Happy Again Read Online Free Page A

real smile again. The thought made her chest so tight it was almost hard to breathe.
    She reached between Kara and Sprague, gripping the cool metal barricade with one hand to steady herself as he approached, not sure whether she was waiting anxiously or bracing herself, whether she was trying to hide or be seen. Her palms were sweaty and her vision was blurry from the flashes and the noise, the press of bodies and the nervous energy. It almost felt like something was short-circuiting inside her as she stood there, completely paralyzed, watching him approach as if in slow motion.
    “Get your phone out,” Sprague said under her breath, her eyes still glued to Graham, who was only ten yards away now. Obediently, Lauren dug through her bag, fumbling to capture the moment, to leave with some sort of proof that they had been here.
    And then there he was: only a few feet away, half-bent as he scrawled his name across a piece of paper while a little girl—no more than eight or nine—stared, dumbstruck, from the other side of the makeshift fence.
    “Hope you like the movie,” Graham said as he handed it back, and the girl burst into happy tears. Everyone around her laughed, but Ellie understood. Something about the moment made her want to cry, too, because he sounded like Graham just then—not the guy in the interviews, or the one on-screen, but the one on her porch in Maine: humble and hopeful and human.
    “So cute,” Sprague said, snapping a few blurry pictures on her phone. A girl with an earpiece walked over and whispered something to Graham, and then he lifted his hand and grinned apologetically at the crowd, which broke into feverish applause, before he was steered sharply toward the entrance of the theater.
    As they watched him disappear, Kara sighed.
    “I love him,” she said, and Ellie nodded miserably.
    She was pretty sure she did too.

Ten
    Once he was gone, the crowd seemed to wilt.
    A few people began to leave, while others shifted restlessly, still looking off toward the line of cars as if a surprise guest might step out at any moment. But with the departure of the film’s two stars, the red carpet was now mostly filled with publicists and producers and assistants.
    “I wish we’d gotten a selfie,” Kara said, spinning around.
    “Or at least something better than this,” Sprague said, thrusting her phone at them. Ellie leaned close to see a muddled picture of the back of Graham’s head. But even that was enough to make her throat go thick, and she stared at it for a beat too long, blinking fast, still shell-shocked by the nearness of him.
    “You okay?” Lauren asked, and Ellie realized there were tears in her eyes.
    “I’m fine,” she said quickly, brushing them away. “Just a little cold.”
    Once she said it, she realized it was true. It was only September, but with the sun gone, there was a chill in the air, and she rubbed at her bare arms, wishing she were wearing more than just jeans and a T-shirt. She could picture her gray hoodie in the backseat of Sprague’s car, and was annoyed she hadn’t remembered to bring it.
    “Dinner?” Lauren asked, raising her eyebrows at the others. Sprague shrugged, and Kara gave the red carpet one last hopeful look before agreeing.
    But just as they turned, ready to make their way toward Seventh Avenue, Ellie heard her name.
    She hesitated, her whole body tense, before swiveling around.
    She hadn’t realized how high her heart had lifted until she felt it fall again. For a moment, she’d thought it might be Graham. But instead she found herself staring at the round, bearded face of his manager, Harry Fenton, who was standing a few feet away, in the middle of the red carpet, wearing a look of confusion that made it seem like she’d been the one to call out to him.
    “Ellie, right?” he asked, taking a few steps closer. “Ellie O’Neill?”
    Ellie glanced nervously at the other three girls, who were all staring at her.
    “Yeah,” she said eventually,