Happy Again Read Online Free Page B

in a voice that didn’t quite sound like hers.
    She’d never properly met Harry Fenton—she’d only seen him from afar during some of the shoots in Henley—but she knew enough to know that he hadn’t been a fan of hers. Even before she and Graham got in trouble for a scuffle with the paparazzi and that incident with a stolen boat, Harry had been worried that Ellie was a distraction for his biggest client.
    So it was no small surprise to see him smiling at her now, holding out a hand, and Ellie had to inch past Kara to greet him.
    “I thought that was you,” he said, pumping her hand up and down. “Does—”
    “No,” she said quickly. “We were just walking by, and—”
    “Oh, well, you have to come in then,” he said, gesturing at the theater behind him with the friendly enthusiasm of a game-show host. “You probably haven’t seen it yet, have you?”
    Ellie shook her head, wondering how he thought she might have seen it, given that this was the world premiere. Her face was burning now for no real reason except that she could feel everyone watching her, and she wished she had the power to make herself invisible.
    “I can’t,” she finally managed to say. “I don’t…I’m not dressed for it, and we’ve, um, got dinner plans, and…”
    Harry’s gaze shifted to the semicircle of girls standing behind her with what Ellie could only assume were mystified expressions. “Bring your friends. There’s popcorn inside.”
    Ellie had just opened her mouth to refuse once more when Lauren appeared at her side, jabbing her hard in the ribs.
    “We’d love to,” Lauren said, beaming at Harry. “That’s so nice of you.”
    “Well, great,” he said, looking pleased. “How many are you? Four? Super. Let me just…”
    He held up a finger and then spun around, walking over to a girl with a headset, who nodded immediately and started punching at her phone.
    “Whoever that is,” Lauren said, her eyes still trained on Harry, “he’s my new favorite person.”
    “Who is it?” Kara asked, unable to hide her excitement. “What’s even happening right now?”
    “We’re going to a movie premiere,” Lauren said triumphantly. She gave Ellie a little slap on the back. “This night just got much more exciting.”
    “Yeah, but how do you know him?” Sprague asked, staring at Ellie. “This is so random…”
    “He’s a…family friend,” Ellie lied, her stomach churning. But it would be impossible to sum up the whole story without sounding ridiculous. Even the long version was pretty hard to believe.
    Besides, she had bigger things to worry about right now. Already, she was making frantic calculations about the odds of seeing Graham in there. Harry would probably have to find seats for them somewhere way in the back, and surely they’d be getting there so late that the movie would start almost immediately, which meant the chance of her running into Graham was tiny.
    When Harry motioned them forward, a huge security guard with a wire in his ear lifted the barricade and swung it open just enough for them to slip through. The other girls whispered excitedly as they walked past jealous fans, but Ellie just stared at her feet, taking in the grubby flip-flops and chipped nail polish on her toes.
    As they passed a life-size cutout of Graham near the entrance to the theater, Harry handed over their tickets with a half smile. “So how’ve you been?”
    “Fine,” Ellie said, glancing around nervously as they made their way into the lower lobby, which was filled with women in cocktail dresses and men in suits and silk ties. The walls were velvety red and trimmed with gold, and there were huge crystal chandeliers hanging overhead; the whole place had an elegance that made Ellie feel even more out of place.
    “He’ll be excited to see you,” Harry said as they stepped onto the escalator. The other girls were behind them, and Ellie checked to be sure they weren’t listening before shaking her head.
    “No,”