Page 96 of Stone Promises

I shrug. “After working for forty-eight hours, I think you should be able to come home and eat something you love.”

He winks at me. “How about you just blow off my brother and let me keep you?”

I laugh as he closes the door behind him.

I get started unpacking my clothes. I can’t help but smile. I feel like Chad must feel a lot of the time, a nomad without a home, wandering from rental house to guest house to hotel room. But I’m so happy to finally be living in the city. And in as little as a few weeks, Chad will be living here right along with me.

~ ~ ~

It didn’t take long for the vultures to come out. It’s all over the tabloids that Chad and I have split, and only a week after they were announcing our engagement. Don’t these people have better things to do?

There’s a picture of me someone must have snapped in the airport. It shows me sad and alone. Of course I was alone; Chad didn’t have a ticket so he couldn’t go through security with me. The good news is at least now I don’t have to go through the main entrance anymore, so the only paparazzi we run into are at the curb. A fellow passenger must have taken the picture of me at the gate.

More pictures entail Kyle hugging me when I arrived at JFK and him escorting me home to pack my things and go to his place. So now I’m mending my broken heart by sleeping with Thad Stone’s younger brother. Do people really believe this crap?

And since Chad and Courtney are still wrapping up last-minute filming, they are being rumored to have reconciled. Paul must be salivating over that story.

The hate mail has subsided since I moved in with Kyle last week. I suspect either people have moved on, or Kyle and my dad are running interference for me.

I try not to think about the tabloids as I lie on my bed and put together my first week’s lesson plans. I’m excited to meet my new students on Monday. I think fourth grade is the best grade to teach. For the most part they sit still when you tell them to, and they haven’t yet developed attitudes.

I had a hard time putting my classroom together last week with the constant interruptions. A lot happened over the summer and I swear each of the fifty-five teachers at my school plus all the staff had to come and grill me about it. I think I should have just held a school press conference to get it all over with at once.

My phone rings and I look at it to see Chad’s handsome face on my screen. My heart skips a beat. I think it has done that ever since I was a kid. Every time I look at him it happens. It’s like he has this invisible tether to my heart and when I see him, or even think about him, he pulls the strings like I’m a puppet under his control. I never understood what ‘pulling heartstrings’ meant until Chad. Now he is the very definition of them.

“Hi!” I answer excitedly.

“Hey, you,” he says, the low timbre of his voice resonating through my entire body. “What’s up with you today?”

“Just making my lesson plans. You?”

“Enjoying the day off,” he says. “If I’d known we were going to get the whole weekend off, I’d have flown out.”

“It’s fine,” I tell him. “I’ve been super busy getting ready for school. I’ll still see you next weekend, right?”

“Yes. And I think I’m about to make it even better.” I can hear the smile in his voice and it makes me sit up on the bed in anticipation.

I’m afraid to even hope what he means by making it better. I know what I want it to mean. I know what I need it to mean. And I want so badly for him to say it. “Really? Why?”

“David thinks we’ll be pretty much done by Thursday. So, although I might have to fly back to L.A. a few times in September, I’m pretty much good to go.”

“Oh, my gosh! Really? Did you sell the house?”

He laughs. “No. It’s only been on the market for ten days, Mal. But I don’t care if I sell it or not, I’m moving to New York. And now comes the even better news. At least I hope you think so.”

“What could possibly be better than you moving out here next weekend?”

“God, I love you,” he says. “Do you know how much you pump up my ego?”

“Chaaaaaad,” I whine. “Tell me the better news.”

He chuckles into the phone. “I know we were going to go apartment hunting together, and if you don’t like it, I’ll just forfeit the deposit. But a place came available in Ethan’s building, and since they sell like hotcakes there, I went ahead and put money on it this morning.”

“That’s a nice building. Of course I don’t mind. But, uh, Ethan owns the only penthouse. And while I in no way think we need something that big, won’t your sibling rivalry get in the way?”

“In Ethan’s mind, he’ll always be older, richer and better looking than me. It wouldn’t matter if we owned the fucking Freedom Tower.”

“As long as you’re fine with it, I’m fine with it,” I say.

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