a few more customers came in back-to-back, which kept Jada busy. Nevertheless, every time she looked up, Staring Lady was taking an infinitesimal bite of her cupcake while keeping her eyes locked on Jada. Did she recognize her from the show? Jada suppressed a sigh. Probably, but there was nothing she could do about that.

Jada took a lap around the store to check on the customers. Mr. Till was happily munching away on his cupcake. Everyone else was doing good and didn’t need anything. Too bad. She meandered as much as she could, swiping the crumbs off one table, picking up an errant wrapper, bringing extra napkins to an excited four-year-old, but finally she admitted there was nothing else she could pretend held her attention. She forced herself to stop at Staring Lady’s table. “Are you finding everything okay? Can I get you anything?”

“No, but I do have a question. Are you Jada Townsend-Matthews?”

Jada nodded slowly. Her shoulders tensed. She deliberately relaxed them. She had nothing to be ashamed of, and if this lady started giving her crap, she would handle it. Somehow.

Staring Lady’s eyes widened. “Oh, wow. I heard the rumors you were working here, but I had to see it for myself. I couldn’t believe it.”

Jada shrugged. “Well, I am.”

“I just thought with your family connections you’d be working somewhere…”

“Somewhere what?” Jada was just about tired of the bullshit. No, this wasn’t her dream job—not that she had any clue what her dream job was—but this was a more than decent place to work. She was annoyed Grams had orchestrated this work assignment for her, but she wasn’t embarrassed to be here.

The woman paused, clearly sensing she was treading on thin ice. “My name is Tamara McCarthy. I work for celebinfo.com. We should do an interview. Get your side of the story.”

Oh, crap. She should have ignored her. Great move, Jada. Again. “I’m not really doing press.” Even if she did have to continuously ignore the calls and emails from Lila, My One and Only’s executive producer, asking, then demanding she reconsider. She wanted the story and her involvement with the show to go away as soon as possible. Her fifteen minutes of fame wasn’t worth it.

“That was such an interesting decision you made,” Tamara continued like Jada hadn’t spoken.

“Thanks. Did you need anything?”

“Did you know you were going to turn Dr. John down before that last ring ceremony? Was that your plan the entire time?”

“Nope. I gotta go.” Jada about-faced and headed back to the sanctity of the front counter. Surely that waist-high barrier would protect her. The screech of what sounded like chair legs sliding against the floor filled the air behind her. Jada didn’t turn back to see what was going on. The clattering of heels on the concrete floor behind her confirmed her suspicion anyway. She quickened her stride instead. Almost there. A strong hand on her arm stopped her. She wanted to fling the woman’s hand with her perfectly manicured fingers off, but that definitely wasn’t in the good customer service handbook, and she’d promised Donovan and herself that she would do a good job. She turned and forced her lips upward. “Can I get you something?”

“Yes. Tell me everything.” The blonde’s eyes were gleaming. She was a vampire ready to suck the life out of Jada. Terrific.

“Nothing to say.”

Tamara gave her a get-real look. “You’ve got to give me something. I’m the first person to make contact with the most notorious woman in America.”

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think?”

Tamara shook her head. “No, not really. My One and Only is the number one show among women aged eighteen to thirty-five in America. There aren’t any current celebrity scandals to divert attention away from you. You’re it, kid.”

Effing great. Would she ever stop making mistakes that led to nowhere good? “Well, I don’t really have anything to say.”

“Everyone is caught up in how you turned down his proposal, but I’m much more interested in your side of the story.”

Jada just stared at her. She refused to give the intrepid reporter any encouragement.