“It’s you.”
He smiles then. “Yeah, I guess it is me.” He brushes the hair away from his eyes. “I heard you were home and I . . . was thinking of going to the trail to take some pictures. Do you maybe . . . I mean, if you’re not doing anything?”
I hesitate for a minute. I barely know this guy. What if we have nothing to talk about? What if it’s awkward or forced or uncomfortable? There is so much uncertainty, so many unknowns. He shrugs his shoulders again when I don’t answer right away, and I realize he’s probably asking himself the same questions about me.
So I smile at him, because his eyes are still the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. “Actually, I have a better idea. We’re just about to eat dinner, and my mom makes the most disappointing fried chicken you can imagine. There’s actually a decent chance it gives you food poisoning. You should totally stay.” I hold my breath as he considers my offer. It’s kind of random to invite a complete stranger in for a dinner that’s pretty much the culinary equivalent of playing Russian roulette, but somehow I can’t resist.
“This is so weird, but disappointing fried chicken is like my favorite food.” His lip twitches up in a half smile. “I mean, talk about an offer I can’t refuse.”
“Perfect. I guess I should probably warn you though, we have company.”
And as if on cue, Sophie pops her head out of the front door. Her eyes roll automatically. “Ugh, Landon. I should have known you’d show up here at some point.” But her smile sucks all the venom out of the words.
“If you guys want to eat,” I say, “you better hurry. My mom’s trying a gluten-free batch for Sophie and I can say with authority that you do not want this chicken getting cold.” Before I can think twice, I grab his hand and pull him toward the door. When our fingers touch for the first time, I feel the glimmer of afternoons spent talking over gravestones and stolen moments in the front seat of his tiny car. My head spins with the rush of it.
“Oh, wait. I forgot something.” He drops my hand and jogs back to his car and grabs something out of the front seat. It’s a white box tied with a piece of string, and when he hands it to me, I can imagine exactly what he must have looked like as a little kid, right down to his sticky fingers and shy smile.
I can smell them before I see them. Six perfect orange scones.
“No one has ever brought me baked goods before.” The truth slips out before I can bite it back. “I mean, usually my suitors try to woo me with expensive jewelry.”
He laughs. “Right. I’ll remember that for next time.”
I open the door and run directly into Mrs. Graham. She takes one look at Landon and the box in his hands.
“Don’t even think about bringing those scones in here, Landon Crane. I’m finally back on my cleanse.” Even though she winks after she says it, I’m still only half-sure she’s kidding.
I can’t resist grabbing a scone; it’s like biting into a dream. “Guess I’ll have to take one for the team.” The flaky citrus-flecked pastry brings a flash of a memory. The sun shining through a glass room, all filled up with pure joy. “I take it back. These are better than diamonds.”
“Definitely. Besides, those crumbs all over your face are super elegant.”
He brushes his fingers against my lips, and I should be embarrassed or terrified or probably some horrible combination of both, but I can’t feel anything but this heart-pounding sense of anticipation.
Because this feels like something completely different, something special, something a little bit like magic.
Acknowledgments
This book began with a very long phone call, as they all do, but would not have been possible without the endless support of our agent, Rebecca Podos, who saw promise from the very beginning. Enter Alex Arnold, whose editorial feedback and vision for Now You See Her pushed us to dig deep and then dig even deeper (and then again . . . and again) to uncover the best version of our story. A special shout-out to Katherine Tegen, Tyler Breitfeller, Stephanie Boyar, Katie Fitch, Rebecca Aronson, Kathryn Silsand, and the entire team at KT Books and HarperCollins Publishers. We know it takes a village to build a book and we’re honored to have ended up in yours. We would never be where we are today without the guidance of our parents, who thought they were being practical by encouraging Lisa to minor in English lit and Laura to focus on middle childhood education and ended up with daughters who thought it’d be easy to write books. Insert eye roll here. Loretta, we are so appreciative of your generous encouragement through all our early drafts. You’re also one of the smartest, strongest women we know. Thank you to our sister, Stacey, for suffering through read alouds of favorite chapters, our husbands for the space to be creative, and our kids for occasionally thinking it’s cool that their moms write books. And there’s no match for the creative energy harnessed during a wing happy hour in the company of strong women in a small town in the middle of Ohio. Sarah McCall, Sera Mathew, and Caroline VonVille, your invitation to the Perseverance Café inspired us to battle through a particularly grueling round of edits. We’ll never forget the look of horror on so many conservative faces when you yelled, “Down with the Patriarchy” in our honor. This one’s for you.
About the Authors
LISA LEIGHTON and LAURA STROPKI are sisters who live in Cleveland, Ohio. Between them, they have two husbands, five children, and two dogs that are technically half brothers. The sisters grew up fighting over terrible clothes and sharing Harlequin romance novels and Christopher Pike mysteries. Their goal is to write the kind of books they would have stayed up all night reading without killing each other. So far so good.
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Copyright
Katherine Tegen Books is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
NOW YOU SEE HER. Copyright © 2018 by Lisa Leighton and Laura Stropki. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Cover photography: Marta Bevacqua/Trevillion Images, Muna Nazak/Trevillion Images, Jovana Rikalo/Stocksy
Cover design by Sarah Piersen
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017954133
Digital Edition JUNE 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-242865-3
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-242863-9
1819202122PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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Now You See Her Page 22