Between the Raindrops

by Schussler, Susan

  Sarah glanced up and met Will’s eyes. Her wary expression motivated him to cross the room quickly.

  “I believe this one is mine, Nick.” Will wore a ghost of a smile as he wrapped his arm around Sarah’s waist and lovingly pried her away from him.

  “I don’t see your name on her.”

  Will smirked, cocked his head, and pointed to her left hand.

  “Oh, I didn’t notice that.”

  “You didn’t see that?” Hayden questioned, snatching Sarah’s hand and holding it in front of Nick’s face. He let go and shook his head in disbelief. “It’s not that you didn’t see it. It’s that you just don’t care.”

  Nick shrugged his shoulders. “You used to be better at sharing, mate.”

  Will turned, crouched to her level, and looked directly into Sarah’s eyes. “I have never shared a girl.” Then, glaring at Nick, he chuckled. “Don’t start rumors!”

  “There was that one girl from the party Liam had when his parents went to Milan sophomore year,” Hayden divulged, seemingly eager to share information.

  “What girl? I never dated her!” Will pointed a finger at Hayden and gave him a death glare.

  “Yeah, but you got to second base—or was it third?—at the party.” He met Will’s eyes with a sarcastic Oh, I’m scared look, disregarding his warning. “And Nick ended up dating her—for a couple of months, anyway.”

  “I remember her. You can’t blame us. She was quite fit, and her tits were fantastic,” Nick added, cupping his hands in front of his chest. “Breast man, I am,” He reached out and squeezed Will’s chest with one of his cupped hands. “You been working out, mate?” he asked with a chuckle.

  Will scowled at Nick and lifted his arm, breaking Nick’s grasp.

  “She doesn’t count. We were sixteen. I’m not the same person I was then.” He continued to glare at Hayden. “Come on, guys, Sarah doesn’t want to hear about ancient history.”

  “Yes, I do—as long as it’s ancient,” she professed with a grin.

  “Don’t worry, Sarah. Will flirts, but he’s all talk. He really is a one-woman kind of guy, and he’s yakked of no one but you since he met you. I have a hundred stories I could tell you, though, if you’re interested,” confessed Hayden.

  Sarah enjoyed hearing stories about Jon growing up, and she reveled in the fact that most of the people at the party called him Will. It tickled her for some reason. Sarah really liked getting to know his friends. They were all so different, yet all seemed very genuine. That was the part she liked the most. She felt as if they were people she could trust in a place where she wasn’t supposed to trust anyone.

  Three days later, Will and Sarah were scheduled to meet with Paris for the dreaded interview. Even though Will didn’t like the means that had led to it, the blog threads had been deleted, and he felt it was going to be a good day. The paparazzi were nowhere to be seen when they left the house, and that added to his breezy mood. Sarah was wearing her engagement ring, and she looked so beautiful in the snugly fitted minidress that Leslie had picked up. He was having a hard time keeping his hands to himself as they made their way to the hotel to meet Paris.

  “We could just get a room and skip the interview,” he said with a huge smile as they got out of his car in the hotel garage. He was excited to come out about the engagement, almost giddy. There had been so much misinformation in the press that he felt a sense of relief to finally share the truth.

  Sarah was quieter than usual. Will thought she was probably just nervous about her first interview. She hadn’t had her media training class yet, but he would be with her, so he was confident that it would go well.

  Paris’s room was a standard suite, the kind that Will had been to dozens of times for previous interviews. He leaned in, giving Paris a peck on the cheek, as he often did when he greeted women he knew. Then he introduced Sarah to the tall blonde. Paris welcomed them inside and froze for a second, shaking her head in disbelief as she spotted Sarah’s ring.

  “That’s quite a ring there.” Paris gawked, reaching for Sarah’s hand and examining the ring.

  Sarah just smiled and said, “Thank you.”

  Knowing that Paris would dive right into the heart of the interview if she could, Will reminded her, “We’re going to have to wait until Remi gets here to start the interview. She’s running a few minutes late but should be here shortly.”

  “That’s OK. We can get comfortable while we’re waiting. Would you like a mixed drink or a beer?” Paris offered. She directed them to a love seat where the video camera poised on a tripod could capture the interview.

  “Sarah?” Will asked, admiring how beautiful she looked as they sat down.

  “No, I better not. A pop, I mean, a Coke—would be great,” Sarah answered.

  Will chuckled softly. He adored her Minnesotan accent. It wasn’t always there, but every once in a while, he would catch a glimpse of it. And if he asked her about it, she would deny she had an accent at all. “A Coke sounds good to me too.”

  “You better not? Are you sure that there isn’t something to the pregnancy rumors?” asked Paris.

  “No, Paris. Look at her. There are no pregnancy rumors. She was in a car accident and is still on medication. That’s why she shouldn’t drink.” Will knew he would probably mention the car accident at some point during the interview, so he didn’t feel like he was giving anything away.

  While Paris got their drinks, Sarah stared wide-eyed at the camera.

  “That won’t be turned on until the interview,” Will said. He wanted to help Sarah relax, so he grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently as he looked tenderly into her eyes, trying to calm her. He could tell she was nervous. He wanted her to unwind and enjoy herself. After all, Paris wasn’t really that bad. She had always stuck up for him in the past. This interview would be easy.

  Just then, his phone vibrated. He checked it, thinking that it was probably Remi letting them know she had arrived.

  “Oh, I’ve got to take this. It’s my production manager for The Demigod. We’ve been playing phone tag for a week.” He rose from the sofa and stepped out onto the balcony to get some privacy. Thirty seconds later, he returned.

  “I’ve got to run to the car really quick. It might be ten minutes or so. Is that OK?” He looked at Sarah apologetically, and she nodded, but her eyes were wide with apprehension.

  “No questions. The interview doesn’t start until Remi gets here,” he added just before the door clicked behind him.

  Sarah sat quietly for a few minutes until Paris brought her a tall glass of Coke with ice. Sitting down on the chair next to the couch, Paris immediately pounced on her with questions.

  “So, Sarah, are you even old enough to drink alcohol?”

  “Yes.” She chuckled nervously. “I’m twenty-one,” she answered, wishing Will hadn’t abandoned her with this woman.

  “You’re pretty young to move so far away from home—to such a harsh environment as Hollywood. It’s not really fair for Jonathan to ask so much of you. You’ve got to miss your family, your friends.” Paris paused with a scripted look of concern. “You’ll never find people who really care about you in Tinseltown. The best you’ll ever be is arm candy.”

  Sarah didn’t hear a question in Paris’s statement, so she smiled, sipped her Coke, and shrugged. Paris fidgeted uncomfortably, and Sarah could tell she wasn’t satisfied with the reaction she was getting.

  “Do you really think you’re good enough for him? I mean, he’s a megastar, and what are you, some little college student from nowhere?” she asked nonchalantly.

  Sarah stared at her in disbelief for several seconds. She was so shocked that she wasn’t sure if she had heard her correctly, and she definitely didn’t know how to respond. She wanted to say something sarcastic, but didn’t want to come off as a bitch in her first interview. She didn’t know if Paris was just trying to get a reaction from her, like the paparazzi, or if she was serious, so she sipped her Coke until the ice clattered to the bot
tom of the glass, hoping Jon would be back soon.

  “You’re never going to be enough for him. He doesn’t stay with anyone very long. You have to see that you’ll never be able to hold his attention. He’s going to get bored and move on. I’ve seen it a hundred times. You seem like a nice girl, Sarah. I just want to warn you so you can go back home before you’re all used up and tossed aside. Hollywood is brutal.”

  Sarah, stunned by Paris’s words, rose from the couch. “I’m going to go find Jon.”

  Twenty minutes later, Will tapped on the suite door. “Sorry it took so long. It was only supposed to take a minute. Remi will be here any second now. She just sent me a text.” He looked around the suite, confused. “Where’s Sarah?”

  “Didn’t she catch up to you? She left shortly after you. She seemed upset about something,” Paris admitted with a glossy smile. “You know how young girls are. They don’t possess the prudence to cope with problems as they arise like mature women do. Why don’t you sit down and have a drink with me? I’m sure she’ll be back.”

  “What did you say to her, Paris?” Will questioned.

  “Nothing, just small talk.”

  “I’m going to find her,” he said as he opened the door and jogged toward the elevator. He thought maybe she had gotten upset about him taking so long. It wasn’t like her, but it could happen.

  Once in the elevator, Will took out his phone and sent Sarah a text: Sorry I took so long. Where r u?

  She usually responded quickly, but he still hadn’t gotten a response by the time he made it to the lobby, so he waited a few more seconds outside the elevator, thinking maybe there was bad reception. He looked around in the lobby and didn’t see any sign of her. He asked the woman at the front desk, the concierge, and several random people he ran across in the lobby if they had seen her. He even showed them a picture of her on his phone, hoping to jog their memories, but no one remembered seeing her. He didn’t want to make a spectacle of himself, but he needed to find her.

  Will was starting to panic, anticipating the worst. He sprinted down the stairs three at a time to the car in the parking garage. He scanned the garage, and there was still no sign of her. He knew he wouldn’t have missed her if she had made it to the garage, so he raced back up to the lobby.

  With trembling hands, he sent another text: Sarah, where r u? I need to know u r safe.

  This time, he got a response: I can’t do this, Jon. I’m going back to Minnesota. Please don’t come after me. I will call you when I’m ready to talk.

  Will flipped his phone over, checking to see if it was really his. This is ridiculous, he thought. What could have happened to spook her so badly? He racked his brain trying to make sense of her actions and decided that the accumulation of all that had transpired since they met was definitely enough to make any normal person run in terror. But he still couldn’t believe that she would leave without talking about it—unless she was so upset that she wouldn’t talk to anyone. He had seen that before. His mind kept racing in circles. Will just couldn’t make sense of anything.

  “Screw that.” He made his way to the hotel bar. She couldn’t have gotten far. He scanned the mostly empty bar for Sarah, hoping she hadn’t left the building yet, but she wasn’t there, either. He tried calling her, but she didn’t answer. Will made it back to the lobby. Breathing shallow, erratic breaths, he tried to think about what he should do next. He brought his hand to his forehead and squished his eyes together, demanding his mind to figure a way out of this. He knew that Sarah would most likely head back to the house before leaving for Minnesota, so he needed to head there first. Once they talked, they’d work it out. He just needed to catch her before she got on a plane.

  As he was getting ready to leave, Will looked up and saw a familiar figure standing by the elevator. Hoping to snag her before she got on the lift, he called her name across the lobby.

  “Remi!”

  The woman looked up in surprise. He walked over to meet her and spilled.

  “I’ve got to go. Can you tell Paris that we’ll have to reschedule? I’ll explain later.”

  Once in his car, he felt a little more relaxed. He knew it would all work out. Sarah wasn’t unreasonable. She was probably just scared. After all, he had taken her away from her friends, her family, everyone she knew. He had dragged her across the country into his crazy world, where strangers stared at her and chased her with cameras. Will knew it had to be hard for Sarah to be in such unfamiliar surroundings. She had never even been out of the States. He thought about how he could make the transition easier for her. He could fly her friends out next weekend, or her parents, though he didn’t really want to see her parents quite yet. Her friends, he thought, they would make it easier.

  When he pulled up to the guesthouse, he had thought it out. He knew what he would say to her. If she needed more time, he could give her more time, but he wasn’t going to let her leave without talking and making a plan. Leslie’s car was out front, and he wondered if she had picked up Sarah from the hotel.

  “Sarah?” he called as he opened the door into the house.

  “No, it’s just me. I thought Sarah was with you at that interview. Did she escape?” Leslie stopped her teasing when she saw his shattered face. “Jon, what happened?”

  “Sarah left the interview. She’s going back home to Minnesota.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. She won’t answer my calls. She probably just got scared. I don’t blame her. My life is so crazy.” He sat down on the couch and buried his head in his hands.

  “What scared her?” Leslie asked, sitting down next to him and wrapping her arm around his shoulders.

  “I left her with Paris while I took a call. Maybe Paris said something. I don’t know. She was pretty quiet this morning. Maybe it was something else. She talked to her parents for at least an hour last night.” He paused, worrying what her parents could have said, and then he stood up. “I have to catch up to her before she leaves town,” he said in a rush. He knew Sarah couldn’t have beaten him back to the house. Leslie would have seen her. She had been at the house for a couple of hours. Sarah must have gone directly to the airport.

  “Go find her,” Leslie said. “I’ll stay here and check the departure times for the outgoing flights to Minneapolis. I’ll call you.”

  As Will got back into his car and set his navigation system for the fastest route, avoiding traffic on the 405, he called Sam.

  “Sam, would it be possible for you to come with me to the airport? I’m about twenty minutes from your house. I could pick you up?”

  “Sure. Are we flying out?” Sam asked.

  “No, there’s no need to pack. Something is going on with Sarah, and I just need some help to get through the airport. It won’t be an overnighter. I’ll explain when I get there.”

  Leslie called as Will stopped to pick up Sam. She informed him that the next flight out wasn’t for two more hours and confirmed that Sarah had not been at the house yet. With Sam in his BMW, they sped toward LAX. Will explained what had occurred at the hotel the best he could. As they continued on their way, Sam began to ask questions.

  “Is it normal for Sarah to run off like that? Has she ever done it before?”

  “No, but I’ve seen her clam up and not talk to me when she was really upset.”

  “Can you think of any reason why she would want to go back to Minnesota?”

  “I know she wanted to finish her degree, but I thought we had worked through that.”

  He wondered if her parents had pressured her last night on the phone to come home and go back to school. She hadn’t said anything.

  “Actually, there are a million reasons. Would you want my cracked life?” Will added. If he didn’t catch her at the airport, he knew he would have to call Sarah’s parents or Jeff to make sure she was all right.

  “Yeah, I see your point.” Sam nodded in acknowledgment. “Does she know anyone in LA that she would trust enough to call for a ride?”

&
nbsp; “No, she doesn’t know anyone.”

  “What about your parents? Would she call them?”

  “They left for Belize this morning. They’re not even in the country.” As Will thought harder about who Sarah knew in LA, he came up with a name. “Sarah could have called my buddy Chris’s wife, Toni. I think she gave Sarah her number on New Year’s. I’ll call her and check.”

  Will called Chris’s wife using the hands-free connection on his steering wheel. She said she hadn’t heard from Sarah. Even though the conversation was on speakerphone, Will shook his head, emphasizing her answer to Sam as he wrapped up their conversation. When Will was off the phone, Sam started his questioning again.

  “So, Jon, let me get this straight. Sarah, not knowing anyone in LA to call and pick her up, caught a cab from the hotel without any help from the front desk or the concierge and without anyone seeing her, and she did this all in about thirty minutes? Does that make sense to you? Let me see that text she sent you.”

  Jon handed him the phone.

  “Does this sound like her? Is it her voice, something she would say?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t remember it exactly.”

  “Let me read it to you. ‘I can’t do this, Jon. I’m going back to Minnesota. Please don’t come after me. I will call you when I’m ready to talk.’” Sam looked at the texting thread above the one he had just read and continued. “Would she normally abbreviate words like you did in the text you sent? Because she didn’t abbreviate at all on this text.”

  “Shit! Shit! How could I be so stupid?” Will berated himself as a horn blared loudly.

  “Jon, pull over.” The BMW was swerving between lanes and barely missed the sports car next to them. “I’m driving. Just pull over!” Sam boomed in his commanding voice.

  Will pulled the car to the shoulder, and as he got into the passenger seat, he confessed, “She almost never calls me Jon except when we’re in public—never in a text. She always calls me Will, and she abbreviates more than I do. Sometimes I have to ask her to speak English because I have no clue what her texts mean.” His whole body shook as his head fell into his hands. “Someone’s got her, don’t they?”