‘Could you stop mooning?’ said an impatient girl behind her.
Olivia blinked and realised the line had moved way inside the store.
‘Sorry.’ She scurried forwards into a wider aisle with ropes down either side. At the far end, she could see a big pink backdrop and could just catch a glimpse of Jackson’s blond hair. When she caught up to the line, Janie turned around with tears in her eyes.
‘Oh, no,’ Olivia said, reaching to give the girl a hug. ‘What’s wrong?’
Janie held out her fist and opened it, palm up. The candy heart was still there but the message now read, ‘I EAR U.’ The letters had smudged off in her sweaty hand.
She sniffled. ‘What am I going to give him now?’
Even though it was weird to have so many people obsessed with her boyfriend, Olivia couldn’t let Janie be upset. She spotted a bunch of construction paper pink hearts taped up on one of the book displays. She looked both ways, to make sure no one was watching, and gently pulled off one of the smaller hearts.
Janie watched, her bottom lip trembling.
Olivia dug in her bag and pulled out a black pen. ‘We’ve got this.’ She held up the heart. ‘And this.’ She held up the pen. ‘And we’ve got about five minutes for you to write something for Jackson on it.’
Janie’s eyes lit up. ‘Thanks!’ She took the pen and the heart and wrote, ‘I ♥ YOU,’ in the middle. She spent the following four minutes admiring it.
‘Next!’ called a woman in a dark green tailored suit with an orange silk scarf. It was Amy Teller, Jackson’s manager.
Janie took a deep breath and stepped up to the table. Olivia watched as Jackson turned his full attention to her, giving a trademark wide white smile.
‘Hello. What’s your name?’ he asked. His attention was fully on the little girl and he’d totally failed to see that Olivia was next in line. She couldn’t help smiling to herself. He’s so good to his fans.
Janie was clutching the little pink paper heart so hard she was crushing it.
‘J-Janie,’ she replied, then thrust the heart out to him.
‘Thank you,’ Jackson said, his blond hair flopping over his blue eyes as he read it. ‘That’s really sweet.’
‘I messed up your first present,’ Janie confessed and stepped to the side, pointing at Olivia. ‘She helped me.’
Jackson looked over and Olivia felt her heart cartwheel. He half stood up and leaned over the desk, almost knocking a pile of books over but not taking his eyes off her. She felt a flush of excitement and her heart raced.
‘Olivia!’ He looked happy but confused. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Remember, I said last night . . .’ Olivia began, wanting to give him a hug but feeling like it would be inappropriate.
Jackson winced. ‘You totally did. I’m really sorry! Why didn’t you call?’
‘I tried,’ Olivia replied, glad that it was all over now and she could talk to her boyfriend at last.
Amy Teller, Jackson’s manager, was talking to a man at Jackson’s shoulder. ‘What do you mean, we’ve run out?’ She was towering over one of the store’s employees. His face was bright red.
‘We just didn’t expect this many girls,’ the short man in thick-rimmed glasses replied.
‘That’s right,’ Amy drawled, ‘because a visit from an A-list movie star is so yesterday, isn’t it?’ She threw her hands up and leaned over to Janie. ‘I’m sorry, sweetie,’ she said, in a fake syrupy voice, ‘but we don’t have any more of Jackson’s Valentine’s photo frames.’
Janie’s eyes filled with tears again.
‘But she’s been waiting in line forever,’ Olivia said.
‘No more?’ Janie echoed in disbelief.
‘Don’t be upset,’ Jackson said.
Olivia looked at him pointedly. ‘She’s really been looking forward to seeing you.’
‘OK, wait there a minute,’ Jackson said, pointing to a couple of empty chairs behind him. Then he leapt up on to the table and called out to the rest of the line, ‘Everyone, I’m really sorry to say that we’ve run out of the Valentine’s photo frames.’
The crowd sighed with disappointment.
‘But,’ he went on, ‘my pen hasn’t run out of ink and I’ll be here until I’ve signed every last one of your copies of Jackson’s Journal.’
Everyone burst into cheers.
‘Will you sit with Janie for a minute?’ Jackson said to Olivia, touching her hand gently. ‘We can talk after this.’
He sat back down and motioned for the girl behind Olivia to come over.
Olivia sighed. More waiting. She sank into the chair next to a very excited Janie.
‘Oh my goodness,’ she whispered. ‘This is so cool! I’m hanging out with Jackson Caulfield!’
Idly, Olivia picked up a copy of Jackson’s Journal from one of the displays on either side of the line. It had photos of the small town where he was from, pictures of him as a baby and all about his movie career. It mentioned The Groves, but there wasn’t any mention of Olivia.
‘Amy?’ she asked. ‘How come I’m not in here?’
Amy rolled her eyes. ‘Do you have any idea how long it takes to make a book?’ she replied. ‘They’d finished writing it before he’d ever met you. Besides, having a girlfriend isn’t good for his image.’ She swept her hand out over the line of girls still waiting to get their books signed. ‘Think of all the broken hearts.’