Accidental Texting: Finding Love despite the Spotlight

by Kimberly Montague

  "Thank you, Annalisa." Sean smiled at her.

  She smiled back at him. "You're entirely welcome, Sean. But I did that for Morgan. You're still on my hit list."

  Sean's smile turned into a smirk as he nodded at Annalisa. "Understood." Then he moved closer to me. "I like her."

  I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

  After lunch, Lutz came by and nearly peed his pants when I introduced him to Sean. He stammered for a while, but Sean put him at ease with his kindness. Unfortunately, that opened the Lutz floodgate, and he threw question after question at Sean about every action scene he'd ever done. I had no idea Lutz was such a huge fan. He was particularly interested in the car chase scenes in the spy thriller trilogy Sean had been in several years back. In the short conversations we were actually able to have about the barn, he assured us that his crew could get it done in a few days, since it was for Sean and Cerise.

  Stewie was still quiet and moping after Lutz left. He seemed to be constantly on the phone with one thing or another, so much so that I gave him free use of my office. A Castleton PD car stayed parked at the side of my inn, but still in full view of the front, which kept the photographers from getting too close to us. We'd just started on the Christmas decorations in the lobby when Stewie came out of the office, scowling.

  "Sean." He sounded really annoyed. "Come here, and sign this crap."

  Sean jogged into the office. He was only in there for a few minutes before he came back out, smiling. Stewie followed him with a stack of papers in his hand, pulling on his jacket. "You might actually want to bring her along. She knows more about remodeling than any of us."

  Sean shook his head. "I don't see how we can sneak her out, too. I'm not putting her in a suitcase."

  "What are you talking about?" I finally had to ask.

  "We're going to get the keys and check the place out." Sean was smiling and rubbing his hands together.

  "Keys to what?" Cerise asked.

  "The new house," Stewie answered angrily.

  I wasn't sure why Stewie was so angry about this, but he wasn't making any attempts to hide it.

  The concern must have been all over my face because Sean stepped to the side, blocking my view of Stewie. "He's just worried." The teasing, happy tone of his voice made me relax more than his words. "It's what he does—worry. He's very good at it."

  "Someone has to." Stewie punched him in the arm. "Cerise, does your coat have a hood."

  Cerise stopped hanging the red bow in her hand and looked at Stewie. "Yeah."

  "Go put it on then go into the kitchen and take a cake box out to Morgan's SUV. Keep the hood up so they don't know who you are. When you walk back, let the hood drop, and look in their direction."

  "Hold on," I jumped in. "You already got the house? In one day? Is that legal?"

  "You think that's gonna work?" Sean stared skeptically at Stewie then turned back to me. "Yes. It's called a private sale. And if you have the lawyers who are paid to get the paperwork done ASAFP, then yes, it can be done."

  "They don't have anyone really good out there… yet," Stewie answered.

  Sean shrugged, seemingly satisfied with attempting whatever this was. "Okay, give it a shot."

  "Uh—why on earth am I doing this?" Cerise asked.

  I looked back at Cerise and nodded at her question. I was wondering the same freaking thing.

  "We're playing hide and seek from the vultures," Sean explained. "If they see Cerise go out there with a box, they'll think you're her when you go out there with one."

  "Okay." That made sense, but I still stared in confusion at Sean. "How are you getting out there?"

  "The same way I got in," he said as if that explained everything.

  I had been in the shower when he came into my apartment, and I walked with him with police and bodyguard escort over to the inn, so I was still completely confused.

  He smiled. "They put me in a large suitcase."

  I laughed. "Yeah right. Really, how did you get in?"

  He put his hands over his head, stretching. "I'm serious. I'm pretty flexible," he explained.

  "He is," Stewie chimed in. "It's kind of disgusting, but he always has been. Remember when we almost got you into that dryer on Halloween?"

  My eyes widened. He was huge. There was no way he would fit in a suitcase, and certainly no way he'd fit in a dryer unless he was a kid. "What when he was child?"

  "No." Sean laughed. "But I was young—how old was I Stew? Like nineteen?"

  "Seriously?" A dryer—when he was nineteen—craziness. This I had to see for myself.

  Cerise came back in and announced it was a success. She handed me my keys while Sean talked to Rudy and Nathan. I went into the kitchen and got another empty cake box. When I got back into the dining room, a suitcase that was taller than my waist was on the floor, and Sean was sitting in the middle of it.

  I put on Cerise's coat and pulled the hood up, but Sean stood up and walked over to me. He pulled the hood down and gently gathered my hair together behind my neck, taking a moment to brush a few unruly strands off my face. Cerise hit him in the arm and gave him a hair claw then walked away.

  I could hear the others talking quietly away from us, but all I could focus on was Sean. He was staring at me so intently and touching me so lovingly. Even though there was nothing overtly sexual about what he was doing, it was like we were in this bubble away from everyone and filled to the brim with that warm tension only Sean could make me feel. My breaths came out faster, and I stared at his lips as he clipped my hair back. When he was finished, he trailed his hands down my back, leaving tingly chills in their wake. He stared at my lips, and a large part of me wanted him to kiss me. He hadn't kissed me since the limo on the way to the after-party. And that's when my brain remembered why it had been so long. I took a step back and pulled the hood up. He let his hands drop sadly and went back to sit in his suitcase.

  "Okay, so this is a two-car job," Rudy announced. "Morgan, I'll roll the package out to the SUV and load it in the back for you. Stewie will drive. Just keep your head down—it's snowing right now, so it won't be too suspicious. Most of them are in their vehicles on the street anyhow. Is there someplace you can go to pretend to drop off the boxes?"

  "Uh, we deliver donuts to Mae's every other day, but that's early in the morning."

  "They don't know that yet," Stewie commented. "They haven't been here long enough to observe a routine."

  "So go to Mae's," Rudy instructed. "And I'll throw one of Sean's jackets on Nathan and get him out to the van in about twenty minutes. They'll follow me until we stop at the gas station down the way and show them we don't have Sean. We'll meet up at the new house if we're not being followed."

  I nodded, hoping I could keep to the plan.

  "Ready?" Sean smiled at me, but I could see the worry in his eyes.

  I nodded again, and he scrunched down into the fetal position in the suitcase. I wouldn't have believed a man of his size could fit, but he somehow managed to. It was clear he'd done it a few times.

  Outside, the snow was coming down pretty hard, but still, two photographers got out to take my picture. I kept the hood low and moved quickly to my SUV, opening the back for Rudy to put Sean in. Stewie came strolling out, walking slowly like he had all the time in the world. I got in the passenger seat and closed the door, but one photographer was leaning on the car to put the camera up to the front windshield since it was the only window not tinted. I was worried he might recognize me, but I heard a very loud. "This is private property. Leave or I'll fine you." The photographer stepped back, but I kept my head down.

  Stewie opened the door and stood there for a minute. "Be sure to get my good side, pal." He laughed.

  "Could you have taken longer?" I spat at him when he closed the door.

  "Chill," he drawled out. "If Sean was with me, I'd be hurrying. Sean isn't with me, so I'm my normal, slow-paced self, laughing at the photographers. All part of the game, Morgan."

  "I
'm glad you both take this so seriously."

  "You have to laugh," he said solemnly. "It gets to you, but if you can't find some humor in it, it'll make you crazy."

  I thought about that as we were followed to Mae's. I looked back at one point to see Sean on the back seat underneath a blanket and wondered how he got out. At Mae's, I opened the back and Stewie grabbed the boxes. A photographer got out to take a few pictures, but must have realized we were really doing business, so he got back in his car and left. Mae smiled at me when I came in. She said Cerise had called to let her know and she'd be happy to help me avoid the rats that were chasing me. I thanked her and told her there would be free donuts in her future.

  Outside, no one tried to photograph us. On the road, no one followed us. It was heavenly. Sean still stayed underneath his blanket, just to be on the safe side, but he sang along with Stewie to Bruce Springstein on the radio. They told me about the day they spent conspiring to put salt in everything Rudy drank. I was laughing pretty hard when we drove up to Lake Bomoseen.

  I stopped laughing when we turned down a paved road right off the lake. It was a very long road, but it took us higher than the lake, and it had been recently cleared of snow. As we drove up to a massive house, my jaw dropped. It wasn't old like most of the homes in the area. It looked like a Craftsman home, but brand new.

  "You bought this today?" I was astounded.

  "Well," Stewie bounced his head around. "He's been working on it—"

  "Yes." Sean interrupted. "I signed the papers today and bought it. Want to see the inside?"

  Stewie got out of the SUV, and I shot Sean a dirty look before jumping out to follow Stewie. "Stewie, I'd like to know what you were going to say."

  "He's been working on this since you left L.A.. He was convinced that if he showed you he was serious about being with you, he could get you back."

  I heard the door shut behind us, and Stewie walked ahead of me. I stared at the house, trying to pull together my thoughts on the whole thing. He was so determined that he would win me back that he bought a huge house and moved here? I really didn't know how I felt about that. Happy? Annoyed at his arrogance? Pissed that he didn't want Stewie to tell me the truth? I settled on that last one.

  He walked up beside me. "Morgan?"

  "Stewie won't tell me what he was going to say. I'd like to hear it from you."

  He ran his hand through his hair and looked down at the ground. Would he lie? If he did, what would I do about that? "I started looking online several weeks ago. I was just—I don't know—imagining, I guess. But the morning after—and you were gone, I found this house. Please don't be mad. I just—I couldn't give up."

  Relief flooded through my body at his honest words. It was a step in the right direction toward rebuilding trust between us. "Show me the inside."

  He smiled and grabbed my hand, pulling me carefully to the house.

  "If this has been empty," I thought out loud, "why are the roads clear, and who salted the steps?"

  "I called in a service. They'll come out every day unless I decide to buy a snow plow. I used to drive one in high school. That was my job—it's where I got my driving skills. The only thing that sucked was waking up at the crack of dawn." Stewie fiddled with a large combination lock on the door and retrieved a key from inside the box built into the lock.

  Stepping in, I was astounded. "It's furnished!"

  Sean looked around. "It was a rental."

  Stewie rolled his eyes. "He made them an offer no one in their right mind would refuse."

  "It's only money, Stew, and I got seven acres around it, so stop pouting."

  The living room was the size of the living room, dining, room, and lobby of the inn. It was a sage green color with wooden-framed windows that spanned the entire front of the house, showing the beautiful view of the trees and lake. The vaulted ceiling made it feel so open and airy. There was a stone fireplace in the middle of the far wall with built-in cabinets on both sides and a huge flat-screen TV. Three long, dark brown couches formed a U around the fireplace and TV.

  "How much did you pay for this?" I asked, knowing it had to be a lot.

  Sean shook his head. "I know how you feel about money, Morgan. I paid a lot, but no more than it was worth to me and a quarter of what I paid for the house in L.A.. It's not even one-tenth of my salary for my last film, so please put it out of your head."

  When he put it like that, I guess there wasn't much to argue with. Attached to the living room was a long wooden dining table and a spacious kitchen with tons of warm wooden cabinets and black stone countertops. The appliances weren't stainless steel, they were black, but they did look almost brand new. It was a kitchen Annalisa was going to love. Off the kitchen, down a long hallway, was a master suite like I had never seen before. It was the size of my apartment. Tall windows again stretched across one wall, revealing a view of the lake and trees. There was a large four-post bed in the middle of the room, two oversized armchairs in front of the windows, a classic wooden armoire, and a stone fireplace.

  Sean came in behind me and smiled. "Sorry, love. This is my room. You'll have to go choose your own upstairs."

  I smiled back at him, happy to hear him teasing me about it instead of being upset.

  "Hmm. Stewie!" I jumped when he yelled. A minute later, Stewie appeared in the doorway. Sean pointed at the windows.

  Stewie nodded. "Yeah, I'll get someone out here."

  "What?" I asked looking at the windows for a crack or something.

  "Windows are bad, especially in the bedroom." Sean threw himself in the bed and rolled around like a child.

  "What are you talking about? You have a million windows in L.A.."

  Stewie walked closer to the windows and put his hand to them. "They're thick, though. Maybe we can get by with a film. I'll call Leon."

  "They're tinted, Morgan," Sean finally answered as he got up from the bed. "A film lets the light in and lets us see out, but it's reflective on the outside. It's what I have in California." He wandered through the wide arch into what must have been the bathroom. "Now this is what I'm talking about!"

  I followed that very loud announcement to find a ridiculous bathroom. The floors were gray slate tile with matching countertops on cabinets of the same warm oak color as the moldings and floors throughout the whole house. There were two sinks, a huge built-in tub that looked like three people could comfortably enjoy, and a tiled shower that took up the entire corner with tall, clear glass walls and a tiled bench. The bathroom certainly screamed movie star.

  I watched Sean climb into the tub. "This house does not fit here," I announced. "Are you sure you didn't have this built in a week?"

  Sean laughed. "No." He looked down at his feet and was suddenly serious. "I can't perform miracles, and even if I could, I sure as hell wouldn't waste one on a house."

  Stewie nudged me in the arm. "The owner was an architect. He built it as a showcase home then rented it out as a vacation house."

  Also in the bathroom was a walk-in closet smaller than the one in Sean's L.A. home but still larger than the bathroom in my apartment and equipped with wooden cabinets everywhere.

  Upstairs, I claimed my room immediately. It was directly above the master bedroom at the end of the hallway, and it had a bathroom attached to it although it was shared with the bedroom next door. It wasn't the largest of the upstairs rooms, but it was plenty big enough for me. My favorite part was the window seat. The oak floors went through the entire house, and each of the five bedrooms upstairs had large beds and felt inviting and comfortable. It was a pretty amazing house.

  "Ready to move in?" Sean poked me in the ribs as I stood on the breezeway looking down into the living room.

  I looked over at him. I was really worried about living with him. More than worried—I was a little panicked.

  "There's a basement with a pool table!" Stewie said excitedly from downstairs.

  Sean grabbed my hand and pulled me into my new bedroom, closing the door behin
d us. "Are you okay with this?"

  I walked to the window seat and sat down. He leaned against the post of the bed and stared at me. Sighing deeply, I leaned against the side wall, pulling my feet up and staring at the snow falling outside.

  "I don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable with." I pulled my knees to my chest, and he sat on the edge of the bed. "What makes you uncomfortable, Morgan?"

  I almost blurted out "You," but I held it in. "I'm just worried."

  "About what?"

  What was it about this man that always left me nervous? "I just don't know how this is all going to work. You and me here under the same roof."

  "I'm perfectly happy just knowing you're safe. I won't try anything, sweetie. I'll keep my hands to myself and my mouth shut. I won't try to pressure you, I promise."

  I wouldn't admit it to him, but that's half of what I was afraid of. Of course, the other half was that he would try to pressure me. I was basically split in two, and both sides were a freaking mess. I wanted to be with him, but I didn't know if I could trust him yet. "I just—" I decided to be at least partially honest with him. "I'm a mess right now, Sean. I really don't know what I want, and it's just gonna take me some time to figure this all out."

  "I can understand that, and I respect that. I have all the time in the world."

  I nodded and looked out the window again. The sound of loud men reached my bedroom, but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

  "I think Rudy and Nathan are here. I'm putting them above the garage because they're loud as hell around each other. Wanna see?"

  I shook my head. "I think I'll stay here."

  He nodded and left my room.

  Not Your Typical Girl

  I sat there, staring at the snow for quite a while, but then I must have fallen asleep. When I woke up, I was in bed with my shoes off and the covers pulled over me. I was willing to put money on the idea that Sean got me that way. As I sat up, I noticed it was dark outside. How long had I been asleep? Next to the window was an easel from my studio in the barn with one of the many paintings I'd done of Mom. I looked more closely around the room and found a lot of my things. Picture frames were on the dresser with pictures of Cerise and me at senior prom, Annalisa and me in the kitchen at the inn, and Mom and me in front of the inn on opening day. One of the drawers was open, and inside I found my clothes neatly folded. The quilt on my bed was from my bed at home.