The Trouble with Marrying a Movie Star (15 page)

"That was a romantic proposal," Erin said as I finished telling her the gist of how Andrew had proposed to me over a glass of wine.

We had opened one of Andrew's reserves from the wine cellar in his condo. We had been unpacking all day, mostly with Erin reorganizing our closet space while I was starting in on the third bottle of wine.

"It was a great night as well," I added as visions of our entangled bodies flashed across my eyes. We both laughed.

"Better than the swing set?" She asked and raised a brow at me. Erin was the only person that I was comfortable with in sharing personal things. "I must say, I'm surprised at how Andrew took the news he was your muse." I took a large gulp of wine. Erin narrowed her eyes at me. "You did say that you told him, right?"

"He said it, actually."

"He said it how?" She sounded suspicious.

Why is she always questioning me? "I can't remember, but Andrew knows he was the one that inspired me to write
Deception
."

I polished off the rest of my wine, while pouring another glass. We sat on the floor in the closet, facing each other.

Erin kept peering at me, not saying anything until I finally said, "Just say whatever it is that is on your mind.”

"You didn't tell him
everything
, did you?" I bit my lip. I had told him the gist of it. "Andria..."

"He knows!" I said snarkily.

She glared at me with her beady eyes, "You're saying Andrew knows that he is Thomas?"

I stayed close lipped. I wasn't sure if he knew how much of Thomas he really was, but he knew. That's all I cared about.

"Does he know that you spent countless hours studying his walk, so that you could describe it just right? That you analyzed the color of his lips, the sound of his laugh, his nipples, Andria? One's higher than the other, right? Why do I know, ah, was it because you wanted me to evaluate it with you? You wanted everything detailed and you did just that. You even captured the way he sways—"

"I know all of this. I was the one constantly looking at his films!"

"Don't get mad at me! I'm done." She stood up. "I know you're stressed out, but don't take that stress out on me." She walked out of the closet and into the bedroom, and then yelled out, "Get your ass out of there so we can go and eat dinner."

"I bumped into Brittney today."

I loved how Andrew and I had been on the phone talking for over an hour, and he just now mentioned this as I said that I was heading off to bed. "She seems to pop up every time I'm away." Andrew didn't respond.

"I was leaving a meeting when she came into the office. She mentioned that she was surprised that I had decided to get married so soon."

I bet she was surprised
.

"Surprised that you didn't ask her?" He didn't respond to that as well.

"I didn't expect to see her. She said her piece and I walked away."

"Her 'source' seems to be saying a lot to the media. I hear that we won't make it to the altar."

"I told you not to listen to that crap. Her rep has not and will not put anything out in regards to me. The sources aren't legit."

"Oh, I know that, but the source seems to have her phraseology down a little too pat." Again, no response.

That should give him something to think about.

Rebeca, Taylor, and Erin all helped the next day putting away the rest of my things in the condo.
My
condo soon, Rebeca kept reminding me every time I made reference to Andrew’s place. Unpacking my belongings made it all seem surreal at times.

That same day, while Taylor supervised the unpacking as she sat on the sofa and watched TV; announced that she and Wade were having a baby girl. She brought a pink framed picture of the ultrasound as a present. It was the first picture of our niece, and it was going next to the picture of Andrew and me.

While we unpacked, Rebeca was gushing over how gentlemanly my father had been over the phone. Trust me, I love my dad, but I would never describe 'gentlemanly' and Dad in the same sentence. Rebeca extended an invite to both him and Pilar to meet their future in-laws during Andrew's birthday weekend. She was planning a dinner with the four of them. I asked if Andrew and I could be a part of the dinner, but Rebeca insisted it was for parents only.

That made my blood pressure rise. But, I guess, my dad could be on his best behavior for a little while…then, I thought, I had better call Pilar. Anytime Dad has behaved in the past, she has had words beforehand with him.

After everyone had left, I sat outside on the patio and took in the night air. I was trying to take some time out to relax—something that I found was becoming increasingly more difficult. I heard my phone buzz several times, but I ignored it. When Connor pounded on the door, and yelled at me to answer my damn phone, I wondered if I would ever be able to have one peaceful moment while I was here. I should have known that it was Andrew who had sent him. I had texted him earlier to let him know that I would call around ten. It was only nine, so I didn't think it was him calling, but I was wrong.

After apologizing for trying to have some alone time and telling him that he over reacted by sending Connor to get me, he apologized and asked if I was in a bad mood. Normally, I would huff at that question, but the tone of his voice told me something was up. I sat up on the lounger, looking straight ahead. "What is it, Andrew?"

He didn't bother hiding it. "I won't be able to make it to Virginia."

My heart sunk. "What? Why?"

"Baby, I'm sorry, but it's taking longer than I expected."

"It was your birthday…"

"I'll have others."

"I know that, but we were going to be celebrating your birthday for the first time." Even though, it was several days late.

"I thought we had celebrated my birthday quite well before you left." I could hear the smirk on his face. The night before I had left, we had celebrated all over the house. I was constantly reminded of this by the soreness that still lingered between my legs.

"What about the dinner?" I asked.

"My family will understand. I am sorry, baby."

"It's your birthday. I just wanted it to be special."

"And it was. Even though you may not have been here on my actual birthday, you make me feel like celebrating every time that I'm with you."

Ahh, I thought at first as I sighed out. Then, I thought, that was too sweet. Andrew was sweet at times, but…"Is there something else?"

"Why would you ask that?"

I heard that tone in his voice yet again. If it was that bitch..."Just tell me." I then waited. It took him a moment to respond, which only made me more anxious and perturbed.

"We've talked about having a small wedding."

"Yes, and we agreed on that."

"Well, Grant has offered to throw us a wedding." He stopped there.

I waited, and when he didn’t elaborate. I asked, "Throw us a wedding?"

"Yeah..."

"Why would he do that? I don't understand."

Again, I waited for him to explain. It had taken a while, before I heard him swallow hard as he said, "We thought that the engagement has caused such a storm of publicity, that the wedding would be worse. I didn't even consider the idea at first until I was reminded that several of my colleagues' weddings were crashed by paparazzi. I don't want that for us. If we sign an exclusive with Celebrity magazine, they will be the only press allowed and the others would have to back off."

I didn’t say anything, shocked at what Andrew was asking me. He wanted us to invite the same media that violated our personal lives to our wedding? Did any of it really matter? It would be splashed everywhere anyway.

"Andria..."

"I need a minute." I took some deep, soothing breaths before speaking. "You're asking me if I want to have the studio 'throw' us a wedding, and agree to have some magazine there so that it won't be crashed by paps?"

"Yes."

How is it that you can feel lonely in a room full of people? How, internally you feel as if you're going insane, crying out for something, and no one hears you. How you can be in the middle of making love to the man of your dreams and needing to be closer to him and nothing more comes.

I was screaming inside and no one could hear me.