“He is?”
She took out her phone, tapped on the screen several times, then slid the phone toward him.
“What’s this?”
“Eric Staton’s proposal.”
He sighed softly as he saw the way Christopher was looking at Chloe, and most important, how Chloe was looking at him.
He got together with Chloe because he knew how fond his grandfather was of her, and she had been a great girlfriend. She wasn’t clingy, she didn’t check on his movements, and she was fine if he forgot about their anniversary.
Besides, she had always been there for him, and he’d grown rather fond of her as well.
His thoughts returned to the video when Christopher started singing.
“He has the voice of an angel,” Rebecca said.
He rolled his eyes and straightened. “So you want me to promote his next album.”
“Song. I need you to express your interest to the record company.”
“I see. They want to drop him, but you’re making sure that it doesn’t happen.”
She picked up her bag. “I hope you’ll make your interest known to the record label as soon as possible.”
“I’ll make the call now.” He would do whatever he had to just so he could get her to leave, but he had something to add. “Leave Chloe out of whatever you’re planning.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t know what you’re up to, but don’t pull Chloe into your mess.”
A corner of Rebecca’s eye twitched. “What makes you think you’re in the position to speak to me like this?”
Jason exhaled silently through his nose and displayed his most pretentious smile. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“That’s better.” Rebecca grabbed her bag and stood. “Not for now.”
“Wow, is this real?” Chloe ran her hand across the cover of her new passport. Her overnight courier hadn’t even arrived, and Kelly already managed to get her passport.
Chloe looked up at the middle-aged woman. Kelly’s dark brown hair was tied back in a low ponytail. The collars of her white shirt rested neatly over her black well-fitted blazer.
If Chloe hadn’t known better, she would think Kelly was a lawyer.
“How did you get this?” she asked, her hands still fiddling with the passport.
One of Kelly shoulder’s twitched.
She shared a look with Christopher, then turned back to Kelly. “This is real, right?”
“Of course,” Kelly said, seemingly insulted.
“I’m sorry. It just seems impossible. They won’t even let me start the process to get my passport, but you got it overnight. I know I’m holding it, but I can’t believe it’s in my hands.”
Kelly’s smile returned. “I got it this morning. I called a previous hotel you were staying at and asked for the photocopy of your passport.”
“Oh, that’s why you asked where … we were staying before this.”
Kelly nodded. “Everything is legal. Don’t worry.”
Chloe stared at her passport. It still didn’t explain how Kelly got her passport when she wasn’t even there to sign whatever document was required, but she didn’t care. She got her passport. “Thanks. I don’t know what else I can say.”
Kelly reached to her side and picked up two large bags. “Clothes. Your suitcase got stolen, right?”
“You bought clothes for me?” Chloe didn’t think the bags were for her. She thought Kelly had gone shopping before meeting them.
She had changed into Christopher’s T-shirt and sweatpants last night and wore back her only set of clothes today.
“I went to your Facebook page and chose the clothes based on your photos, and Miss Clarke said you’re the same size as she is. The clothes have been washed, so you can wear them right away.”
“Wow.” Chloe didn’t know what else to say.
“I’m not done,” Kelly said with a proud grin. She picked up the last bag on the floor. “A new cell phone. Sorry, but I’ve opened it so that I could charge it last night. Your new SIM card is already inside. It’s the same number, and you can start using it immediately.”
“You’re a … miracle worker.”
Kelly’s smile grew wider. “Anything for you and your girlfriend,” she said to Christopher. “I’ve also taken the liberty to get you a new phone. It’s in that bag, too.” She pointed to the paper bag Chloe was holding. “I know couples like to have the same phone model.”
“My phone is … fine.”
“It’s already paid for anyway.” Kelly took a sip of water and continued. “Both phones have been configured to English, so don’t worry. I’ve also booked two rooms at the hotel Mr. Staton is staying in. Here are the keys. I’ll have someone pick your things up from the current hotel and move everything there.”
“Oh, there’s no need. We’re fine with the hotel we’re staying at. You’ve already done so much for us.”
“Mr. Staton insisted,” Kelly said. “Also, I’ve ordered another suitcase for you. It’ll be in your room when you get back.”
Chloe shook her head. “Kelly, you must be superwoman.”
“Mr. Staton pays me to be efficient.”
“You’re way more than efficient. You’re thoughtful, resourceful, meticulous, and …” Chloe laughed. “As Jane said, a miracle worker.”
“Thank you.” Kelly looked over at Christopher as she pulled out a white envelope. “Mr. Staton says you can hang on to his card. But I’ve gotten another card for you, deposited with the payment Mr. Staton promised.”
“Oh—”
“He insisted.” Kelly pushed the envelope to Christopher. “The money has been deposited, and the card is under your name. No one else can withdraw the money now.”
Chloe was certain Kelly could.
“Then we don’t need his card … anymore.” Christopher returned Eric Staton’s credit card to Kelly.
“And I’ll pay back whatever we used when I can get my hands on my money.”
“Would you like me to settle that for you?” Kelly asked.
Chloe smiled and shook her head. “You’ve done more than enough.”
“Is there anything else I can do for either of you? Will you be going anywhere after Venice? I can make arrangements for you. Mr. Staton says he wants to pay for the rest of your trip.”
“No, this is the last leg of our holiday.”
“Well, there’s a whole world out there. Think about it. If the two of you want to extend your holiday, just give me a call.”
Chloe and Christopher nodded.
“All right.” Kelly stood and hesitated before sitting back down. “I know this is completely unprofessional.” She took a deep breath and pulled out a stack of CD albums from her bag. “But will you sign them for me? I got all your CDs.”
Christopher laughed. “I’ll be glad … to.”
“Do you want a photo?” Chloe asked. “I can take it for you.”
Kelly’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Christopher said. “After all you’ve done for us, it’s the least I can do.”
Kelly couldn’t stop grinning while Christopher signed the albums. “Will you be writing more songs for Mr. Hunter?”
Chloe looked at Kelly, not saying anything. Not many people knew who she was or that she’d written a song for Christopher.
“That’s my favorite song,” Kelly said. “It suits him so well, and the lyrics …” She smiled. “I hope you’ll write another song for him.”
“I already have. It isn’t completed, but it’s in the works.”
Christopher signed the last copy and handed the albums back to Kelly.
“That’s great. I can’t wait to listen to your next album.”
After taking the photo, Kelly left them to have their lunch.
“She’s amazing.” Chloe looked through the clothes in one of the bags. “I can’t believe she did her research before getting the clothes, and she got them wa
shed for me.”
“And your passport.”
“Yeah.” She set the bag of clothes down and switched on her new cell phone. Exhaling heavily, she relaxed against her chair. “Thank God for Kelly.”
“I think we should keep her … number,” Christopher said and laughed.
“I think you should.” She looked over at her phone that was vibrating away with text messages.
“I thought you didn’t get a lot of calls.”
She sighed softly when she saw the number on the screen. “It’s my mother. I think she’s probably pissed off that I hung up on her.”
“You didn’t; I did.”
She rolled her eyes. It wouldn’t make a difference to her mother.
“I didn’t think you’d call … her.”
“The State Department said that if I can’t pay for my birth certificate, then the only other people who could do so would be my parents. I can’t call my dad. I had a falling out with him soon after we got to London, and I haven’t spoken to him since.”
“It’s been years; I’m sure he doesn’t still hold a grudge.”
“He has no right to hold a grudge,” she said. “I don’t regret my decision. If given the chance to redo things, I would’ve done the same thing, especially when I found out he was still going behind my back pretending to be all pathetic.”
“What happened?”
She took a sip of water and shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about her parents. “Forget it. It was a long time ago.”
Christopher smiled and shrugged.
She licked her lips as she watched him. He had always been patient with her inability to voice things out.
Whatever happened with her father happened a long time ago, which was precisely why she should be able to talk about it. Besides, she did tell him that it was good to talk about things.
“Did you know my father was cheating on my mother back at home?”
“In Dunsmuir?”
She nodded. “Apparently that was why my mother insisted that he accept the transfer to London. She thought that by moving away, everything would be all right.”
“But it wasn’t.”
“And he used me. He introduced the woman to me. She was nice to me. I didn’t know she was the mistress. But when my mother found out that I had been in contact with the woman, she accused me of betraying her.”
“But you didn’t know.”
Chloe shrugged. “She was bitter; she’s always been. In hindsight, I can’t blame her. Imagine having to live with a husband who comes home each night as if the whole world owed him. You’d be bitter, too.”
For as long as she remembered, her parents’ relationship had been bad. She never understood why her mother didn’t just get a divorce.
“So you stopped talking to him?”
“That wasn’t the reason why I stopped talking to him.” She checked her phone, rolling her eyes as she read the texts from her mother telling her once again what a useless person she was. “He kept sending texts that were meant for his mistress to me. At first, I pretended as though I didn’t receive anything, but the texts kept coming. I grew irritated and confronted him. And instead of admitting his mistake, he laughed awkwardly and told me I must have been dreaming. Then he continued laughing and tried to rub my head as he said how I’m always imagining things.
“I wasn’t five anymore, so I stood my ground and told him to stop. After that, he stormed into the kitchen, then opened and slammed every cabinet door he could. When I chose to ignore him, he sent me a text, stating that since I was so unhappy with him, I could forget about getting a single cent from him for school, which was fine with me. I thought I’d simply get a loan, but then he went ahead and pulled me out of school. He pulled me out of the Royal Academy of Music!”
Just thinking about that made her boil. She exhaled slowly, reminding herself to calm down.
“He did all this to force me to apologize to him for being tired of receiving his texts for his mistress or mistresses. When I found out, I tried to explain to my school that it was a mistake and begged them to take me back. But it was too late, they’d given my spot away.”
“He ruined your chances of getting a good education because he couldn’t admit his mistake?”
“That still wasn’t why I stopped talking to him completely,” she said and laughed when he arched his brow. “I was already in a cold war with him when my mom caught him with another woman. They brought their fight home, of course. And when he saw me, he said to her face that I knew all along and helped him cover it up.”
“What?”
“My mother was so angry that she threw both my dad and me out. Thank God a neighbor took me in. After that, my neighbor helped me with my scholarship application to Paris. And in the meantime, he actually went around my back and told my neighbor that I was refusing to talk to him even though I was the one who caused the whole thing. He acted all pathetic, as if he was the one suffering because of my mistake.”
“What a jerk. I always … knew he was pretentious, but he exceeded all … expectations.”
She gave him a half-shrug. “I was sitting on the stairs and heard the whole conversation. He didn’t know I was there, but I heard the whole thing. The funny thing was, I wasn’t surprised at all. I wasn’t surprised to hear my father talking all that crap.”
“Because he’d been giving you crap your whole life.”
She laughed. It was so easy talking to Christopher. She didn’t have to explain much nor defend her decision to ignore her father.
She knew how ungrateful it sounded for a child to want nothing to do with her parents. But she didn’t have to explain anything to Christopher. “Yeah, I think so.”
He shrugged. “So, you went to school in … Paris.”
“On full scholarship.” She grinned. “I stayed with my neighbor until I went to Paris.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”
“You didn’t know. Anyway, everything is good now. I have my own place, sort of, and I earn enough to make sure I’m in a different country, or at least a different city, from where they are.”
“Are they still together?”
“They’re still together. She took him back after a week or so. They’re still living under the same roof; they just don’t talk to each other and stay in separate rooms.”
“And she … didn’t ask you to come home?”
Her brows flickered up.
“Did you explain what happened?”
“She asked me how she was supposed to trust me when I kept the text messages from her in the first place.”
Christopher’s face was emotionless. He didn’t say a word, and she figured it was because he didn’t know what to say.
“You knew my parents. They’ve always been somewhat crazy, and I’ve always kind of lived in my own world.”
“Yeah, but to kick you out?”
“She did pay for therapy. My neighbor confronted my mother and told her that she shouldn’t put me through this, so my mother offered to pay for therapy. Isn’t she sweet?”
Christopher shook his head as he rubbed his fingers against his chin.
“So I went for … ten sessions? I think. That was where I learned the whole talking-is-good concept. Then I went to Paris.” She smiled when he remained quiet. “It wasn’t a big deal. I was never close to them anyway.”
“So when we go back, you have every reason to continue staying at your own house.”
“Hmmm, I don’t know. I love Rome, you know.”
“Kelly went through all that effort to get your passport. You have to use it.”
She laughed. “I do love the house you built as well.”
Chloe broke from Christopher’s kiss and leaned back on the door.
“Goodnight,” Christopher said, his hand still resting on her neck.
She giggled. “I think that’s the third time you’ve said that.”
They ordered room service after a day of exploring. They had their din
ner while watching a movie in her hotel room. After a whole day together and a three-hour dinner, they still couldn’t leave each other.
He grinned and leaned in again. She threw her hands over his shoulders and kissed him back.
Weaving his hand into her hair, he pulled her closer against him.
One of her hands slipped down from his shoulder and clutched his shirt. When Christopher took a step back, a series of clangs sounded, startling both of them.
She looked down and laughed when she noticed Christopher had stepped onto the tray that held their empty plates.
Christopher laughed as well.
“Goodnight,” she said for the third time that night. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
They got into another long kiss before Christopher broke it off, gave her a peck on her forehead, then took the five steps to his own room. “Goodnight.” He grinned as he opened his door.
She grinned sheepishly, then went back into her room.
She had just closed the door when her phone began vibrating on the table. She supposed it was her mother and was about to ignore it when she realized it wasn’t her phone. She had left her phone on the dresser. That was Christopher’s phone.
Once she got closer to the phone, she noticed the name on the screen.
Rebecca Grant.
“Sorry, he left his phone in my room,” Chloe said once she picked up the call.
“I’ll call him back.” Rebecca hung up without another word.
Chloe frowned at the phone, at the lack of colors.
Between having to write a song for Ella and getting all excited about this trip, she’d pushed Rebecca to the back of her mind.
Chloe strode out of her room and pressed the bell outside Christopher’s room. “You left your phone behind,” she said when he opened the door.
He grinned. One of his hands took the phone while the other reached toward her waist.
As much as she would enjoy more time with him, she had something else on her mind. “Goodnight.” She gave him a light peck on his cheek, flashed a smile, and half jogged back to her room.
Once she was in her room, she grabbed her laptop and got on the Internet to run a search on Rebecca.
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