The Winner Is Love

  Chapter 5

  Stacy

  She didn’t sleep well. Her dreams were filled with visions of Slade. She wondered if he was ready for their trip. She also wondered if he was agreeable to it or if his agent had insisted. It would be a really lovely time if he was bitter the whole time.

  She got up and fixed the coffee. Moving slowly to get ready, her thoughts were filled with blue eyes and dark hair. Stacy had never been one to idolize a movie star or singer, but Slade Collins had always made her think about how lonely she was. She was thirty two and had no children or husband. She was a successful business owner, but that wasn’t what life was all about.

  Her excitement was starting to rise just a little more. She needed this vacation. Why not get excited? Stacy thought as she went about getting ready for work. Most women would be swooning just thinking that they would spend three days with a star of Slade’s magnitude. Although she was a little more down to earth than most women, the thought of getting to meet her favorite star was exciting.

  When she started backing out the garage door her heart almost jumped out of her throat as reporters started snapping pictures. She slowly backed through the dozen or so reporters as they shouted questions and tried to block her exit. Finally getting in the street, she quickly called her office, knowing Abigail was already there.

  “Good morning, Cauthen Accounting.” She heard the bubbly voice of her secretary. Sometimes it really grated on her nerves how excited she always sounded this early in the morning, when she had to drink a pot of coffee to even get out the door.

  “Abigail, are there any reporters there?” She asked as she drove down the entrance ramp to I-75.

  “I didn’t see any when I came in. Do you want me to check with security?”

  “Please call down and tell them to keep them out of the parking deck. They were all around my house when I left.” She pulled out into the early morning Atlanta traffic. This was the only thing she didn’t like about living and working in Atlanta, but knew it was part of it.

  “Ok, I’ll take care of it. See you in a little bit.” Stacy closed the phone and prayed that the reporters would be gone when she got home this afternoon.

  When she finally turned onto the road her office was on she held her breath. She noticed the entrance to the parking deck was free from reporters. She let out the breath and turned into the parking area. When she got up to her office she was glad to see Abigail putting a fresh cup of coffee on her desk. Thank heaven for Abigail.

  “Thought you might need a little extra kick after your exciting morning.” She smiled as she walked past Stacy and out to her desk.

  “Thanks so much. At least they have not made it here yet. Maybe they will be gone when I get home.”

  “I would imagine they will hound you until you leave. You might as well get used to being a local celebrity.” Abigail shrugged and sat down to answer the phone.

  Stacy sat down and turned to her laptop. Abigail had it up and running already. She was lucky to have such an efficient and faithful secretary and couldn’t run this business without her. The day had started out terrible, but the rest of the workday went uneventful. Stacy ate lunch in the cafeteria in the building. She was afraid of running into reporters.

  When Stacy turned on her street that evening she noticed only one news truck, but several reporters jumped up when she turned into her driveway. She hit the open button on her garage and went into it quickly shutting the door almost before she was totally inside, sitting there for a minute wondering how real stars put up with all this attention. She didn’t like it at all.

  Walking into her kitchen, she put her briefcase on the table and went to the refrigerator to grab a frozen dinner, sticking it in the oven and walking upstairs to change into a sweat suit. Her phone rang as she stepped into the closet, smiling when she saw it was Randi, her best friend. They had spoken earlier and decided the shopping trip was out.

  “Hey girl, I saw you on the news this afternoon. Bet you love all this attention.” Randi said with tongue in cheek.

  “Not hardly, can you believe these reporters? They’re still in front of my house.” She grabbed her sweats and headed to the bathroom.

  “I didn’t think they would go crazy until after the trip. Do you forgive me?”

  “You didn’t know that all this would happen. Oh, well, what’s done is done.” She put her phone on speaker and laid it on the counter. She dressed and picked it back up heading back down to check her dinner.

  “So since we’re not able to go shopping, what of mine do you need me to bring over?”

  Stacy checked her dinner and sat down at the bar. “I think all I need is your snow boots. I can get by with the cold weather clothes I already have.”

  Randi giggled and cleared her throat. “Well, I’ll be over in an hour.”

  “What’s the giggle for? What are you up to now?” She sighed as she thought of what her friend had up her sleeve. With Randi you had to be ready for every possibility.

  “Oh, nothing, I just picked up something special for you today. I’ll be over in a little bit.” She clicked off the phone before Stacy could ask any questions.

  Stacy pulled her dinner out of the oven wondering what she was up to. She smiled thinking of all the fun they’d had together. She was looking forward to packing tonight with her friend. Randi was the packing guru. She could make it all go in one suitcase without a wrinkle to be found. It was amazing. Stacy guessed it came from all the traveling she did with her job.

  She ate her dinner and went up to start getting her clothes out and put them on the bed. She dragged a suitcase out and put it beside the bed.

  The door chime went off and Stacy grinned. Randi had a remote for the garage and key to her house. “Up here Randi.” She called down the stairs.

  “Alright, but I’m grabbing a cookie first.” Randi had a sweet tooth. Looking at her figure you wondered where it all went. She’d always been petite. Stacy had fought for years to keep her figure. If she ate like Randi she’d be huge. She smiled and went back to organizing her clothes on the bed.

  Randi laughed when she walked into the bedroom. “You’re only going four days and three nights. You look like you’re packing for a month.” She immediately started sorting and removing clothes. She was very fashion conscious, it came with her job. Soon she had Stacy packed and a pile of clothes beside the bed to put back in the closet.

  They went downstairs and had hot chocolate and cookies to celebrate the trip. Randi got up around ten to leave. “Stacy, you have a wonderful trip. Take your reader for the plane ride. That will keep your mind off the flight.” She hugged her and smiled.

  “I know that look. It’s not going to happen.” Stacy threw up her hands and laughed. Randi had it in her mind that a romance would blossom on this trip. Stacy knew different.

  “Ok, well at least relax while you’re up there. I mean, you’re only going to be spending the weekend with the most eligible bachelor in the acting world.” She walked out the door whistling and smiling that smile.

  Stacy grinned and grabbed a bottle of water and headed up to get some sleep. She had to catch a flight the next morning. Her stomach did a flip at the thought.