If This Was A Movie

3. The Best Friends

After filming wrapped for the day, Lucy decided to peek her head in Tim's bookshop just around the corner. To her surprise, there were two young boys, two young girls, and a woman who seemed to be their mom with a vibrant smile on her face as she shepherded the kids towards the counter to check out their books.

Tim heard the door open and was prepared to tell whoever had entered the store to wait for him to finish helping out his customers, but when he saw that it was Lucy, he stopped typing prices of books into the cash register to grin at her.

"I didn't mean to interrupt. It's good to see someone has discovered this hidden gem," Lucy said as she returned his smile.

"Discovered it? We're the ones keeping him in business," the woman with dark skin, a bright smile, and the four children said. She had to do a double take, because she could have sworn she was looking at THE Lucy Chen. "Wait, are you-"

Tim was worried what she was going to say, so he cut her off with, "Don't scare her away."

"She could never," Lucy responded. "I'm a loyal customer now," she said then turned her attention to Nyla with an outstretched hand, "It's nice to meet his only other customer. I'm Lucy," she introduced herself despite seeing the precise moment the other woman recognized her.

"I'm Nyla," she responded, shifting her eyes between Tim and Lucy.

"Lucy just moved down the block a few weeks ago, and she swings by here every once in a while," Tim explained.

Nyla's jaw almost dropped. Not only was she actually talking to one of the most famous actors in the world, but shockingly, Tim was so obviously doing his best to treat her normally, so Nyla decided to follow suit. There could be no other explanation for why he was so casual around someone that even made her feel starstruck.

"It's the competitively priced happiness he sells that keeps me coming back," Lucy said.

That fond grin Tim and Lucy exchanged signaled to Nyla that it was most certainly not the books that turned her into a 'loyal customer' as she proclaimed herself to be. "Mhm," she hummed to communicate her disbelief.

"Nyla brings her kids by every Tuesday to get some books," Tim explained.

"Oh, I remember you mentioning them, but you didn't say they were all so adorable," Lucy mused.

"Thanks. My stepsons play too many video games, and I wanted to make sure they squeeze in some reading time in between levels of whatever game they're playing, so I started this weekly tradition with my boys, but they suggested bringing their sisters along to share in the fun, and now we take over Tim's whole store for an hour every Tuesday," Nyla added.

"He told me he looks forward to it," Lucy disclosed at a stage whisper.

Tim feigned offense in her direction for divulging such a secret, but at the sound of her giggles, he dropped any pretense that he was anything but happy.

"I can tell," Nyla replied using the same stage whisper.

He looked between them and decided, "I don't know if I like you two becoming friends. This smells like trouble."

"Add Angela to the mix, and it would be," Nyla joked.

"Is Angela your best friend that's a detective?" Lucy wondered.

"How many times have you come to this store?" Nyla inquired.

"A few," she shrugged.

"Sounds like Tim told you a lot for only stopping by a few times."

He could tell that Nyla was very accurately assessing the situation, but he did not want her to verbalize any deductions as she made them, so he interjected, "Lucy, you can start browsing while I finish helping Nyla check out."