All the Right Things (Love in LA) (15 page)

“Good morning. Mrs. Chang, I presume?” Annie recognized Lee Inman’s voice right away and swallowed hard. This was it. Showtime. “Hi, I’m Lee Inman. It’s nice to meet you. Are you ready for us?”

“As ready as we’ll ever be, I suppose,” Lena said with a laugh. “Come on in. My husband will be back in just a moment.”

A gentleman of average height with sandy blonde hair who appeared to be in his early forties stepped into the room, followed by an attractive young man a little shorter than him who Annie recognized immediately.

“Oh my God, Kyle Atkinson,” she whispered in awe, surprised to see the popular LA radio talk show host standing in her parents’ living room.

“And you must be Annie,” Lee said, offering his hand to her. Annie nodded and smiled as she shook Lee’s hand. “And this is Kyle Atkinson, the host of our show. He’ll be filming the segment with you.”

Annie shook Kyle’s hand and said she was pleased to meet him, surprised that she was able to talk without stuttering.

“We were going to reenact my phone call with you, but we decided it’d be better television if we filmed Kyle coming to your home to give you the good news in person.”

“Sure, whatever you think is best,” she agreed. Just then, Alexander walked back into the room. Annie introduced Lee and Kyle to her father, and then Lee asked if it was okay if the camera and make-up crew came inside to start setting up. Lena nodded and took Lee on a short tour of the house to show him where the bathrooms were located, as well as the second bedroom downstairs that was going to serve as the dressing room where they got their make-up done.

The next several hours were a flurry of activity as an army of people began to file into the house, setting up lights, cameras and getting Annie and her parents ready for filming. Lee introduced them to Anastasia, the wardrobe supervisor—a tall, slender brunette with a thick Russian accent. She quickly rejected Annie’s first ensemble choice, choosing the teal sundress instead.

Then a heated argument broke out between Anastasia and Lena with the younger woman telling Annie’s mother that she needed to wear a softer color so she wouldn’t detract from Annie during filming. Lena finally gave in and went upstairs to change her blouse. She reappeared a few minutes later wearing a beige version of the same top.

“You still look great, Mom,” Annie reassured her, but Lena just sniffed and shrugged.

Finally, they were all ready, and Lee gave them some basic instructions before telling the cameras to roll. An hour later, Annie opened the door for what seemed like the one hundredth time, and again faked screaming and jumping up and down as she pretended to see Kyle standing on the front porch for the very first time.

It was late in the afternoon by the time they finished filming, and everyone’s patience was wearing thin. After Annie closed the door behind the last crew member, she exchanged a glance with her parents, and then they all three visibly sagged and let out a deep sigh of relief.

“That sucked,” Annie said first. Her parents exchanged a look and then started laughing.

“Well, hopefully we won’t have to do that again too soon,” her father said hopefully.

Annie laughed and shook her head. “Hopefully not. I guess we’ll see how well I do.”

“Don’t let this hold you back from giving it all you’ve got. Besides, they probably wouldn’t be filming in our home again, would they?”

“Probably not. Thanks, guys, for doing this. I’m sorry it was so last minute and so crazy here today. It means a lot to me that you toughed it out for me. Mom, you look really beautiful. I’m sure your friends are going to be green with envy.”

Lena crossed the room to Annie, kissing each cheek and then embracing her tightly. “I love you, darling, you know that? You are your father’s and my pride and joy. I know you are going to knock their stockings off.”

“Socks, Mom,” Annie corrected with a grin. Her mother’s English was almost perfect, but once in a while, she still got American sayings a little skewed.

“Socks, stockings. Same thing,” Lena replied with a sniff.

Annie giggled. “I love you, too, Mom.” Alexander crossed over to join his wife and eldest daughter and wrapped his long arms around them both in a group hug.

“I’m both a blessed and cursed man,” he said, kissing the top of his wife’s head and then his daughter’s forehead, “and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Her family had its share of issues and drama, but in the end, they were always there for each other no matter what. Feeling the love and support of her parents as she stood there, hugging them both, Annie felt strengthened in her resolve to pursue her dream. This was the first day of a new life, and she was going to give it everything she had and more. She wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip between her fingers by being careless and taking anything for granted.

Friday sped along pretty quickly to Annie’s amazement and delight; she couldn’t wait to be on the plane to San Francisco. It felt like she’d been at work for only a few hours when she looked at the clock to see that it was already five.

As she left her office building and headed for the parking lot, Annie pressed the Uber app on her phone to request a car. It was a new service Katie had told her about, and she finally had an opportunity to try them out. Carry-on in hand, she headed down the street so it would be easy for the driver to spot her. A few minutes later, her phone rang.

“Hi, this is Oscar from Uber. You ordered a car?”

“Yes, where are you?” Annie asked, but just then she spotted a black Camry driving slowly down the street towards her. “Oh, I think I see you,” she said as she waved. The driver waved back to her, and she hung up the phone. After pulling up to the curb, he hopped out of the car to help her with her carry-on and put it in the trunk, then opened the back passenger door for her.

When he climbed back into the driver’s seat, Annie told him she was headed to LAX. About fifteen minutes later, they pulled up in front of the passenger drop-off area. Oscar handed the carry-on to her after retrieving it from the trunk. She said thank you and promised to leave him a good review before turning to head inside the airport. Having already printed her boarding pass the day before, she headed straight for security.

People were already starting to board the plane when Annie finally reached her gate. Upon boarding, she was thrilled to snag a window spot towards the center of the plane. She quickly stowed her carry-on in the overhead bin, then sat down and plugged in her earphones. Scrolling through her iPhone, she found her favorite playlist and sat back to take a short nap. The flight to San Francisco was about an hour long. They would be there before she knew it.

Annie thought she had barely closed her eyes when she felt the plane touch down. She gathered her belongings and waited for her turn to stand up and start the slow exodus from the plane. Turning her phone off airplane mode, she waited a few moments for her phone to connect to service again. Once it did, she saw that she had three text messages waiting. One was from Katie asking her how the filming went, the second was from Casey telling her he couldn’t wait to see her in a few hours, and the third was from Gabe… asking her if she’d had any time to think about what he’d asked her.

Oh God, Annie hadn’t really given too much thought to Gabe during the week. She’d been too busy to take the time and think about it, and she really didn’t know what she was going to do about it, so she had avoided it. As she walked down the terminal hallway towards Baggage Claim, pulling her carry-on behind her, she texted back two words.

Annie:
Still thinking…

A few moments later, Gabe texted her back.

Gabe:
Okay… just checking. Have a great weekend.

Annie:
Thanks, you too.

Annie sighed as she headed for the Taxi area. She joined the short taxi line, and a few short minutes later, she was on her way to the Westin St. Francis. Before she knew it, they were pulling up in front of the hotel. After paying the driver, Annie turned to head inside. She gave her name at the front registration desk, and then handed over her driver’s license so they could check her ID. A minute later, she was walking towards the elevator with a room key card in hand. Taking the elevator up to the twentieth floor, Annie then walked down the hallway a short ways to reach Casey’s room. She let herself in and saw that he’d left the lights on for her.

The room looked pretty untouched except for his suitcase which was sitting on one side of the bed. Annie set her carry-on down on the empty side of the bed and opened it to retrieve her toiletries. She headed straight for the bathroom so she could shower and get ready.

She didn’t linger too long in the shower, wanting to have plenty of time to dry and curl her hair and do her make-up before Casey was due back. Finishing the last curl, Annie had just picked up her make-up bag when she heard her phone beep with a text. It was from Casey.

Casey:
Hey babe. On my way back to the hotel. Hope you brought something you can shake your ass in… we’re going out dancing for a bit with some of the other dancers.

Annie:
Lol,
okay, I can do that. I brought a little somethin’ somethin’ that should work.

Casey:
Awesome. Be there in about twenty.

Annie:
K, see you soon.

Annie took special care getting ready for the evening. She was wearing a new scent from Victoria’s Secret that she absolutely loved,
Very Sexy for Her
, and she couldn’t wait to see what Casey thought of it.

Dressing first in her white skinny jeans and a black silk tank top that was beaded with little black crystals along the neck, Annie then pulled on a comfortable yet stylish pair of black
Madden Girl
heels and tucked a few things into a small, black clutch. Checking her reflection in the bathroom mirror, she finally nodded her approval. She was ready to rock.

Casey was true to his word, and about twenty minutes later, he walked into their room, looking better than ought to be legal. Annie stood up from where she’d been sitting on the couch waiting for him and moved to greet him with a hug and kiss. He smiled widely as he met her halfway, returning her hug and kiss with enthusiasm.

“Hi princess,” he said softly as he looked down into her eyes, gently brushing his thumb against her cheek to wipe away a stray eyelash. He put the eyelash carefully on the back of his hand and then offered it to her. “Make a wish.”

Annie giggled and thought for a moment before shutting her eyes, blowing gently on his hand, and making her wish. Silently, she wished that she could always feel as happy as she did whenever he was near. And it was in that same moment that everything became clear to Annie; she was ready to make her decision about Gabe. No matter what he said and how good of a time they’d had together, the fact remained that when it had come down to making a tough decision, he’d chosen someone else. Regardless of the reason, the bottom line was that she didn’t feel like she could trust him.

As soon as she acknowledged this, Annie felt a huge wave of relief wash over her. In the back of her mind, she’d known her answer all along. And what better timing? Now she could enjoy her weekend with Casey with a clear conscience.

“What’d you wish for?” he asked curiously.

“Can’t tell you that. Then it won’t come true.”

“Tell me anyway.” He caught her chin in his hand and brought her lips to his, but Annie quickly broke the kiss.

“Nuh uh. And you can’t kiss it out of me, although you’re definitely welcome to try.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

Annie grinned and kissed him again. Tonight was the night. At least, she hoped it was tonight. “So where are we going?”

“Ruby Skye. It’s just around the corner from here.”

“Sounds groovy. You been there before?”

“Yeah, it’s cool. You’ll have fun, and you’ll be with me.”

“True.”

“Alright, I just need to change and freshen up. Give me ten.” He kissed her one more time and then playfully swatted her on the backside before heading into the bathroom.