Paradise Road [NOOK Book]

"You look very familiar. Have we met somewhere before?"

Kylie Donovan tensed slightly at the question. That was a conditioned response for sure, considering how many countless times the question had been posed to her. Even now, so far from Hollywood and the role that had launched her to childhood stardom, that question often came up. It didn't help that, every now and then, an out-and-out mean-spirited remark would follow. Reminding herself that this was a new day, or as the cliché went, the first day of the rest of her life, she regained her composure enough to offer a heartfelt smile.

"I don't believe I've had that pleasure," she said.

The clerk behind the store counter had to be in her early fifties, by Kylie's guess. A petite woman, slender build, hair streaked here and there with gray. Her face, still pretty, beamed with a pleasant smile.

"Well, maybe I haven't had the pleasure, either!" the woman said with genuine friendliness. "I'm Mae Clayton."

"Hello, Mae. I'm Kylie Donovan."

That was the clincher. Then again, maybe not. That was the story of Kylie's life--people remembered her face, but not always her name.

"Kylie Donovan. Hmmm. Seems to me I've heard that name before." The clerk began ringing up Kylie's order of fresh fruit and vegetables, a package of corn meal, and AA batteries. On the counter, to the side, was a small display with boxes of fruit-shaped marzipan candies, prompting Kylie to add a box to her order on impulse. "You're new in town, though, aren't you?"

"Yep. I've visited before, but now I'm here to stay."

"Have family in town? Nearby?"

"No." After a moment, at the riskof revealing too much about herself, she added, "It's interesting, but I found this place by accident. Long time ago, back in the Dark Ages, when I was about eighteen."

Mae laughed. "Honey, it couldn't have been that long ago. You're still a baby. Oh--those just came in fresh from the farm. Beautiful, aren't they?"

Kylie realized she was referring to the tomatoes she had been inspecting. Their casual conversation had relaxed her. She understood that Mae Clayton probably wouldn't connect her twenty-ish face with that of the little girl she'd played on TV years ago, the one who'd been known to millions of the shows' fans as little Melissa. That seemed now like it had happened a century ago.

Maybe it would dawn on Mae later, but not necessarily now.

"Sold," Kylie said, adding two fat tomatoes to the other items on the counter. They were firm, ripe, the perfect shade of luxurious red. She decided she'd have one tonight as a favorite side dish of hers for dinner, sliced up in thin slices and roasted with a light coating of olive oil and a dusting of herbs.

"How did you 'accidentally' find Berrentine Cove?" Mae asked. "With a town this small, you must have used a microscope."

"Actually, I was visiting a friend who lived here in Virginia. You know, the interesting thing is I don't recall the name of the town, and I haven't seen her in years. But I took the train from New York--I was living on campus there--and somehow I got off at the wrong stop."

"Let me guess! That wrong stop was Berrentine Cove?"

"Fortunately for me, yes. Once I got here, I figured I'd have a look around, not let it be a total waste of a trip. I came back not long after that, and I don't know what it was, but I never wanted to leave. I never believed in love at first sight until then. Always thought it would happen with a man, though--not a town."

Again Mae laughed, even more heartily. She packed the last of Kylie's order in a paper bag.

"That'll be seventeen ninety-five," she said. "And you're a young woman. There's lots of time for love at first sight with a man, too. Of course, with the town, you'll never have a spat with it over the lawn getting mowed."

Kylie chuckled as she accepted her change. "That's true. I'm not in a hurry for my Prince Charming to come along, though. It'd be nice, but I'm just concentrating on getting my life in order here in my new home."

"You're a smart lady, Miss Kylie. Where do you live?"