Three Years Later

by Casey McMillin

  My parents were not as easy going about my new marriage has I had hoped. My mom basically staged an intervention when I got home, thinking I would be relieved for the opportunity to have the marriage annulled.

  There were tears shed on my mom's part, which really stunned me. I tried to explain how amazing Rachel was, but my mom wasn't having any part of it. Mother Teresa herself wouldn't have been good enough for Mandy Blake's first born. She just wasn't even open to the idea that Rachel and I were made for each other. I knew it wasn't anything against Rachel personally. My mom had never been fond of any of my girlfriends over the years, (my brother's either, for that matter).

  I was hoping for Rachel's sake that by the time they met each other, my mom would have a change of heart (or at least have the courtesy to fake it). Rachel wasn't going anywhere, and it would be great if she could just accept that and play nice.

  I just wondered if my mother understood that if she put me in a position where I had to choose between her and Rachel, I would be choosing Rachel. I hoped it wouldn't come to that. Rachel had asked me several times about my mother, wanting to know her, wanting to love her, and it was hard for me to know what to say. I didn't want to build Rachel up like it would be some amazing first meeting, but I wasn't about to tell her that my mom hated the idea of me being married.

  The coaching thing didn't go as smoothly as I imagined either. I assumed my coach would understand why I had to move, which he did, but that didn't stop him from acting a little weird and giving me a guilt trip. Neither of which I expected from him. I could see where he was coming from though, I had trained under him for the past two years and the Trials were less than a year away. Not only that, but Joel Perrin had called me a week ago and offered me the endorsement deal I so desperately wanted.

  Coaches get a good amount of notoriety when their athletes get big endorsements or make it to the Olympics, but I just couldn't make life decisions based on my coach's feelings, (or my mother's feelings, for that matter).

  Rachel was waiting for me in Los Angeles and nothing was going to change my mind about going there to be with her. It was a done deal, and it would've been nice if everyone had accepted that from the start.

  Josh, Ethan, and the rest of my swim and dive buddies, on the other hand, were supportive and understanding enough for the rest of them. I knew the swimmers in Los Angeles would be easy to get along with as well. I was already tight with a few of the guys at L.A. Aquatics. I went way back with one of their swimmers, Zack Larson, who was also a member of the National Team.

  Zack came to San Diego last night to spend the night and help me move. The guys helped me with getting all the heavy stuff loaded yesterday, so this morning I'd just been finishing up the last few boxes. I'd shaken Zack awake thirty minutes ago, but he was still moving slow, which was understandable considering how wasted he was last night.

  About twenty of us (including some of the current Cal guys) went out for one last hoo-rah in San Diego. It was sort of a going away thing. Yes, we did end up at a strip club. (The guys insisted, saying it was because I didn't get a bachelor party.) And, no, I will not be telling Rachel about it. It's not like anything happened, and telling her would do nothing but make her feel weird.

  I was on cloud nine at the thought of Rachel. It was a beautiful Sunday in October and I would be seeing her in about three hours.

  "You ready?"

  "Are you serious? I feel like shit, and I haven't even finished my coffee," Zack said. His voice was still in sleep mode, which made me afraid he was about to say he needed shower or something before we could get on the road.

  "Actually, we don't have to follow each other if you don't want to. I'll just give you my new address and you can take as long as you need and meet me there when you're ready."

  "It's not like I need all day. Just give me a few minutes to wake up." Josh, who had been listening to the whole conversation from across the room, chuckled heartily at that.

  "You think he's going to be able to give you a few more minutes?" Josh asked. "He was up hours ago, packing boxes… he's been wearing a hole in the carpet for at least thirty minutes."

  "Christ, let's get on the road then, I guess," Zack said, tossing back the last sip of his coffee.

  "Just stay if you want, seriously, there's no reason we need to stay together on the road."

  "Naa, I'm just giving you a hard time. I knew you'd want to be getting outta here." He turned to Josh and offered his hand. "It was good seeing you, bro. Take it easy."

  Josh stood and clapped a hand on Zack's shoulder. "Good to see you too, man."

  "You should come out to L.A. sometime… if you thought last night's selection was good, you wouldn't believe all the ladies in Hollywood."

  "I might just have to do that, especially since my boy Collin's headed up there," Josh said.

  "Do it. I don't know how big Collin's place is, but you could always stay with me."

  "Sounds like fun. I'll be in touch."

  Josh gave Zack one last slap on the shoulder before crossing the room to give me a sideways guy-hug. "I'm not gonna get all mushy, don't worry," he said, laughing. I laughed too.

  "When Ethan wakes up, tell him I said goodbye. I'm gonna miss you, bro," I said.

  He wiped a fake tear from his eye, and we all laughed again. "No, I seriously might be visiting you guys a lot. It'd be nice to go out and not have to worry about running into Kayla."

  "Please do. Anytime," I said. And just like that, I was gone from San Diego for good.

  ****

  Rachel's apartment was much larger than I expected. She said she had a good job, and I believed her. But the proof was in the pudding, and she must have had a really good job to afford an apartment like this.

  "This is way bigger than my place," Zack said, making himself at home by inspecting the photos she had framed and hung on the wall. "Josh is definitely staying with you guys."

  "When's Josh coming?" Rachel asked. I could tell by her tone that she was okay with the idea, just curious.

  "He's not. Well, I guess he is sometime, but we don't have any real plans yet."

  "This place is sick," Zack said from over his shoulder as he looked through the refrigerator.

  "Get out of the fridge, that's her stuff." I said, just noticing what he was doing.

  "No, it's fine, I stocked up. I want your friends to feel at home here. It's your stuff too, remember?" God, she was so sweet. And I couldn't look at her without feeling the overwhelming urge to toss her over my shoulder and cart her to the bedroom. "Zack you're going to have to get yourself a bite to eat and get out of here. I haven't seen my girl in three weeks, if you know what I mean."

  "I hear you. And I'm really not hungry after that road food. I just wanted to see what you had. You can tell a lot about a person by what they have in their fridge, you know. I think me and you will get along just fine Rachel."

  "I like you too Zack," she said, smiling. "Did you get your invitation to the party?"

  "Yeah, I sure did, thanks. I already RSVP'd. I'll be there… two weeks right?"

  "Yep. Should be fun," Rachel said, grinning.

  "It will be. I've been to a party at The Mirror Garden before. It's a really cool place," Zack said.

  "Oh really? I'm so glad to hear that. Gretchen, my assistant, told me it was going to be great, but I haven't seen it in person yet. I almost scheduled an appointment for a tour, but I figured it be fun to wait and just see it the night of the party."

  "You'll love it. I'm excited about going back," Zack said giving her the smile I'd seen him lay on so many girls. He was a notorious charmer, and Rachel was beaming at him, which made me want to get him out of there even quicker.

  "I'm sure it's awesome. I know I'm looking forward to it. We'll see you at the party," I said, earning laughs and eye rolls from both of them. I took on a more sincere tone when I said, "Really though Zack, thanks for helping me move." I stuck a hand out to shake his then he turned and gave Rachel a hug before heading
out. He closed the door behind him, leaving Rachel and I alone for the first time.

  I huffed out a breath as I fell onto the couch, pulling her down with me to sit on my lap. She turned and put her hands around my neck, resting her forearms on my collarbones, and running her fingers through my hairline.

  She was gorgeous… absolutely gorgeous.

  "I missed you," she said, searching my eyes like the mysterious little gypsy she was. "Let's not do that again."

  "I agree. That was too long." I said.

  "Okay, so I can't wait anymore. I have a surprise and I wanted to wait to tell you in person." I gave her a quizzical look and she continued, "Joel got to tell you about the endorsement, so he said I could deliver this news. It's not as big as getting the endorsement in the first place. In fact, it's just one of the details about the endorseme—"

  "What? Now you've got me curious."

  "Okay okay, two things… one, you're going to do a photo shoot with Ian Craig for Perrin's new ad campaign. Do you know who he is? He's like one of the biggest photographers in the world. He's photographed everyone, Collin." I couldn't help but smile at her excitement. She continued, "And second, you and Joel are going to New York to be on Good Day America. You're going to be interviewed by Jeff Lynn. Can you believe it?"

  It was actually some pretty cool news. Good Day America was the number one morning show in America for the last twenty years and Jeff Lynn had been hosting it for at least ten of those. Every weekday morning, Jeff Lynn's face was a staple in households across America. In less than ten days, my mug would be in those houses.

  The photographer's name, on the other hand, did nothing for me. I liked to look at photographs, but besides Ansel Adams and Annie Liebovitz, no other names rang a bell. I didn't tell Rachel as much. She was so dang excited, there's no way I would've told her I had no idea who she was talking about.

  "That is very exciting news Mrs. Blake."

  "Thought you'd like that, Mr. Blake," she said, giving me a little wink.

  "You will be accompanying us to New York, I assume?" She had a look of genuine surprise, like the thought never crossed her mind. "Are you kidding me? Of course you're coming." She was such a freaking over achiever, I could tell she was thinking about how much work she's missed lately. "Oh come on Rachel. You only missed two days for the wedding. Besides, it's work related."

  "I know, but Joel isn't my only client." She was totally serious, but smiled.

  "It's Good Day America, Rachel. You're coming. It's just a couple of days and your clients will live. Gretchen can handle it."

  "All right. I'll think about it," she said. "And, that reminds me, that was the good news, but I have some bad news too."

  "What? You didn't tell me that," he said. "I would have picked hearing the bad news first."

  "Well, don't get all nervous or anything. It isn't that bad. In fact, it's good news to her."

  "Who?"

  "Gretchen."

  "She get a job?"

  "Almost, it's down to her and one other girl." She stuck her lip out, showing me how sad she would be if Gretchen quits.

  "Could you just get a temp while she finishes her project and have her come back to work for you when she's done?"

  "I wish, but it's a big contract. I doubt she would be doing assistant work anymore."

  "Yeah I guess I didn't think of it like that," I said, thoughtfully. "Is it like a lead role or something? Is it a big movie?"

  "No, not like that. It is a leading role, but it's TV. She'd be signing a five year contract with Passion Island."

  I couldn't help it, the laugh just came out. That was just the last thing I expected her to say. I thought it'd be a commercial, or a musical, or any number of other things, but a daytime soap opera? "You're kidding," I said.

  She slapped my chest. "It's a big break," she said, taking up for her friend.

  "I know, believe me, I've seen my fair share of that show." Rachel tilted her head in question at me. "My mom is a huge fan… has been for like a hundred years. I think it's the longest running soap on TV."

  "You're right," Rachel said, proud of me for having my facts straight. "They've been on the air for thirty eight years. And, the character Gretchen's in the running for is cute and nice, exactly like the real Gretchen. I really hope she gets it, even though it would suuuck for me."

  "That would suck for you. I'm sorry for you and happy for Gretchen all at the same time."

  "I know. That's exactly how I feel. She has one more audition, but she should know something by next week."

  "Woah, big week, huh?"

  "No doubt," she said. "All you have this coming week is the photo shoot, but the next week, you have Good Day America on Tuesday, then our party on Friday… and Gretchen should know something by then too."

  "Exciting stuff," I said.

  "Know what's more exciting?"

  "What?"

  "You're here."

  "I sure am."

  "To stay," she said.

  "To stay," I agreed smiling. I looked around. "And, I must say, I'm really digging my new pad."

  "Really? Because I'm just renting… we can look for something else whenever—"

  "There's just one little problem," I said, cutting in.

  "What?"

  "The bed."

  "What's wrong with the bed? Are you too tall for a queen?" She was genuinely concerned, which made me laugh.

  "Actually, I probably am too tall for a queen, but my feet can just hang off, that's not what I was talking about."

  "What?"

  "It's too neat… you and I need to go mess it up."

  "Now? We've got all these boxes and—" I cut her off again, but this time by pulling her to me for the kiss I'd been missing so badly these last three weeks. "The boxes can wait," she whispered.

  Chapter 23

  Rachel

  Five days after Collin arrived in Los Angeles, he had his first photo shoot for Perrin. Not knowing my husband would be getting the endorsement, I designed the ad campaign with a sexy, grungy edge to it. Boy, was I regretting that now.

  I thought I would enjoy watching Ian Craig work his magic, but nothing was enjoyable about this experience. In fact, I was beginning to think I never hated anyone more in my life than I hated Ian Craig right now. He had two girls, dressed in little more than eye shadow fawning all over Collin as if he were some sort of god. They may as well have been worshiping at his feet.

  Granted, I knew the images would turn out similar to the design sketches I'd given Joel, but that didn't mean I had to like Ian's methods. And like I said, when I came up with the ad campaign in the first place, I didn't think it would be Collin in the pictures. If I'd known that, I would have taken a totally different approach. There definitely would not have been female models involved.

  "Collin, you are like a vision, a photographer's dream." Ian was talking to him in between shoots while hair and makeup artist buzzed around them like flies. His accent was so heavy, it almost sounded phony… or maybe I was just in a foul mood. "In this next one, you will be the focus, and I'm only going to use one of the girls at your side."

  "Can we go ahead and take some with him by himself?" I asked. I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to say something. The self-absorbed photographer turned to me like he was noticing my presence for the first time.

  "And who are you?" he asked, looking down his nose at me. Not many people actually look down their nose at you, so you think it's just a made-up saying until someone like Ian Craig goes and does it for real.

  Joel (who had gone out to make a phone call) spoke from behind me. "She's the ad designer. Whatever she says goes." I was so thankful to both Collin and Joel that neither of the mentioned I was also the wife of the model. All that sexiness was giving me high blood pressure, and I was so relieved to have that part of the shoot over with.

  "Of course," was the only thing the photographer said before giving a slight bow and walking back towards the shooting area.

&nbs
p; "Regretting some of the artistic liberties you took when you came up with the design?" Joel was just giving me a hard time. He'd seen the photos on the monitor already, and knew we already had the perfect shots for the main campaign. Anything we'd be taking from here on out was just supplemental.

  "Yeah, that was not the most fun thing to watch," I said, laughing at myself. "Joel knew what he was doing when he picked you, though," I said, turning to Collin. "No matter how painful they were to watch, the photos are going to be gorgeous."

  "If it makes you feel any better, I didn't even notice those girls."

  "Riiiight," Joel said in an exaggerated tone that made me elbow him. "Ouch, what? I'm just being honest. They're models. All of their resources were used up on their looks. There's nothing up here." Joel used his pointer finger to tap on his head. My eyes widened.

  "Are you saying it's one or the other? That because I have half a brain, I'm automatically not as pretty as them?"

  "No, but having both is extremely rare, you're an anomaly," Joel said, trying to backpedal. I huffed out a tired breath. I hated to sound jealous or anything but I had just endured three hours of hot-body girls being coached to paw all over Collin. Half of those pictures would never be used anyway so it was a big waste of time for all of us.

  I certainly wasn't fishing for compliments. I was just ready to get out of there. "It doesn't matter. They're obviously gorgeous. The ads will be great," I said, smiling my best not pissed off smile.

  Just then we heard Ian's voice calling Collin back over to finish up. They did about thirty more minutes worth of Collin by himself before wrapping up the shoot. Of course, the ones of him alone turned out to be my favorite.

  Ian Craig surprised me at the end of the day by asking if he could come by our party next week. Apparently Collin had mentioned it to him at the end of the photo shoot, and he said he'd always wanted to shoot at The Mirror Garden. He offered to take some pictures of our party in exchange for our guests signing a waiver that they didn't mind appearing in his photographs. He would be shooting them for his own work, but Collin and I would get some amazing photos out of the deal. I thought it was a fair trade, especially since I knew what Joel had paid him today. "You are both pleasing to the eye," Ian said. "I think you'll make good art." I didn't know how good I'd look as art per say, but I was still a little excited at the prospect of having such a famous photographer at our party.