Falling into You

by Abrams, Lauren

  I tell him that. “Can we not talk about the future for five days?” I take a deep breath and look deeply into his eyes, willing him to hear me. “I’ve spent nearly all of my life planning for the next day, and the next month, and the next school, and the next life event. I really just want to be here with you, in New York, for right now. No future, no past. Just a few days of nothing but the present. James Ross is exempt, of course. I can tease you about that.”

  “But…”

  He starts to speak, but promptly shuts his mouth when he looks at my eyes. “No past, no future. For five days. On Friday, after the press conference, all bets are off. And the past and the future will exist again.”

  I nod, because he’s right. Five days could pass in the blink of an eye. Or they could last a lifetime.

  “For right now, all I am thinking about it how to get the fastest cab driver in the city so that I can get you back in my bed. If we only have five days, we better make them count.”

  I grab his hand. “Race you?”

  I’m sprinting through the restaurant and Hostess-Who-Needs-A-Sandwich gives me the dirtiest look she can muster, but it bounces off me.

  Five days it would be.

  Chapter 20

  CHRIS

  Hallie’s tangled in my arms and I kiss her gently. She smiles up at me.

  “You know, I think I could get used to this whole perfectly happy thing.” Her words are light, but there’s a melancholy expression on her face that belies their meaning.

  “You can get used to it, if you’d let me tell you about…”

  Her finger on my lips silences me. “Last day, Christopher.”

  It was. The last four days had been the best of my life. The kind of days that last forever and pass in little more than a heartbeat.

  We had fallen into a little routine—I would try to convince her to stay in bed each morning, and she would try to convince me to get out of it. We spent long hours debating politics and sports and movies and books and music and long hours doing nothing but wrapping ourselves in each other. She had managed to talk me into getting out of bed for a brief outing each day--we’d been to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, a Broadway show, dancing at a club, Chinatown, and to my favorite coffee shops and cafes.

  Everything was new. Every corner of the city felt alive with something that had never been there before.

  “You know, we could sign a temporary extension of the five day contract.”

  “You become James Ross tomorrow, so that’s not going to be possible.”

  “Why did you have to remind me of that?”

  Marcus hadn’t quite let me forget it. Each day, there had been phone calls (which I ignored) and angry text messages (also ignored) and faxes. Hallie made me sign the contract that had been hand-delivered by a messenger. I had barely glanced at it before starting to sign it, but she had grabbed it from me and pored over every detail.

  “You just can’t sign something without reading it,” she had told me.

  “That’s what Marcus does,” I had told her. After she had checked it to her satisfaction, she had looked up at me in shock.

  “Chris! Do you have any idea of how much they’re going to pay you for this?” Trying to feign interest in anything but her, I had looked at the number, which, I have to admit, caused my heart to beat a little faster.

  “If someone wants to give me a ridiculous pile of cash to pretend to be someone else for a couple of months, that’s their prerogative. It’s only money,” I told her eventually, after I wrapped my head around the number of zeroes.

  “It’s enough money to buy a private island!” she had exclaimed.

  “Hmm, that’s tempting,” I had told her, dragging her down with me.

  “No one else is going to let you forget it, either.” Hallie pokes me in the arm, snapping me back to the present. “So, what’s the plan for our last day? I may even let you convince me that today’s outing can be to the kitchen and back. I could maybe be convinced that staying in bed is a good idea.”

  Now, she wants to stay in bed. Great. “I have a surprise for you.”

  “Chris! You know I’m not good at surprises.”

  It’s true. She wasn’t good at gifts, either. I tried to buy her a little snow globe from the Statue of Liberty, but she had refused to allow me to do so. The same thing happened at the Empire State Building, and in Chinatown. She had even insisted on paying for her own ticket to Rent, which she had loved and I had tolerated.

  “Think of it more as a gift for both of us. And what good is my new, gigantic contract, if not to spoil the people around me?”

  “Fine. Fine.”

  “Pack your things.”

  “Are we going somewhere?”

  I kiss the tip of her nose. “Yes, we are most certainly going somewhere, lazy.”

  “Lazy? Me lazy? Mr. ‘I just want to stay here, in bed, all day?’”

  “Pack. You’re not getting out of this one, no matter how much you hate surprises.”

  “Chris…” Her voice is soft. “You should talk to your dad before we go.”

  “Hallie.” My voice is a warning.

  “It was worth a try.”

  Two days before, I had walked out of my room to find her on the couch, holding my father’s hand and speaking to him in low tones. I had grabbed her arm and yanked her away.

  “You don’t talk to her,” I told him, my voice loud and angry. “You do not ever look at her again.”

  I had dragged her back into my room. “You will not speak to my father again. He is an evil man who never gave a damn about anyone in his entire life. I’ve showed you the scars, right? He used to throw bottles at me when they were empty, Hallie. In his deranged mind, he thought I was responsible for emptying the bottles. When I was seven.”

  Her eyes flashed at me. “I know, Chris. I know that. But he’s dying. Do you understand? Not in the future, not in the near future, but now.”

  “Do you think I give a shit about that?”

  “I know you don’t care about that. I know that you’re angry, and you have a right to be. But he’s an old, sick man who wants to make amends with his only son before he goes. And if you don’t do this now, you’ll never get another opportunity. You’ll never get to talk to him again. I know what that’s like, remember? I don’t have a dad anymore. Do you even know what I would give to talk to him again?”

  “Your dad was nothing like my dad!” I want to comfort her, but was angry and I didn’t want him talking to her, poisoning her like he did with everything and everyone else in her life.

  “I’m so sorry, Chris.”

  I didn’t want the pity. “You know nothing about it. Nothing about having a father who gives up on you. Nothing about what I went through.” I could tell that the words hurt her, and I wanted to take them back, but my anger overwhelmed me. And it was true. Her stories about her father were filled with love. You could practically see it shimmering on the surface of her memories of golf dates and trips to Disney World and Washington, D.C..

  “I know that, Chris. But he’s the only father you’ll ever have. I’m just afraid that you’ll throw this away, and you’ll never get another shot at it, and that breaks my heart. And Diana…”

  “Hallie, let it go.”

  “But..”

  “I said, let it go.” I threw the glass I was holding against the wall then, and she jumped back in terror. “Please, don’t mention it again. And don’t talk to him. Or Diana.”

  I had scared her then, and I try to keep my voice even now. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do here, but you really don’t know what it was like. You can’t know. And I can’t do it. I’ve tried, again and again, to talk to him, but I can’t.”

  She takes my face in her hands and kisses me. “I’m sorry. I know I’m meddling in your business and I shouldn’t.”

  “No, you shouldn’t.” I’m finished with the conversation, and she bites her lip and nods at me.

  “So, what do I need on this
trip? What should I pack?”

  “Absolutely nothing,” I say, laughing at the expression on her face. “Maybe some clothes for tomorrow so you don’t have to run around the city naked. But I’m not planning on letting anyone else see you tonight.”

  She throws a pillow at me as I try to slip my hand under her shirt. “It’s already 4 o’clock. I’m never getting out of here unless you leave me alone for five seconds.”

  “You like it.”

  She grins. “I do. Now, get out.”

  I’m sitting with Diana in the living room as Hallie gets her things together.

  “She’s pretty fucking great, huh?”

  “I never thought I would have to say this to you about any girl, but she is pretty fucking great. Let me give you some sisterly wisdom. If you were smart, you would use all of that God-given charm that you seem to have been blessed with and use it for holding onto her as tightly as you can. Trust me, baby brother, that kind of girl doesn’t come along twice.”

  “I’m in love with her.”

  I haven’t said the words aloud, not to Hallie and not to anyone else.

  I’ve known it since that first day in the park, when she expounded on her not believing in love at first sight thing by talking about the importance of history, or shared experience. I sat and stared at her and thought, well, that’s bullshit, because I am already hopelessly in love with you.

  With each day that passes, each time I look at her in the morning or at night, or when we make love, or laugh over dinner, or argue about movies, I’m more and more sure that there will never be anyone for me but her, that this is the girl that I will spend the rest of my life trying to make happy.

  “I know you are.” Diana pats my arm comfortingly.

  “That’s all you got to say, D? I fall in love with someone for the first time in my life, and all you have to say is that you know? I’ve only known this girl for a week, and I tell you I’m in love with her, and there’s no sisterly advice, no talking me out of it, nothing?”

  I’m teasing her, and she knows it, but she’s shaking her head.

  “There’s no talking anyone out of falling in love,” she says, looking years older than her 26. “You just have to hope that you found a good one. You did. And I think she may be one of the all-time greats.”

  She tweaks my nose. “So, now all you need to do is tell her. Try to make it romantic. Girls like stuff like that. Is that what the hotel suite and the room service and champagne are for?”

  “I don’t know. That was part of the plan, but…” I bury my head in my hands. “She has this hang-up about the future, and I don’t want to scare her off. I thought that the room service and champagne might be a nice start on that. Thanks for helping, by the way.” Diana had helped me arrange everything—the suite at the Waldorf-Astoria, the flowers, the limousine.

  “No problem. I live to serve. The l-word is a big step, though. You’re going to need an ace in the hole. Jewelry. Something sparkly.”

  I’m a step ahead of her, for once. I pull the black box from my jacket pocket and hand it to her.

  “Whoa, there. I didn’t mean that you had to go off and get married.”

  “It’s not a ring.” I laugh and open the box for her.

  I chose a simple diamond set in platinum with a thin white gold chain. It looks like a falling star. I know that she was going to protest and moan and groan that it was too much, but I couldn’t help myself. It belongs around her neck.

  “Well, if you’re going around giving diamonds away, you should have at least gotten something for your old sister.”

  I whip out the other black box from my pocket and present it to her. “Exactly the response I expected.”

  “Chris.” Diana gasps as she opens the box. I bought her a pair of diamond drop earrings along with Hallie’s necklace. Conveniently, she, Hallie, and Sophia had gone out to lunch the day before, so I had managed to steal a few minutes to shop. “You shouldn’t have.”

  “What I should have done is gotten you the necklace, too.”

  “No, it’s too expensive, Chris.”

  “Trust me, D. I can afford it.”

  “In that case, every girl needs diamonds.” She wraps her arms around my neck. “You know, you might be one of the all-time greats, too.”

  “Ah. Now she tells me. Maybe I should buy you diamonds every day. Might be the only way to get you to be nice to me.”

  “If you’re just buttering me up for a lifetime of being known as Chris Jensen’s sister, I’m definitely going to need more diamonds. My brother, the movie star. The press conference is tomorrow?”

  “Yeah. Marcus thinks the press will be all over the announcement for a couple of days, and then they’ll pretty much leave me alone until the movie comes out. I’ll head to LA after the holidays for rehearsals and stuff, and then the movie’s shooting in Europe. You can come visit in Prague.”

  “Obviously I will be visiting you in Prague.” She shoots me a sideways look. “Judging from the ridiculously loud noises coming from your room, I might have to intrude on your little love fest, though. I’m assuming that she’s coming with you. ”

  “I haven’t asked her to come yet.”

  “But you’re going to.”

  “I’m going to. She has to say yes.” I say it more to convince myself than Diana. Hallie’s little rule about ignoring the past and the future has been weighing heavily on my mind, but it’s given me plenty of time to think about a way to ask her to come to Prague that will ensure she won’t be able to say no.

  “Oh, I think she’ll say yes.”

  “She has school and everything, so I don’t know whether or not she’d be willing to…”

  “She can go to school in Prague!”

  I had arranged that, too. Greenview had a study abroad program in Prague, and I had called the school in Prague and the Greenview office the day before to ensure that Hallie could take classes while we shot the movie. So, all she would need to do is to say yes to Prague and yes to me.

  “Okay, I’m ready,” Hallie says, coming out of my room and tossing her bag over her shoulder. “Ooh, Diana. Let me see.”

  Diana’s taken her new earrings out of the box and she puts them on and models them for Hallie, who is touching them and admiring.

  “You lovebirds have fun tonight,” Diana says, basically shoving us out the door. She kisses Hallie’s cheek. “Go easy on him. He has a soft heart.”

  Hallie kisses her cheek back. “I will. I promise. And those earrings are absolutely fabulous on you.”

  We jump into the elevator, and Hallie grabs my hand excitedly. “I know. We’re going to see Cats.”

  “Cats closed years ago,” I say, chuckling.

  “But it’s been my lifelong dream!”

  “I think you’re just going to have to wait for the revival.”

  She mock-pouts, but gasps when we get into the lobby and I usher her outside to the limousine. “Your chariot, my lady.”

  “Chris, you are too ridiculous. Do you know I’ve never even been in a limousine?” She grasps at my arm. “Ok, this is a surprise I can handle.”

  The driver opens the door for us and there’s a bottle of champagne waiting, which I grab and pour into two glasses.

  “I’m starting to think that the only thing that New Yorkers drink is champagne,” Hallie says, giggling and toasting me.

  “There’s an occasional tequila shot thrown in there, too.” I remember the party and that little red dress and think that whatever Sophia had been planning might have worked after all.

  “Don’t remind me! I’m never going to drink tequila again.”

  “That’s what they all say until the next time someone shows up with tequila shots.”

  She laughs at that, but the key to the hotel suite is lying on the table in the back of the car, and Hallie toys with it. “You really shouldn’t have gone to all this trouble. Limousines and hotel suites. It’s really too much.”

  “You love hotels.” It’s a pi
ece of information that I’ve managed to wheedle out of her, and despite her total unwillingness to accept anything else I’ve tried to give to her, it’s that small fact that makes me confident that this is the right plan. She kisses me, curving her body into mine.

  “I do love hotels. Enough to make me forgive you for spending all of this money.”

  “How many times do I have to tell you…”

  She hushes me by lacing her fingers through mine. “What I should say is thank you, for the car and the hotel and the last week. I can’t imagine…” Her voice trails off. “So, thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  As we pull up in front of the hotel, she clutches my hand in excitement before the driver comes around to let us out. I rush her through the lobby, eager to see her face when she sees the flowers.

  “Chris, this is too fancy. You’re being absolutely crazy.” She’s looking at me with big eyes, and I kiss the top of her head.

  “You deserve some spoiling.”

  We get to the elevator and I insert the key and press the button for the top floor. I think she’s going to protest again, but she instead turns to me and kisses me passionately. “I don’t want to waste our last night fighting about money,” she whispers.

  “About it being our last night, Hallie…”

  But she’s kissing me everywhere and my words trail away as we reach our floor. I reach for the key, holding her hand behind my back. Her eyes are wide as she takes in the grandiose suite. Find some courage, I think to myself. Prague. Her and me. Maybe forever.

  Chapter 21

  HALLIE

  Chris picks me up and carries me into the room because I’m staring at the lavish suite, unable to walk in the door. “Chris…”

  He hushes me before I can protest again about the money. “Trust me. I can afford it. I really have you to thank for softening Alan up anyway. And the press conference is tomorrow. I wanted us to have one more perfect night before I become James Ross for good.”

  He’s kissing me and I’m kissing him. “I suppose you were hoping for a reward, then.”

  “The thought may have crossed my mind.” He grabs me and twists me into his arms and we’re kissing each other desperately.