by Dani April
Chrissie sat down at the table and saw there was a feast already set out, and he was still working hard over the stove preparing more for her. Everything looked delicious. There were two dozen slabs of bacon and a tray of sausage, a large dish of scrambled eggs, another of over-easy eggs, and a third containing eggs hard-boiled. Biscuits and gravy dominated another dish. A stack of both pancakes and waffles was on another. Maple syrup, several flavors of jelly, and dishes of butter were spread out before her.
When she sat down, he poured her a huge glass of orange juice. She could smell coffee brewing over on the counter. “I hope you like orange juice?” Scott asked, unsure. “We also have grapefruit and tomato juice if you’d like those better.”
Chrissie reached out to him, touching his arm briefly to reassure him. “This looks great. Thank you so much, Scott.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Where are Ethan and Brad this morning?” she asked, taking a sip of her juice.
“They’re out plowing the road from our property to the highway,” he told her, setting another dish of biscuits on the table. “It’s going to snow all day. I told them not to start yet. They’re just wasting their time. They’ll be back out there tomorrow and just have to start all over again, but they never listen to me.”
Chrissie waited for him, wondering when he was going to serve her. He hesitated and didn’t seem to know what she wanted. ”You can sit with me if you’d like.” She motioned to the chair across from her, deciding she was going to be real nice to him because she liked him so much.
“Thanks.” He still hesitated and then almost fell into the indicated chair. Chrissie had to stifle a laugh as she took another sip of her juice.
“This looks really good.” Chrissie smiled across at him. “I think I’ll eat everything.” She giggled. “But you can help me if you want. I’ll start with a couple pancakes, a couple waffles, and a few of those little sausage thingies over there.”
She waited. He quickly picked up the dishes and started serving her. “Plenty of syrup please,” she told him after he had loaded up her plate. She had to laugh at the way he served up the food, not very professional at all, and his posture when he sat in his chair could definitely use some working on. But she found herself liking him all the more because of his imperfections.
“Um, this is really good.” She smiled across at him and realized that he was just watching her eat and not even bothering to help himself to any of the food. She didn’t mind him staring. Actually, she kind of liked it. But as she ate, she realized something was wrong, and then she realized what it was.
“You know who I am, don’t you?” she asked him.
“Yes…”
“Do your brothers know?”
“I told them last night.”
“Sorry.” She scrunched up her nose. “I didn’t mean to mislead you. I hope this doesn’t change anything?”
“No, of course not, Chrissie.” He swallowed hard. “I mean, Miss Murphy…”
“You can call me Chrissie,” she was quick to tell him. “And, Scott, thanks again for everything.” She reached across the table and covered his hand with her own, giving him a dynamite smile. She gave him a little squeeze to let him know she was just a real human being the same as he was. His blush made his face turn an uncomfortable red.
“This is like a dream come true for me,” he told her. “I used to watch your show on TV all the time. I never missed an episode. I thought you were the best.”
This was a real fan. Chrissie didn’t think she had actually ever talked to a real fan before. He could be interesting beyond the handsome face and the very cute butt she had observed while he had been serving her.
“Thank you for saying so, Scott,” she told him. “But come on… Honestly, don’t you think most of those shows were lame?”
“No, I don’t.” He sounded defensive.
“Really?” She scrunched her nose up at him again. “I mean, we had a few good ones when we’d shoot outdoors, but we only shot two or three outdoors. The set they had for us in the studio was really dumb. No one liked it, but the producers never had the money to shoot outside very much.”
“I thought I read where you had a really big budget for your show?” He was becoming more relaxed as she spoke with him, and that was good. The more he relaxed, the more adorable his face became.
“They used most of the budget to pay me. They never had anything left over to make the show good.”
“That’s okay because you were the only reason I ever watched the show anyway.” He looked down and laughed. “To tell you the truth, I don’t remember what any of the episodes were about, but I could tell you what you were wearing in every one.”
She laughed with him and then leaned down to feed a bite of bacon to both of her babies who were begging at her feet. “That’s good because I can remember what I was wearing in each of the shows, too. I liked our wardrobe lady. She had the nicest outfits for me to wear.” She daintily chewed a mouthful of pancake. “Um, this maple syrup is really good…So what was your favorite?”
“I liked all your shows, even the indoor ones.”
“No, I mean what was your favorite outfit that I wore on the show?”
“Oh that’s easy…” He stopped himself, turned away, and blushed again, clearly uncomfortable.
“Well, which one was it, silly?” Chrissie asked, not understanding his reaction.
“When you uh…you remember that one time…the show went to the beach…”
“I had several wardrobe changes in that one. Which one did you like best?”
“The bikini…” He coughed into his hand.
She giggled uncontrollably for a few seconds. “Yeah, I liked that one, too. We got letters for a month, and I got balled out by my PR people. They thought it showed too much of me. But I loved looking sexy like that, and I felt so good, almost like I was doing those scenes naked.”
“Oh my God, you looked nice, Chrissie,” Scott said breathlessly.
“Thank you.” She winked at him, a naughty grin spreading her lips. “Was that episode better than the Playboy Channel?”
“So much better, you have no idea.” Then he quickly looked down at the table. She thought maybe he was afraid he’d said too much. Her insides felt warm. She loved the way he was reacting to her casual flirtations. She felt completely safe with him in a way she had never felt with a man her own age before.
“Speaking of wardrobes.” Chrissie changed the subject again. “The only thing I have to wear is this dress from last night. I was dressed up for this dumb dinner party I was supposed to attend in Aspen.”
“I read about that online.” He seemed grateful to be able to change the subject as well. “That was like a benefit dinner for mentally challenged kids?”
“To tell you the truth, I don’t really know what that dinner was all about.” Chrissie gave a huff between bites of sausage. “I just go to those dinners whenever my people tell me to. I wear what they tell me to wear and say what they tell me to say. Actually, it was this dress that got my day off to a bad start yesterday because no one liked it.”
“They’re idiots then.” His voice was suddenly confident. “Because that’s the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen a girl wear.”
When he said this it took her back a moment, and she had to fight the tears from coming to her eyes. “Scott,” she told him. “You are so sweet.”
“Nah, I’m just nobody.” He shrugged her off.
She took a deep breath and went on. “Anyway, I don’t have anything to wear. I didn’t exactly plan any of this. I want to go out shopping today.”
He looked at her strangely for a moment. “What?” she asked him. “Don’t you have any shops nearby? Surely there must be a mall or something?”
“Yes, there are, but Chrissie…” He seemed to not know what to say. “We’re snowed in out here. We can’t leave. The blizzard’s still going on out there. We’ll be lucky if we can get out by the end of the week. We’re stranded out her
e. But don’t worry. We’ve got enough food to last for a month, and the cabin will keep us warm.”
“Oh…” She scrunched up her nose and gave him a rueful look. “I guess I didn’t understand how bad it was. I’ve never been stranded anywhere before.”
“I’m really sorry, Chrissie. If there was any way I could get you into town, I’d love to take you out shopping.”
“Don’t be sorry. It isn’t your fault, Scott,” She gave a little smile thinking of the possibilities of being stranded. “It really isn’t so bad. I like you and your brothers, and I love your little cabin, and this food is like really good. Didn’t you guys tell me you were on vacation all week?”
“My brothers are. I don’t have a job, so I guess you could say I’m always on vacation.” He laughed, and when he smiled, the warm feeling in Chrissie’s stomach took root.
“Do you mind if I just consider myself on vacation with you guys?”
He positively beamed. He didn’t have to answer. She knew what his response was.
Chapter Five
When Ethan and Brad got back home, Skipper ran in ahead of them and over to Peaches and Cream, who were cuddled up by the fireplace. All three dogs started to happily play with each other. For a few minutes the cabin was filled with the loud barking of Skipper and the tiny yips and yaps of the poodles.
Chrissie had just come out from the bedroom where she had changed into jeans and a sweatshirt. Scott had let her borrow some of his clothes, and they were way too big for her. The jeans almost fell down her hips with every step she took, and she had to hike up the legs six inches, and even then they pooled around her feet. He had also given her an old pair of his sneakers and socks to go with them. The sneakers were as ill fitting as the clothes.
The clothes were comfortable, and they smelled of Scott, so Chrissie decided she liked them very well. She also felt more appropriately dressed for the occasion of her vacation with the three brothers.
“How is everything?” Ethan asked Scott as he shrugged out of his heavy coat and went to the kitchen to get some hot coffee.
“We’re fine,” Scott assured him.
“I see Scott got you some of his things to wear, Chrissie.” Brad nodded over in her direction. These two were walking on eggshells around her.
“Look, guys!” She got their attention. “I know you know I’m Chrissie Murphy. I already talked to Scott about it. He said you were okay with that.”
There was a moment of silence as all three brothers exchanged glances. Brad paused in the middle of taking off his coat, one arm caught halfway in and halfway out. Ethan pursed his lips as he took his first sip of coffee.
“That’s true,” Brad finally spoke up. “We just want to help anyway we can and be your friends. Nothing really changed when we found out who you were.”
“Mind telling us why you kept that hidden?” Ethan asked. He was the hardest one of the three, but somehow in the back of her mind she knew he had the best looks of any of them. Tall and muscular, a full head of hair, and a strong face. He was better looking than the leading man in her last movie.
“I didn’t try and hide anything from you.” She gave a little protest as Ethan walked past her to take a seat by the fire. “I told you my name. You just didn’t ask me what my last name was.”
“Fair enough.” He waved it off and let it drop as he picked up the remote to turn on the giant flat-screen TV mounted on the wall.
“Chrissie, we tried all morning to plow out our road that leads up to the highway,” Brad told her. “The snow is still coming down pretty hard out there, and I’m afraid we failed miserably. Looks like we’re still stuck here for a while.”
“I told you guys you’d never make it,” Scott put in.
Brad threw a pillow across the room at his brother. Chrissie laughed as she watched their camaraderie. She went to take a seat on the couch, having to hold her jeans by the waist so they wouldn’t fall to her ankles while she walked across the floor. She took Peaches and Cream onto her lap and sat back to see what Ethan picked to watch on the television.
“I really don’t mind being stuck here,” she told Brad. “This is like a vacation for me.”
“You must be used to whole lot nicer vacation digs than this old cabin.” Brad went out to the kitchen to pour his own cup of coffee.
“Actually, I’m not used to vacations at all. Everyday either my dad or my agency has someplace else for me to go. That’s why I like being here because no one even knows where I am right now, and I’ve got my phone turned off.” She smiled and threw her head back into the pillows of the couch. “And you three seem really cool.”
“I told Chrissie she can just consider herself on vacation with us this week,” Scott told his brothers. He was on the floor playing with Skipper.
Ethan cleared his throat. “You want to stay with us all week, Chrissie?”
“Yes.” She looked across the room at Ethan. He seemed like he was the only one of the brothers who wasn’t going to be nice to her. She wondered why she liked him so well. “I hope that’s all right.”
“It’s all right with me,” he told her. “I’m just a little surprised, that’s all. I mean, when we planned this vacation, the last thing I thought was that we would be spending the week snowed in with Chrissie Murphy alone in our cabin.”
Chrissie laughed and curled her legs comfortably beneath her on the cushions of the couch, and once again her jeans, or more accurately Scott’s jeans, were threatening to crawl down her waist. “You make me sound like an object.” She giggled. “Like ‘I didn’t know we were going to bring our camera along on this trip,’ or ‘I didn’t think I would be bringing along that sweater on this trip.’”
Ethan returned her smile. She thought that was the first time she had gotten him to smile and felt this was a little victory. “You most definitely are not an object, Chrissie,” he told her. She realized he had beautiful eyes when he smiled. “You are all girl, one hundred percent.”
“I’m glad you guys think so.”
Brad came over and took a seat at the other end of the couch. Then he looked down at her. “You mind if I sit here, Chrissie?”
“I don’t mind,” she said and found herself loving how shy these good-natured guys were around her. They were all so cute. She just wanted to eat them all up.
She found herself watching the TV screen as Ethan flipped through the channels, wondering what he would settle on watching. Finally, a college basketball game on an all-sports channel is what he settled on. Chrissie sighed. These guys were all men. She hated sports, but she was happy that the men with her were watching the sports on the television.
“So, Chrissie?” Brad asked. “You don’t have any place you want to be this week?”
“No. I don’t have any place I want to go, other than right here with you guys.”
Brad smiled at her and threw his arm down the length of the couch. It was big enough that there was still a lot of room between them. “I’ve just got to ask,” he said and laughed. “Could I have your autograph?”
“Sure,” she told him. “You got any of my CDs or videos? I could sign one for you.”
“I don’t, but I think maybe Scott does. He’s the big fan.”
“I don’t have any of her videos up here at the cabin,” Scott called from the floor where he still played with Skipper. “But I think I have one of her CDs out in the truck. Only don’t make her sign it, bro. Where are your manners? Chrissie is our guest now.”
“I don’t mind,” Chrissie said. “Really, I sign autographs for fans every day. I’d love to sign some for you guys. You’re not only my fans, but you’re my friends now, too.”
“Scott’s right,” Brad told her. “You’re trying to get away from all of that. Obviously that’s why you want to stay here out in the middle of nowhere. How about while you’re here we just think of you as Chrissie our friend and not Chrissie Murphy the celebrity?”
“Thanks. I think I’d actually prefer that.” Chrissie reached
over and touched his hand. She gave him a smile. Brad had the easiest manner of any of the guys. He smiled back at her. When he did, her heart started to melt.
“Goddamn retard!” Ethan yelled at the basketball game from his seat in front of the TV. The coach on the screen had caught his ire. “A bunch of losers,” he told the TV and flipped it off with a smack of the remote.
Chrissie laughed at him. She was warmed by the fire. Outside, the wind was picking up again and making a terrible fuss, but she felt so well-protected inside. “This is nice,” she said. “Do you all do this a lot? Take vacations here, I mean?”
“Individually, we each probably get up here a couple times a year, and last year Ethan and Scott came up here for a week in the summer. In the summer, the fishing is really good up here and the scenery is great,” Brad explained. He let his hand linger across hers for just a moment on the head of the couch, but she didn’t mind.
“Yes, definitely, this place must rock in the summer when everything is nice and green,” Chrissie agreed with him.
“It does.” He seemed lost in memories of just how nice it had been in the past. “You’ve got an open invitation to come up here some summer and see for yourself just how nice it can be.”
“I’d really like that,” she told him and was surprised to find he was actually flirting with her, and she didn’t mind in the least. “Don’t be surprised if I take you up on that.”
“I’m counting on it.”
Their eyes met. Unlike Scott who looked away every time she made eye contact, Brad was confident and held her gaze for an inappropriately long minute. He seemed to be looking inside her soul, and she was the one to look down first.
“Well, fuck this!” Ethan shouted and got up from his easy chair. “Pardon my language, Chrissie.”
Chrissie laughed at him. “That’s okay. You should have heard the way the director talked on my last movie set.”
“There isn’t anything to watch on TV, and I’m bored as hell.”
“What do you guys do for fun around here when you’re snowed in like this?”
“I’m going to go back outside and build a fort,” Ethan told her, already reaching for his coat again. “Who wants to come with me?”
