My Life With The Movie Star (19 page)

“Thanks again for letting me crash
here
last night,” I said.

“Anytime. Maybe next time you’ll come down for the weekend. I’ll take you to a show or something. A real date.”

“Remember about my party,” I said, sipping on the coffee he had poured for me.

“It’s already on my calendar. I’m staying with Lisa and Dan.”

I thanked Dave again and found where he had parked my car. The drive back to Port was long, but I felt like I had accomplished what I had set out to do. I could put this awful Grayson Edwards experience behind me.

I started to look at Dave in a new light: he was smart, cute, and had a terrific job. I would need to focus on him and not the fairy tale.

Chapter 23

I have a few weeks before my party. Lisa was over almost every night, helping me decorate the house. She loved parties as much as she loved being my personal stylist. We found all sorts of ghosts and goblins to put all around my house. I even found a cute ghost costume for Thor to wear. I could tell that Lisa was immensely proud of herself for setting me up with Dave.

“Dave called Dan again last night,” she chirped. “He’s excited about seeing you again.”

“I’m excited about seeing him.” I hated to admit it, but I missed him. He had helped me fill an enormous hole in my heart.

“He said his show got huge ratings after your interview.” Lisa was walking around the house, admiring her work and seeing if anything else needed to be added.

“
TMZ picked up the story, and so did CNN and Headline news. This might work out better for Dave in the end. I know HLN has contacted him for an interview,” I said. I was pleased that some good had come out of this mess. “Rachel also took the deal that was offered. She will just have to pay out some money,” I added.

“I hope that taught her a lesson,” Lisa said. “Glad you don’t have to go to court or anything.”

“M
e too. That would have been a zoo.”

The day of my party finally came. I got dressed around 5 p.m. but sure enough, nobody started to show up until around
seven
. I always made themed cocktails for my parties, and this one was no exception. I had made a purple witches brew and even had dry ice to make mist around the cauldron. Lisa showed up with Dan and Dave. She was dressed as a sexy devil. I guess I was dressed as a sexy
vampire. Dan had decided to be a zombie, which actually just meant he had put on some white face paint and wore their normal clothes.  Dave had found a werewolf costume no mask, but he had added a lot of facial hair.   Lisa had been bugging Dan to be something more creative, but it apparently didn’t work out that way.
Dave made his way over to me and gave me a hug.

“You look great, Abby!” Dave said. “I love your place.” He gave me a long hug.

I looked up at him, and I could tell he wanted to kiss me. I briefly looked away not sure what to do.

“Thanks, I worked hard for it,” I said with a smile.

“Do you know what kind of rating booster you are?” he asked. “My boss said if you ever want to be on TV again to call us first. We are still getting picked up by other channels.”

“When’s your interview with HLN?” I asked.

“Next week. They are based in Atlanta. Isn’t that where you’re from?”

“My
family lives there, and I went to college there.”

“You should come with me and show me around a bit.”

“Sure, that sounds like fun,” I said. I hadn’t taken a guy home in years. My dad would be so happy to think I might have found someone to settle down with. My parents had only found out about Grayson when our relationship ended. My dad was just relieved I hadn’t suffered any more personal damage, and that I was able to keep my job. I didn’t think he would be a fan of Grayson anytime soon.

I looked around my house and had to admit to myself that the party was going on smashingly well. Most of the people invited were Lisa’s friends, but I was still having fun. One of the best parts of my house was my finished basement
with a bar. This was where most people had gathered around.

I had set up some fun drinking games, and was in the middle of a beer-pong battle when someone called me to come upstairs because I had a visitor at the front door.

“Great, the police,” I said. “We must be too loud.” I walked up the stairs and made my way to the front door.

I was shocked when I opened the door and found Grayson on the
other side.

“Grayson! What …?” I stumbled over my words.

“Hi, Abby. May I come in?” he asked with his smooth velvet voice. He looked just as perfect as I remembered him. He even had his hair done like Scotts. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. He still looked sexy.

“Why should I let you in?” I asked with an icy tone to my voice. I opened the door and came outside to meet him. I must look like a mess, I thought. I hope he understood this was a Halloween party he was crashing.

“I’m a little offended that you didn’t invite me to your Halloween party,” Gray said.

“How did you know about the party?” I asked, surprised.

“You posted it on your Facebook page. Please, let me come in and apologize for everything that happened,” he said. His eyes were pleading with me, and my body wanted to forgive him, but my heart could not let go. Just then, Dave came up from behind me to see what was going on.

“Abby – Oh … I’ll leave you two alone,” Dave said and shut the door again.

I could see his feelings had been hurt. I would go and talk to him as soon as I finished up with Grayson.

“That was the guy from the interview?” Grayson asked, looking confused.

“That’s
Dave. He is best friends with Lisa’s new boyfriend Dan. He had me on his show as a favor,” I said.

“Or to get in your pants.”

“It’s not like that, not that I have to explain my life to you.” I crossed my arms tightly across my chest. I felt naked in my sexy vampire costume. “You saw the interview?”

“Yes, I saw it a couple days after it aired. I had no idea that Rachel was the one who made the site.”

“Well, you should have asked me instead of treating me like a criminal. I was mortified that you had security escort us off your property,” I said. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I was choking back the anger. I could not believe that just when I had started to move on with my life he had to show up to destroy it again.

“Abby, I’m so sorry. That was mostly Melissa, but I am to blame for how I handled things. I trusted Melissa way too much. It turns out she found the site a few weeks earlier, and she was the one giving Rachel my things to sell. I went insane after I found that out.”

“Melissa! Why?” I asked.

“She had a crush on me and was jealous of you. She knew me well enough to know that I would dump you and not even give you a second to explain. I should have stopped and thought. Abby, I am truly sorry … sorry for what you went through and sorry for the months we have lost together.” He moved towards me to hug me, and hold me close.

“Grayson, stop.” I put up my fist to stop him. I knew my heart would give in to him if I touched and caressed him. “How can I ever trust you again? How do I know that the next time someone tries to break us up, you won’t let that happen?”

“You’re going to have to trust me,” he said. “This is more new to me than you know. I know my life is crazy and screwed up, but I promise you that I will always love you and believe what you tell me.”

“I want to believe you, Grayson, but you have no idea what I went through the past couple months.”

“Please, Abby. Please give me another chance.”

That was all I could take. I dropped my guard and let him put his arms around me and kiss me. I could feel the spark between us ignited again. I felt his lips against mine. I had missed him so much. It felt warm and like being home in his arms. Lisa was going to kill me, and I was going to hurt Dave, but I couldn’t help it; I loved Grayson Edwards.

Gray and I walked back to the party. I had to excuse myself to go find Dave.
He was with Dan and Lisa, filling them in on what was happening.

“Is Grayson here?” Lisa asked angrily.

“H
e’s upstairs,” I said.

Lisa grabbed my arm and took me across the room. “Why didn’t you tell him to leave?” She asked with an accusing tone to her voice. “You’re going to ruin things with Dave. Remember him? The one who didn’t screw you over?”

“Lisa, don’t be mad. I love Grayson. I can’t help that,” I said.

Lisa softened up a bit. I could tell she understood. Love didn’t normally make any sense.

“What are you going to tell Dave?” she asked.

Dave was over in the corner and seemed to be trying to get Dan to leave.

“I think he knows what I’m going to tell him,” I said.

“I think Dan, and I will leave with Dave. Sorry about that. Great party though,” Lisa said and gave me a quick hug. “Maybe we’ll come back later after we drop Dave off.”

I walked over to where Dan and Dave had been talking. I could see the pain in Dave’s eyes. Even though we had never been a couple, he had wanted us to be. Maybe in a different time or life, we could have been together; but as
crazy as it seemed, I needed to follow my heart this time. If I didn’t, I would have regretted it forever.

“Let go take a walk,” I said. Dave followed me upstairs and out the garage door. I was careful to not let him see Grayson.

“Dave, I’m genuinely sorry—” I started to explain, but he cut me off.

“Abby, it’s
okay
. I’m happy for you, really. This is the outcome you were hoping for. I knew you loved him when I did the interview.”

“Please don’t be mad at me,” I said, my voice shaking.

“It’s
okay
. I knew that after the interview was a hit that he was going to see it and come running back. Maybe that’s not the outcome I wanted, but that’s what you wanted. I knew if it came down to me or him, I would lose. You have helped my career so much just by being you. So stop worrying about me. I will be fine.”

“Can we still be friends?” I asked, knowing that was a stupid idea, but wanting to find out if Dave ever got the job in Atlanta.

“Sure, we can be friends,” he said. He smoothed a piece of hair behind my ear as he said it to comfort me. “If he decides to leave again, you know my number.”

I gave Dave a quick hug and walked back into the house. The party was wrapping up, and I saw Grayson waiting for me in my den.

“You have a way to kill a party,” I teased as I curled up next to him.

“What are you dressed up as?” he asked.

“A vampire,” I said. “Can I suck your blood?” I playfully kissed his neck.

“A vampire, huh? Sexy,” Grayson said as he kissed I felt complete.

Chapter 24

A few months passed, and I was on set of
Texas High
2 with Grayson. I had become a regular fixture. I was extremely lucky that my boss Melanie had found a way for me to work remotely. This allowed me to be in the same state as Grayson. I spent my days working from his trailer instead of from my cube. I had to promise that when we had new software release, I would bring Grayson and the company would get some free press and PR.

Grayson was also now a regular part of life in Port Washington. It wasn’t uncommon to see us a walking hand-in-hand down by the lake or eating out at one of Port’s restaurants. I was thrilled that Grayson seamed to genuinely like Port as much as I did. We had the perfect balance of Hollywood glamour in LA, and a lovely relaxing real life in Port. Grayson had also hired a new assistant, Ted. Ted and I got along great, and he made arranging my life with Grayson’s a lot easier.

Lisa’s life had turned much more serious. Dan had proposed to her, and Lisa now filled her days with wedding planning. I was dragged to every bridal store in the Third Ward of Milwaukee. She, of course, made me the maid of honor. Grayson had cleared his schedule to be my date.

A day before Lisa’s wedding I was at the airport again, waiting to pick up Grayson. It had been a few weeks since we had last seen each other. I could feel butterfly’s in the pit of my stomach. I watched the monitors anxiously until his flight was showing as “arrived.” As usual, I hurried over to the TSA exit and waited to see him and his sexy smile.

He certainly did not disappoint me. I could see his sexy smile all the way down the hall.

I ran into his arms as soon as I was allowed, and covered him with kisses.

“Hey beautiful,” Grayson crooned. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too!! Let’s get home.” I grabbed for his backpack, but like always he stopped me and picked it up himself. We collected his bags from baggage claim. This seemed to take forever. Finally, we were in the car and on our way home.

“We have a full schedule this week,” I said. “Tonight is the dress rehearsal. Oh, and let me warn you now, Lisa is a bit of a bridezilla; she’s freaking out.”