A Love So Real: A Christian Romance (New Hope Falls Book 1) Read online

  She had needed to put some distance between herself and everyone who had been involved with the events of the past two weeks. They had played constantly in her head as she’d driven around a few different states, but no solution had come to mind. She’d stayed off her social media completely because she’d felt that saying nothing was better than saying the wrong thing.

  Judgment would be high as it always was when someone of her influence on social media made a mistake or did something wrong. And there was no doubt most wouldn’t even give her the benefit of the doubt. When it came time to make a video explaining what had happened, Arianna wanted to be sure she had clarity of mind and heart.

  Second guessing anything she put out into the world, whether it was through a video or an Instagram post, was nothing new. There was always going to be someone who took offense to something. And maybe, sometimes, they had the right to do so, but too often, they were just reaching for a reason to be mad at someone.

  The other part of the issue was that she hadn’t been able to stand up against her management when they’d first come to her with their plan. In her gut, she’d known that it wasn’t a good decision, but everyone involved had assured her the plan was what fans wanted, and it would help both her and David by exposing their channels to new people. So, sucker that she was, she’d agreed.

  Now who was paying the ultimate price? Yeah, that would be her, which was why she was on this little trip, trying to figure out for herself what her next move should be. She didn’t want the pressure from her fans. The pressure from her team. And most definitely not the pressure from David.

  Shoving aside thoughts of the man, Arianna focused on the road ahead of her, slowing when the navigation system told her that she was going to be making a right turn. She saw a big sign for New Hope Falls and smiled when she read the line under the name. A place to call home. That only reinforced her desire to find the town and see what it was all about.

  She drove along the winding road her GPS had directed her to, taking in the towering evergreen trees that lined either side, sporadically interrupted with driveways leading to houses. Some houses were small. Others were large. All were definitely rural. Without a doubt, she’d left the crowded cities behind.

  It was hard not to be distracted by the beauty of the world around her even as she drove through unfamiliar territory. There was an abundance of green, but a smattering of fall colors was present as well. Shades of brown, orange, yellow, and red mixed in amongst the green.

  It reminded her of fall in New York. That was one of the things she missed about the east coast now that she lived in Los Angeles. Fall just didn’t have the same look or feel there.

  Being surrounded by the colors of autumn soothed her, and the idea that the town she was searching for was in the middle of them made it even more appealing. Arianna had kind of thought that she’d just drive around until she was ready to go back to LA, but now she was wondering if she might find a place to hunker down until she figured out what she wanted to do.

  The trees began to thin out, and the clusters of houses increased. Arianna slowed down a bit as she rounded a bend and saw a billboard sign advertising a church. It only took a moment for her to read the message: My peace I give to you.

  Peace?

  She hadn’t felt a moment’s peace since she’d agreed to the stupidity that had led to her current predicament. And truthfully, at the end of the day, she had no one to blame but herself. Though she’d known better, she’d gone ahead with the plan. She hadn’t prayed about it, hadn’t sought counsel on it. Nope, she’d just gone ahead.

  Arianna was so frustrated with herself because she’d always tried to live her life as an influencer with integrity. When she reviewed products, she was always honest. She didn’t agree to work with companies if they restricted her ability to review their products honestly. For the product lines she’d been working on for her own brand over the past two years, she’d resisted using cheap products. But at the same time, she’d also done her best to keep prices affordable knowing that not all of her fan base could afford expensive products.

  But in this one situation…she’d compromised her integrity, and now she was paying the price.

  Uncertain where to go once she found New Hope Falls, Arianna angled her car into the first parking spot she saw on the main street which was—not surprisingly—named Main Street. She grabbed her purse and got out of the car, appreciating the coolness in the air.

  When Arianna stepped up on the sidewalk, she looked around to see what was there. For a moment, she wondered if she’d wandered onto a movie set or something. The town was beyond picturesque with baskets of fall-colored flowers hanging from wrought iron light posts. The same combination of flowers was in wooden bucket style planters next to benches on the wide sidewalk in front of the stores.

  A group of people came out of a nearby restaurant, laughing and talking together. They smiled at Arianna as they moved past her down the sidewalk, their friendliness making her look around for a camera crew. Unable to spot any, she decided to head into the restaurant and see if maybe someone there could point her in the direction of a place to stay.

  The restaurant had a cozy look to it, and the name of it was spelled out in scripted letters above the door. Norma’s

  The aromas that greeted her as she walked inside made her stomach growl with a hunger that she hadn’t felt since leaving LA. If the food tasted as good as it smelled, she was looking forward to eating something for the first time in days. What she’d eaten in the past week or so had been of the quick and easy variety, just enough to keep her body going.

  “Hi there! Are you ready to be seated?”

  Arianna looked over to see a middle-aged woman with a broad smile standing near a hostess stand, menus held against her chest. “Yes, please.”

  “You just visiting in town?” the woman asked as she led the way to a booth near the windows at the front.

  “Yes, I am.” Was the town small enough that the woman knew everyone? “How did you know?”

  “I’m familiar with a good portion of the people in town these days.” She waited for Arianna to sit down before handing her the small menu. “We’re a bit of a tourist town, and our busy season ends once school goes back in session. It’s not completely unusual to see strangers in town now, but there are definitely fewer of you.”

  “So I suppose that means I might not have a hard time finding a place to stay?” Arianna asked hopefully.

  “That would be correct.” The woman gave her a curious look. “Are you just passing through, or are you looking for something for a bit longer?”

  Arianna rolled the question around in her mind, searching for the answer that gave her a sense of peace. When it came, she said, “A little bit longer, I think.”

  “In that case, how about I give my sister a call to see if she has some room at her place. She has a lodge with rooms as well as some cabins that she also rents out. Would you like just a room or a cabin?”

  “I think I’d like more space than just a room.”

  “Perfect. Why don’t you figure out what you’d like to eat while I go call my sister.”

  Arianna nodded, pleasantly surprised at how the idea of settling into a cabin in this quaint town soothed the ragged edges of her soul. Ever since she’d left LA, she’d felt like she was trying to escape, but now a place to stay loomed in the not too distant future. For how long, she didn’t know, but that didn’t matter right then. She knew that her date of return to LA would fall into place eventually, dictated by the events of the next couple of weeks.

  CHAPTER THREE

  With that decision made, Arianna turned her attention to the next one. What on the menu would tempt her appetite in a way nothing had since she’d fled LA? After some debate, she decided to go with a turkey sandwich on homemade bread and a bowl of cream of potato soup.

  “Here you go,” the woman said as she set a large glass of water in front of Arianna. “Would you like something more to drink?�
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  Arianna looked up from the menu and smiled. “The water is just fine, thanks.”

  “Are you ready to order? Or do you have any questions about the menu?”

  “I think I’m ready to order.” Arianna told her what she had decided on. “It was a hard choice. It all sounds so good.”

  “Oh, I think you’ll especially love the soup,” the woman said. “Also, my sister was in the middle of something, but she’ll call me back in a few minutes.”

  “Thank you again for calling her for me,” Arianna said, truly grateful for the woman’s help.

  “No problem, dear. You looked a little lost, and if there’s something I specialize in besides cooking, it’s helping people find their way.” The woman smiled at her. “By the way, my name is Norma.”

  Though Arianna didn’t usually introduce herself to the people who waited on her in restaurants in LA or New York, it felt almost rude not to in this situation. Still, she chose to give the name her parents called her, not the name her followers knew her by. “I’m Anna.”

  “Well, Anna, welcome to New Hope Falls. I hope to see lots of you while you’re here.”

  Before Arianna could respond, a quiet tinkle of a bell sounded, and Norma quickly excused herself to go back to the entrance of the restaurant. Arianna watched as she greeted the group of elderly ladies who had walked in. They all stood chatting for a couple of minutes before Norma led them to a large round table in the center of the room.

  As she watched them situate themselves at the table, each seeming to have a particular seat, Arianna began picturing herself at that age. Sadness crept in as she realized that she probably wouldn’t have even one friend to go to dinner with, let alone a group of ladies like these.

  An unfamiliar feeling of tears pricked at her eyes, forcing Arianna to blink to hold them back. Confused by the rush of emotion and the desire to cry when nothing else over the past couple of weeks had reduced her to tears yet, Arianna shifted her gaze from the table of women to the scene beyond the window next to her table.

  Unlike the hustle and bustle she often encountered when she walked the sidewalks in LA near her apartment, the sidewalks here were wide and mostly empty. She watched as a tall man wearing a plaid jacket and a baseball cap stepped out of the hardware store across the street. He paused near a large black truck as someone approached him. They talked for a few minutes before the other man clapped him on the shoulder then walked toward the door the first man had just exited.

  A little further down the street, a couple of women got out of a car then helped a small child from the back seat, before heading toward a bakery. The bakery and a couple of other stores had window displays that appealed to Arianna. She would definitely be exploring this town while she was here. It looked like it could be the perfect place to quietly contemplate her next move and distract her from all the chaos, if she wanted that.

  “Here you go.” Norma’s voice pulled Arianna from her musings, and she turned from the window in time to see the woman set her food on the table.

  “Thank you so much,” Arianna said as she took a sniff of the steam rising from the soup. “It smells wonderful.”

  “Don’t you worry. It tastes just as good.” Norma’s smile was as confident as her words. “If there’s a problem with anything, you let me know.”

  “I’m sure it will be just fine,” Arianna said, surprised to find that her appetite had made an appearance for the first time in ages.

  “I’m still waiting for Nadine to call me back.”

  “I’m in no rush,” Arianna told her. “As long as you don’t need the table.”

  “You’re quite all right. Dinner rush doesn’t start for awhile, so you have plenty of time.”

  Arianna realized she wasn’t entirely sure what the time was, and she really didn’t care. Her phone was still in the armrest console of her car, probably dead, so she couldn’t pull it out to check the time. However, Norma’s words reassured her that she wouldn’t be rushed out anytime soon.

  As she ate her meal—which was as tasty as Norma had promised—Arianna determinedly kept her thoughts from the situation she was running from and instead focused on her surroundings. The restaurant had a quaint, homey vibe to it. The curtains that hung over the windows in scallops were dark blue with swirls of light blue, red, and yellow on them. The tables were a shiny dark wood while the booth seats matched the dark blue of the curtains. The chairs at the tables in the center of the room had red seats and wooden backs.

  It wasn’t a restaurant that would have fit in in her neighborhood, but Arianna felt more comfortable there than she ever had at the tiny upscale places that charged exorbitant prices for miniscule servings.

  “Is everything okay?”

  Arianna looked up as she finished swallowing the last bite of her sandwich and smiled. “More than okay. I haven’t enjoyed a meal like that in a long time.”

  A concerned look flickered across Norma’s face. “Where have you been living, honey?”

  “A place where they charge too much for two bites of food that barely give you a chance to enjoy the food before it’s gone.”

  “Feel free to come back anytime.” Norma picked up her empty dishes. “And you’re in luck with Nadine. She’s a great cook too. Although not as great as me, of course.”

  The twinkle in Norma’s eye made Arianna chuckle. It seemed there was some sibling rivalry going on. It made her look forward to meeting Nadine.

  “And speaking of my sister, she called me back and said that they have a cabin you can stay in. They’re going to be renovating and updating all of the cabins, but you can stay in one they aren’t working on yet.” Norma shook her head. “I’m not sure why they’re doing all that work. In my opinion, the cabins are just fine the way they are, but Nadine insists that they need a facelift.”

  “Will you be able to give me directions?” Arianna asked. Now that she knew she had a place to stay, she found herself eager to get there.

  “Sure thing,” Norma said with a nod. “It’s not too hard to find, though it’s a little ways outside of town.”

  “I’m usually pretty good with directions, so hopefully I won’t get lost.”

  Norma pulled a paper from the pocket of her apron and laid it on the table. “Whenever you’re ready.”

  Arianna sat for a few more minutes, watching the people of New Hope Falls move around their town. There was a leisurely pace to it all that was foreign to her, and she found it fascinating. People watching was something she’d always enjoyed.

  She had lived most of her life feeling as if she was on the outside looking in, and as she sat at the table in the restaurant, it didn’t feel any different. And yet the thought didn’t depress her like it sometimes did. Instead, she felt a sense of hope…like if she wanted to step into the lives of the people there, she’d be welcomed.

  Arianna watched as another small family made their way out of a car and headed to the entrance of the restaurant. Norma greeted them with enthusiasm, lifting the little girl up into her arms.

  “Nana, Mommy said I could have a tiny piece of cake since I was good,” the child announced loudly enough for the whole restaurant to hear.

  Arianna smiled as Norma walked with the little girl in her arms to the long counter that was in front of a bakery cabinet and a drink machine, the parents trailing behind them. Norma put the little girl on one of the seats at the counter then rounded it to access the baked goods.

  Arianna continued to linger at the table, waiting until Norma had gotten the little girl and her parents set up with some cake. Finally, she gathered up her purse and the bill and made her way to the front of the restaurant.

  “I’ll be right there,” Norma called out.

  It felt weird not to have her phone to keep her occupied as she waited. Usually, she would have been checking her social media or email, but instead, she just took the time to absorb the world around her in a way she’d never done before.

  “Here you go,” Norma said as she
walked up.

  Arianna turned to see Norma with a bag in her hand. She set it on the counter as she rang up Arianna’s bill.

  “Nadine will no doubt have food for you, but here are some baked goods to keep with you in the cabin. Better than anything that baby sister of mine could give you.” Norma winked at her as she took Arianna’s payment. “And you can tell her I said that.”

  After the bill had been taken care of, Norma gave her detailed directions to her sister’s place. She also wrote them out on a scrap of paper. “I’ve also written down her phone number in the unlikely event that you do get lost.”

  Arianna thanked her, then left the restaurant with the paper bag in her hand. She was a bit nervous about meeting Nadine, but if she was as friendly as her sister, hopefully, everything would be okay.

  In the car, she sat for a few minutes, looking at the GPS display on her dashboard to get an idea of where she was going. The route looked fairly straight forward as long as she didn’t turn too soon.

  Arianna carefully pulled out of the parking spot and continued on through the town, driving slowly so she could take in more of the sights. Soon the houses began to thin out, and the town fell behind her.

  Before long, a large wooden sign with Mountainside Lodge & Cabins carved into it appeared to her left. Arianna carefully made the turn off the main street onto a narrower road. Towering trees once again flanked the road as she drove, and soon an expansive two-story log cabin appeared on her right. There were large windows on either side of the door on the main floor and several smaller ones on the second floor. An expansive covered porch ran the length of the cabin with wide stairs leading to the front door. Like in the town, there were autumnal flowers in baskets hanging above the railing of the porch.

  After sitting there for a couple minutes soaking up the view, Arianna pushed open the door and got out. As she climbed the steps to the porch, the front door swung open to reveal a woman who looked so much like Norma that Arianna paused on the top step.