Devoted to Her (Dream Date Book 2)

by Ivan Kendrick

  Oh, the hazards of dating a supermodel.

  When Nathan reached the stand, he grabbed the same magazine the guys had looked at. They’d already left the store. Nathan flipped through it until he came upon an ad for Calvin Klein. Two of the pages featured Amanda prominently.

  With a sigh, Nathan returned the magazine to the stand. He shook his head. After paying for his purchases, Nathan left the store.

  The next morning, Nathan invited Amanda over to his apartment for hot chocolate and bread. He’d invited Emmy as well, but she declined. Emmy had promised Judith to have breakfast with her.

  Amanda smelled the aroma of chocolate when Nathan opened his door. She closed her eyes.

  “Mmm. Nothing like a cup of hot chocolate in the winter,” Amanda said. She walked in and Nathan closed the door.

  “I agree,” Nathan replied. Amanda removed her scarf and her wool hat. Nathan took those and left them on the coffee table.

  “They’re all covered in snow,” he commented.

  “Yeah, it’s snowing a little right now. The weatherman said not to expect more than an inch today, though.”

  “Good. Breakfast will be ready in a few. Do you want to join me in the kitchen now, or would you rather watch TV?”

  “I’ll join you.”

  Amanda followed Nathan. He walked over to the pot of hot chocolate on the stove. The chocolate had almost completely dissolved. Nathan lowered the fire and stirred a little. Amanda sat down on a chair. She looked at the basket of sweet bread on the middle of the table.

  “You appear serious about keeping me happy.”

  “That’s all I want,” Nathan replied. “I love that I can make you the happiest girl around.”

  Nathan walked over to a cabinet and grabbed a pair of cups. He turned off the fire and filled half of a cup with chocolate, then the other. Nathan then got a milk carton out of the fridge, adding some milk to the cups to cool the contents. As a finishing touch, he added some whipped cream and a dusting of cinnamon atop the cups.

  When Nathan brought over the cups to the table, Amanda licked her lips.

  “You’re some whiz. Are you sure you weren’t a barista at some upscale cafeteria?”

  Nathan chuckled.

  “Not quite. This is how my…how my mom used to make our hot chocolate cups.”

  Nathan’s expression became serious. Amanda wondered what he was thinking about.

  “Here,” Nathan said. He grabbed a couple of foam plates from a cabinet and handed one to Amanda. She thanked him, and then grabbed a piece of sweet bread. Nathan sat down across from her.

  Amanda was deep in thought as they ate. Nathan had never mentioned his mother. Amanda had only met his father, Jeffrey. They’d visited him last Thanksgiving.

  “Nathan,” Amanda began. He looked at her.

  “Yes?”

  “Do you…have any other family? I mean, apart from your father?”

  Nathan took a deep breath. He took a sip from his cup to buy some time.

  “I have an uncle,” he said, looking at his piece of sweet bread. “He’s my mother’s older brother. He moved to North Carolina with his small family eight years ago.”

  Amanda took heed on Nathan’s words. He continued to eat his breakfast, looking pensive.

  “I also have another uncle on my father’s side. He’s a little more successful, and moved to Chicago. His daughter and I used to hang out among our crowd when we were in middle school. After that, I only saw her a few times. Last I heard, she’s attending medical school.”

  Nathan and Amanda were silent for a moment as they continued to eat. She sensed he was reluctant to talk about something in particular.

  “Did something happen to your mother?”

  Nathan didn’t respond. He finished his cup of hot chocolate and waited.

  “Her name was Vanessa,” he said, closing his eyes. “I lost her when I was thirteen.”

  Amanda gasped. She tried to be gentle with her next question.

  “How did it happen?”

  “We were expecting it, but that didn’t make it any easier. Mom was working. She took so long to come back home that night. Dad and I worried. Eventually, we got a call. Mom had passed away.”

  Nathan ran his hands through his hair. Amanda waited for him to calm down a little.

  “My mom suffered from end-stage multiple sclerosis. Most people could survive for years, but she had one of the worst varieties. Mom would get seizures from time to time. Each one was worse than the last.”

  Amanda reached across the table and touched Nathan’s hand. She gave him a soothing expression.

  “That night, Mom finally succumbed. She collapsed in the parking lot at work and never woke up. One of her colleagues notified us about it.

  “Dad and I were never the same after that. I think he took it much harder than I did. That’s one of the reasons why he never reached the heights his brother did. Mom’s death hurt him too much.”

  “I’m sorry,” Amanda said. She walked over to Nathan’s side and put her arms around him.

  “Don’t be. It was years ago.”

  Amanda rested her head on Nathan’s shoulder. She wondered what it had been like for him to lose his mother. Amanda didn’t think she could resist the pain if she ever lost her parents the way Nathan had.

  “Next weekend will be our last before we return to classes,” Ashton said. He and his friends were hanging out in the patio outside Amanda’s apartment building. They were with Nathan, Oswald, Claire, and Grecia.

  “I hope it goes fast,” the latter said. “Then we’ll only have one year left before graduation.”

  “Not me,” Nathan said, pursing his lips. “I still have to attend law school.”

  “Right,” Claire said. “Lawyers and doctors always study more than everyone else.”

  “For good reason,” Oswald commented.

  “How about architects?” Grecia asked Amanda.

  “Just the standard four years,” she replied.

  “Guys,” Ashton said. “How about we have one last night of fun before classes begin? This is the last week that we’re not going to be super busy.”

  “Yeah,” Claire agreed. “We should hang out. There won’t be a free week for us until spring break.”

  “Where should we go?” Grecia asked. The group thought about a good place. Claire used her smartphone to search the Web.

  “Guys, there’s this place I think you’ll like,” Amanda said to them. “Kellan took me last semester. It’s a night club in Rochester.”

  Ashton raised his eyebrows.

  “I didn’t take you for the night club kind of girl.”

  “Me, neither. But I liked it. What do you all think?”

  “What is the name?” Oswald asked.

  “Nola’s. It’s fun. You’ll like it.”

  Grecia searched for the club on her smartphone. She showed the screen to Ashton.

  “It’s near the lake,” he said.

  “Yeah,” Amanda replied. “We’ll be indoors most of the time, but you can always go outside.”

  The group debated on whether to go there. Ashton argued that they had a whole free weekend. They could afford to take the time to drive to another city.

  “Settled,” Grecia said. “We’ll go there.”

  “When do we meet?” Ashton asked.

  “It’s a two-hour drive,” said Amanda. “We should take off at five or six.”

  “Five thirty,” Claire said. They all agreed.

  Amanda walked back to her apartment to get ready. She walked alone, thinking that she was going to invite Emmy and Judith.

  As she got to the top of the stairs and emerged into her floor, Amanda spotted a guy. He was walking toward her. She didn’t recognize him.

  The guy was listening to music on an MP3 player. He had earbuds on. When he got closer to Amanda, the guy looked up at her.

  “Hi,” Amanda greeted. She quickly searched the guy’s eyes for a sign of recognition. His mouth opened.


  “Amanda Tilley?” he asked, taking off his earbuds. Amanda stopped walking. She smiled. “You’re the Amanda Tilley?”

  “That’s me,” she replied. The guy looked awed.

  “I’ve seen you online, but the way you cut your hair threw me off a bit.” The guy offered his hand to Amanda. “I’m Christopher Holt. I can’t believe I’ve just met you.”

  Amanda shook hands with him.

  “You don’t look familiar.”

  “I’m new here. I just transferred from a college out of town. It didn’t have a couple of classes I needed.”

  “Welcome to Cornell,” Amanda told him. “What year are you in, by the way?”

  “Junior,” Christopher replied. “You?”

  “I’m a freshman.”

  “Don’t say? And here I meant to ask you for a bit of advice on the classes.”

  Amanda and Christopher laughed together. He ran a hand through his blond hair.

  “I’m not much help to you with classes, but I could give you a tour of the campus if you’d like.”

  “You’d do that? If I’d already had a tour, I’d lie just for the honor to repeat it with you.”

  Amanda nodded to herself.

  “I see you worship me.”

  “Worship? Only the man upstairs,” Christopher said. He jerked with his head toward the sky. “I admire you a lot, which is different.”

  Amanda looked into Christopher’s eyes. They were a nice shade of blue. In them, Amanda saw the same look she often saw in her most devout fans. It was a mixture of loyalty and adoration.

  “Impressive answer.”

  Christopher smiled, looking a little proud.

  “Do you live here?” he asked.

  “Yes. I assume you’re not here visiting a friend.”

  “Right. I live here, too. That room there, in fact.”

  Christopher pointed to a spot behind him.

  “Cool. You’re just…three doors from mine.”

  “The room belonged to a guy like me,” Christopher said. “A transfer, I mean.”

  “You got lucky, then. This is one of the best apartment buildings in the city.”

  “It is? I wouldn’t know.”

  Christopher smiled again. Amanda couldn’t help returning it. The guy exuded charisma.

  “I’ll let you be on your way now,” he said. Christopher started to walk toward the stairs.

  “Thank you.”

  “I’ll see you later.”

  “You, too,” Amanda replied. She turned to walk back to her apartment. When she had taken two steps, she heard Christopher’s voice again.

  “And…I’m really neighbors with Amanda Tilley?”

  Amanda looked back at Christopher. He had his hand on the stair railing. She laughed.

  “Amazing,” he told her. With that, Christopher disappeared down the flight of stairs. Amanda had a smile on her lips when she walked back to her room.

  A few hours later, Nathan was waiting outside the entrance to Nola’s. Amanda, Emmy, and Judith were with him. He’d brought them in his car.

  “There they are,” Judith said. Nathan and the others looked in the direction she was looking. Claire, Oswald, Ashton, and Grecia were approaching. They’d arrived in another car.

  “That was a long ride,” the latter said. She stretched her arms, and then her legs. “I’m stiff.”

  Ashton suppressed a smile.

  The group walked inside the club. There weren’t many people inside at that moment. Only about half of the tables in the middle of the room were in use.

  “It looks nice,” Grecia said. She squinted, her eyes still adjusting to the darkness.

  “Let’s go get a table,” Amanda said. She led her group forward. There was a table near the stage that had enough chairs for them all. They sat down.

  “There’s no one on stage right now,” Oswald said.

  “I guess the owners didn’t book anyone tonight,” Judith said.

  “They might still have unscheduled talent on stage,” Emmy told them.

  A waiter arrived at that moment.

  “How may I help you tonight?” he asked.

  “We’d like a menu,” Amanda requested. With a nod, the waiter handed a copy of the menu to each of them. The group examined their choices.

  “Should we get an entrée, or do we begin with some appetizers?” Claire asked. The rest of them considered the options.

  “What do you recommend?” Nathan asked the waiter.

  “Our mozzarella sticks are a great choice to start with,” he replied. Nathan and Amanda looked at their friends to see what they thought.

  “That’s fine,” Oswald and Grecia said.

  “All right. Order of mozzarella sticks for eight, coming right up.”

  The waiter left.

  “About the music,” Nathan said. “I think Amanda should ask if she can take to the stage.”

  Amanda blushed, laughing.

  “Singing is not one of my talents. My lungs aren’t that strong.”

  “But you have a nice voice.”

  “Nathan, please. I can hardly stand to listen to myself on a recording. Besides, there’s more to singing.”

  Nathan shrugged.

  “If any of us should sing, it’s Emmy. She’s the music major, after all,” said Judith.

  Everyone turned to look at Emmy. She looked back at them, caught off guard.

  “Um, I make music, but I don’t sing.”

  “Don’t be shy,” Amanda prodded. “Sing.”

  “I’m not sure I can just go up there and start singing. Do they let you do that?”

  “Kellan never told me.”

  Amanda looked around. She spotted a couple of waiters coming back with their cheese sticks.

  “Thanks,” Claire and Nathan said after the waiters set the plates on the table.

  “Sir,” Amanda said to catch one of the waiters’ attention. “Is there live music scheduled for tonight?”

  “No. But we have recorded music playing on the speakers. It should start in a few minutes.”

  Emmy tried to hide her smile. She wasn’t eager to sing in front of a bunch of strangers. She was studying to be a composer, not a singer.

  “Thanks,” Amanda said. The waiter nodded, and he left with his colleague.

  As promised, music started to play at nine. Ashton and Grecia looked toward the stage. Between it and the tables was a dance floor.

  “We should order the entrees now,” he suggested. “And burn the calories by dancing.”

  “Sounds like a great idea to me,” Amanda said. She looked at Nathan.

  “Okay.”

  Around thirty minutes later, the group finished eating their food. Nathan was the first to ask his girl to the dance floor.

  “Let’s go dance,” he told Amanda, standing up. She took Nathan’s hand and stood.

  Grecia and Ashton followed suit. Oswald and Claire went next. That left Judith and Emmy at the table by themselves.

  “I wish I had a boyfriend now,” Emmy muttered.

  “Rather alone than with some jerk,” Judith said.

  “Ashton turned out to be pretty loyal.”

  “Yeah. I didn’t expect that.”

  Emmy’s eyes switched to a spot above and behind Judith. The latter felt a prod on her shoulder. She turned.

  “Hi,” said a guy. He was quite handsome. “May I ask your name?”

  “I’m Judith,” she said with a slight smile.

  “I’m Mike.”

  Judith nodded.

  “Nice to meet you, Mike,” she said. She looked behind him to look at his group of friends. It consisted of two guys and a girl.

  “Would you like to dance with me?”

  Judith pursed her lips.

  “I would love to, but I’m afraid I can’t dance. It would flatter Emmy to dance with you.”

  Mike’s eyes switched to Emmy. Once again, she was forced to catch up. Judith looked at her and flashed a go-ahead-and-take-the-offer kind of look.r />
  “Why in the world not?” Emmy said. She pasted on a smile and stood up. Mike took her hand. Emmy looked back at Judith, seeming unsure. The latter gave the thumbs-up to her friend.

  Meanwhile, Amanda and Nathan were lost to their own world. They danced among the throng of people already on the dance floor.

  “I wasn’t always a good dancer,” Nathan said.

  “What?”

  “When we were in high school, I didn’t dance. Unlike most guys, I was a bit nervous about prom.”

  “That’s funny,” Amanda said, grinning. “Prom made you nervous?”

  “It did. And I’d lost my mother. I didn’t have a female figure to teach me. So I taught myself.”

  “You did what?”

  “Yeah. I signed up for dance classes at a local studio. Dad thought I was taking karate lessons.”

  Amanda and Nathan laughed in unison.

  “Of course, I studied a little karate and even bought an outfit to make it believable. I didn’t need to lay it on too thick to convince Dad. He was still distraught over what happened to Mom.”

  “It’s no surprise you were able to save me the day I almost get kidnapped.”

  “Actually, it is a little surprise. I only studied enough to become a red belt or so. I’m not that skilled. It’s just that I’ll never let anyone hurt you.”

  Amanda continued dancing with Nathan, absorbing what he had just shared with her.

  “What motivated you to learn to dance?”

  Nathan thought for a moment.

  “You.”

  Amanda’s eyebrows furrowed.

  “Me? Really? But you never asked me to prom.”

  “No. I wish I had, but would you have said yes? You were in love with your boyfriend. Most likely, I would have freaked you out.”

  Amanda said nothing, sighing.

  “Did you go to prom?”

  “Of course. You? I’d bet a million bucks yes. I can picture the long line of guys competing for the chance to dance with you?”

  “You would be right. I was still a little hurt at that point, so it didn’t matter to me much who I picked. To be on the safe side, I opted for a good friend of mine.”

  “Brad?”

  “No. He went to high school in L.A.”

  “Oh.”

  The two continued to dance. Halfway through the third song, Amanda’s head snapped to the side. Nathan’s brows furrowed.