Somebody Like You (Starlight Hill Series Book 2) by Heatherly Bell

house for the past few weeks mostly avoiding them, but today they’d found him. An easy thing to do if someone was looking for a Turlock in Starlight Hill.
    All the better that he didn’t plan on staying with Mom much longer. She didn’t tolerate reporters, even if the woman was practically a saint. But from the first time one of them had called Billy a “has been” she’d painted all of them with one broad brush. Speak ill of my child and you will die a slow death, Mom said. In other words, she was a typical baseball mom. Hopefully these guys would follow him and leave Mom’s tulip garden alone, or the whole town might come to regret it. Billy sighed and backed out of the long driveway.
    Baseball loved an underdog story, but as much as he might wish for it, it wouldn’t happen for him. He’d had his run. Maybe hadn’t ended the way he’d hoped, but he’d been luckier than most. And even if he’d miss baseball every day for as long as he breathed, it was over for him. No turning back.
    What might happen today, though, would be a meeting with one Brooke Miller. It wasn’t difficult to locate anyone in Starlight Hill, particularly not with his long reach. Within hours of asking his investigator to check into it, he had Brooke’s personal email, cellphone, home address and places she loved to frequent.
    Not that he would stalk her. He only wanted to ask her politely if she’d care to take on the position of general manager at the vineyard. She’d probably refuse, but then he’d have done his best. And he’d get another glimpse of her too.
    He’d been a bit shell shocked to see her pull up on that Harley, and since then she’d headlined a few fantasies of his own. Brooke remained, and always would be, the one that got away. Not that he would let her know that. He could only imagine how she’d greet the news that a washed-up ball player had the hots for her. But he should still proceed with caution or Gigi might show up. She always did when she smelled women, bless her evil heart.
    Billy figured he’d lost the reporters, all four of them, when he pulled in front of the old diner named Mama’s. This was where he’d been told he would either find Brooke, or her best friend Ivey.
    All right, so he’d give this a try. If Brooke wasn’t here, he’d try somewhere else. In the meantime, it couldn’t hurt to hang out with some locals and take some photos. It was necessary and expected, and he’d never be too good for it.
    He opened the glass-paned door, and the overhead chimes sounded. A waitress had her back to him and called out, “It’s self-seating. I’ll be right with you.”
    He took off his shades and when the waitress turned he saw Brooke Miller for the second time in ten years. The black apron skirt didn’t manage to take away any of her appeal, though he could much better see her in a French maid costume. Okay, Billy, enough already. Front and center .
    But Brooke, a waitress?
    “I suppose you want a big enough table for you and your entourage?” She glared behind him.
    He turned to see the reporters had caught up to him. “They’re not with me.”
    For the next few minutes he was greeted by everyone in the establishment with a hug and a request for an autograph. Again, he posed for a few pictures. One of them with Si, the chef, and yes he’d agreed that Si could hang the photo in the diner and say Billy Turlock had eaten here. Signed a little boy’s casted arm after his mother nodded in approval, and gave a few pointers to a kid trying out for the varsity team next season.
    Brooke ignored him, pouring coffee and wiping down tables. When he took his seat at a booth, she slapped down a menu without meeting his eyes.
    All four reporters had settled into a booth nearby. She threw down menus for each of them. “Everyone here is going to have to order something.”
    “You heard the lady,” Billy said.
    “What’ll you have, hotshot?” Brooke turned to ask him.
    He had half a mind to ask for