STAR STRUCK
BY TOOKI
The Crescent City shopping mall was packed; there wasn’t room for one more adoring fan. Jesse Patterson watched passively at the mounting crowd from her post behind the counter of a small card shop. The store was empty except for a few backsides of a bunch of overly excited girls.
Jason Scott would be there any minute. It wasn’t often that a star stopped in such a small town. In fact, it was the first time this small town had had anyone famous visit. Unless you counted the time the president rode through on a train.
Jesse, at twenty-one, felt she was a little to old to be jumping up and down screaming at the sight of an over- rated TV star or was it a movie star? She didn’t remember or care but there were several hundred girls that knew and cared very much.
Bored, Jesse dusted the counter, rearranging a stack of calendars as she went. She had worked at the card shop ever since she had graduated high school. Working there hadn’t been her life’s ambition; she had been all set to go off to college when her mother had gotten sick. By the time her mother died a year later, all Jesse’s college money was gone. Her mother had begged her to go ahead and leave for school, but Jesse wouldn’t hear of it. She wanted to spend her time with her mother, they had been very close every since her father had died when she was seven. Jesse had no brothers or sisters and no other family that she knew of.
Jesse pushed her brown shoulder length hair out of her eyes and glanced out at the still growing crowd. Suddenly, the screaming became deafening. Covering her ears, Jesse wished that the whole mess were over with.
Jason Scott appeared on the small stage that had been constructed just for him. He wasn’t overly tall, had a face mothers loved and their daughters swooned over. He pushed his sandy colored hair from his eyes and smiled at the crowd. There was a collective sigh from the girls. One girl with curly brown hair in the front fainted dead away, a guard hired by the mall carried the limp girl to the security office where her parents were called. Jason stared after the girl with a look of concern and amazement on his face. He looked back to the crowd in front of him and uttered his first words.
“Hi!”
“Hi!” the crowd breathed back.
He paused, not really sure what to say, this happened wherever he went but Jason just couldn’t get use to it. Jason had started in show business at the age of three doing commercials. He went from there to doing appearances on TV shows and finally got his own show, which after six successful years on the tube, ended. Then he moved on to making movies. His first movie was a huge hit and now, at age twenty-two, he was out promoting his second, which was due out in a few weeks.
Although he loved meeting his fans and talking with them Jason hated the personal appearances and all the fuss that was made over him. He got hundreds of letters and, once in a while, he would sit down and answer some lucky fan when he had the time. But as his popularity grew, he had less and less time to do much of anything.
His manager, Thomas Harding, had made sure that Jason only got the best roles. He was like family to the young star; actually he was the only family Jason had. Like Jesse, his parents were also dead. Jason had never known his mother who had died in childbirth and his father had slowly drank himself to death, blaming his only son for the loss of his beloved wife. Jason had joked once that his life sounded like a movie of the week.
It had been his mother's sister that had taken him to his first audition. Jason’s aunt had hoped that she would make some money off the little tike, but Thomas had seen to it that Jason was protected. The manager had seen her for what she was and got Jason’s father to sign a contract saying he had full control of any money Jason made until he was of age. The aunt was steaming mad when she heard the news. She raged at her brother-in-law but he just waved her off as he popped another top to a fresh beer. All he cared about was that his son was out of his hair and he could drown himself in his liquor. She had hung around for a couple of months, then met some guy, and had disappeared. Jason never heard from her again but he was already on his way to stardom.
Jason looked out over the crowd of girls that were waiting for his next word. Just as he was about to speak, there was a loud crack; the stage began to lean forward. The pressure of the crowd on the makeshift stage was just too great. There was another loud crack and Mr. Scott tumbled into the waiting arms of his eager fans.
At the sound of the crack, Jesse got up on the stool she had been sitting on so that she could see over all the heads. The stage leaning badly to one side and almost touching the floor and Jason Scott was nowhere in sight. Guards were running every which way, the girls were screaming at the top of their lungs and several men in suits were hurrying toward the crippled stage.
Jesse was still standing on the small stool when she felt someone grab her ankle. She looked down into a pair of the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen. Jesse stepped down from the stool and stared at this young man that was kneeling at her feet. He had a small cut over his left eye that was bleeding and his clothes were a little worse for wear.
“Help me,” he pleaded softly.
Recognition dawned in her blue eyes this was Jason Scott. Jesse looked up at the front of the store, there were a few girls taking an interest in the shop. Jesse put a finger to her lips, and then calmly walked to the front of the store. She inserted a key into the lock of the metal gate and brought the door down to the floor locking it.
Jason was sitting on the floor behind the counter when Jesse returned. He wiped the blood from his brow and smiled up at her. “Thanks.”
Jesse smiled back at him and nodded, then she looked to see if anyone was watching. The girls had lost interest in the store and a lot of the crowd had dissipated. She motioned the young man to follow her toward the back of the store. Once they were in the back room, Jason stuck his hand out.
“I’m Jason Scott, thank-you, Miss. . . . ”
Taking his hand she said, “Jesse Patterson, and you are welcome, Mr. Scott.”
“I know you just saved my life but could I ask you another favor?” Jason asked. He had a boyish quality about him that was irresistible. Jesse was beginning to see what every other girl in the country saw about him.
“Sure, you name it,” Jesse said handing him a towel to wipe the blood from his cut. “What do you want me to do?”
“Get me out of here.”
“No problem, my car is right out side the door,” Jesse said pointing to the back door of the store. “Let’s go.”
She opened the back door and peered out, it was all clear. Jesse’s red Mustang sat only a few feet away. She ran out, unlocked the car doors then waved him out. Jason ran out and jumped in the waiting car just as another car pulled into the spot next to Jesse’s.
Jason slumped down in the front seat as Jesse turned to face the driver of the car. A well-dressed older woman opened the car door and got out. She rushed to Jesse’s side putting an arm around the girl.
“Thank heavens, you are all right,” Sara Marlow exclaimed hugging Jesse. “Mall security called and told me what happened, I rushed right over.”
Although Sara was the owner of the card shop, she didn’t spend much time there leaving most of the running of the store to Jesse. Sara and Jesse’s mother had been good friends in high school. So when Mary had gotten sick, Sara had taken Jesse under her wing and had offered her a job at the store. Jesse was a good worker and, as time went on, Sara gave the young girl more and more responsibility until she was running the store.
“I closed up the store, Sara. I hope you don’t mind,” Jesse explained. “I was afraid something might get damaged.”
“Good thinking, Jess,” Sara praised. The woman glanced in the car at the figure bent over in the passenger seat. “Who’s that?”
“Oh. . .uh.” Jesse hated lying to her friend, but she didn’t think that Mr. Scott wanted his where abouts known. “Just a friend that got caught in the crush.”
“Do they need medical attention?” Sara asked leaning down to look into the red car.
“Oh no, nothing like that,” Jesse said nervously. Sara looked Jesse straight in the eye, she knew that she was being lied to but she also knew Jesse too well. It must be important if the girl was lying to her.
Sara decided to let it go, if Jesse wanted her to know then she would tell her. “All right then, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Bye,” Jesse said getting into her car. She gave Sara a thankful look and drove off. Sara stood staring after the car; the young man in the car did look familiar. What was that boy’s name that started all this mess? Sara shook her head and smiled as she unlocked the back door to the shop.
Jesse breathed a sigh of relief when they were finally out on the street, she was afraid someone might spot Mr. Scott in her car. She turned to Jason. “Where to, Mr. Scott?”
“Could you please stop calling me Mr. Scott? My name is Jason.” He gave her a warm smile, which she returned.
“OK, and I’m Jesse, some people call me Jess,” she said. The light turned red, she stopped the car then looked around. No one was taking interest in the little red car with the escaped movie star in it.
“I think you can relax,” Jason said looking around too. “You are worse than I am.”
Jesse laughed. “I’m not use to this kind of stuff.”
Jason looked over at his rescuer; she was a very pretty girl. He wasn’t sure how old she was, but she couldn’t be any older than he was. She was dressed in a light blue dress that brought out the color in her eyes. He was amazed at how natural she was, Jesse wasn’t playing giggly games with him or swooning at his feet.
Slowly he asked, “Do you know who I am?”
Jesse looked at him just as the light turned green. “Of course, I didn’t just crawl out from under a rock,” she said with a slight edge in her voice. “We do have TV out here in the corn field.”
Jason blushed; he hadn’t meant to insult her. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to uh…uh,” he stammered. He took a deep breath, “It’s just that most girls . . . uh.”
“Throw themselves at you?” She finished for him.
“Well, yeah,” Jason said his face turning even redder.
“Sorry to disappoint you Mr. . . Jason but I didn’t really have time for that kind of stuff,” Jesse said. Suddenly, she realized how that sounded, and it was her turn to blush. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. You are a very good actor, it’s just my mother was very sick and I didn’t have time for much of anything.”
“I’m sorry,” Jason said softly. “Is she all right now?”
“She died a few years ago.” Jason looked crest fallen, the last thing he wanted to do was to make her feel bad. Jesse noticed the look on his face. “It’s all right.”
It was their third trip around the City Park. The day was beautiful; the park was full of kids with their parents. Dogs ran here and there even though they were supposed to be on leashes. But as long as they didn’t bother anybody, no one said anything. The sun was beginning to set and Jesse was wondering just how long he expected her to drive him around.
“Where to?” She asked. “Is your motel close around here?” She thought that maybe he had just flown in for the appearance and would leave when it was over.
Jason sighed, “It’s around here somewhere.”
“Do you know the name? I’m sure I can find it,” Jesse offered.
“Is there someplace else that we could go?” Jason said quietly.
She looked at him in surprise. “Aren’t you AWOL?”
He laughed at the way she had put his disappearance. “Yeah, I guess I am. I bet my manger is going ballistic by now.”
************
Ballistic wasn’t what Thomas Harding was doing, he was scared to death. He stood next to the fallen stage, running his hands through his thinning gray hair. An hour had gone by and no one had been able to locate Jason. Thomas looked around the almost empty mall it was all but destroyed. Potted plants had been tipped over, the plants up rooted and dirt covered the floor. Benches placed around for weary shoppers were overturned and broken. Trash receptacles were also overturned spilling trash all over the floor.
Several storeowners gathered around the perplexed manager wanting to know what he planned on doing about the damage. “All your damages will be covered,” Thomas assured the owners at they pelted him with questions. “Now please, I need to find Mr. Scott.”
Two policemen walked up to Thomas. “Mr. Harding?” One of the officers asked. Getting a nod, he continued. “I’m Officer Calaway, and this is my partner, Officer Davidson.”
“Have you found Jason yet?” Thomas asked quickly, hoping against hope that they had and his young star was fine.”
“I’m sorry,” Officer Davidson said, “but there has been no sign of Mr. Scott. We have questioned several people, no one has seen him since he fell from the stage.”
“What about the hospitals? Maybe he was hurt and someone took him,” the older man asked, he knew he was grasping at straws. If Jason had turned up at a hospital, someone would have surely contacted him by now.
“Sorry, we only have one hospital and that was the first place that was checked,” Officer Calaway informed him. “In fact, I made the call myself. There were several young girls brought in that were caught in the crush, but no one fitting the description of Mr. Scott.”
Thomas nodded solemnly, and then said, “Make sure the hospital sends the bills for those girls to me.” Thomas walked away from the officers. Finding a bench that hadn’t been demolished, he sat down. He put his head in his hands, he had been managing stars for forty years and nothing like this had ever happened.
At sixty-five years old, Thomas Harding had thought of retirement but he stuck around for Jason. Jason Scott had been all of three when Thomas first laid eyes on him. He knew instantly that this scared skinny little boy was star material. When the boy's aunt had brought him in for a commercial, Thomas had just happened to be there with several of his clients.
Little Jason had been so scared that his knees were knocking. Feeling sorry for the lad, Thomas went over to talk to him. The more he talked, the more the boy warmed up, and Jason liked Thomas. The manager helped Jason go over his lines for the part in the commercial, and with that help, little Jason got the part, and a manager to go with it.
After Jason’s aunt left and his father died, Thomas moved the boy in with him and his wife, Nora. He didn’t want his brightest star with strangers. Nora loved the boy like he was her own, and so did Thomas, but he would never admit it. The couple had never had children so Jason filled their lives with joy.
As the years went by and Thomas got older, he lightened his client load until finally only Jason was left. Jason made enough money to keep them all comfortable. Thomas, Nora and Jason attended the premier of his first movie together, they were so proud of him. Nora had given Jason a red rose, which he had pinned on the lapel of his tux.
Late that night, after all the parties were over, Nora died in her sleep at the age of sixty. Jason had been crushed when he had heard the news, but Thomas had known his wife had been sick for the last few years and was more or less expecting it. Thomas hadn’t told Jason about Nora’s illness, the boy had had enough sorrow in his life and he didn’t want him worrying about her. Nora didn’t what him to know either; she didn’t want any special treatment.
A man dressed in a dark suit was standing in front of Thomas looking down at him. Thomas, deep in thought, didn’t even notice the man, finally the man cleared his throat. Thomas Harding looked up surprised to see someone standing there.
“Mr. Harding,” the man said extending his hand.
Thomas got up from his place on the bench and shook the out stretched hand. “Have you found Jason?”
“Jason?” the man asked. “Oh yes, the young man who brought this trouble to our small town.”
“Just a darn minute,” Thomas sputtered, his face turned an angry red. “I sure don’t remember anyone telling us not to come. In fact, you were one of the first cities to reply to our request.” Suddenly, Thomas stopped talking and looked at the man. “Would you mind telling me just who you are?”
“I’m the mayor of this town, Paul Anderson,” he answered, as he clasped his hands behind his back. “I rushed here as soon as I heard what had happen. You must understand, Mr. Harding, that we are a small community, a quiet place to live and raise a family.”
“I understand that, Mayor Anderson, but I assume that it was your office that welcomed us with open arms. You must have known how popular Mr. Scott is,” the manager said defending himself. “I am deeply sorry for the trouble that has been caused. But this mall constructed the stage, the mall provided the security and I feel the mall let my client and me down. He is missing and I have no idea where he is, so if you will pardon me, I have my own problems.”
Paul Anderson looked down at the floor then looked back at Thomas. “I’m sorry if I came on a little too strong, it’s just that we have never had anything like this happen before.”
“I understand that, Mayor Anderson, and I’m very sorry for the trouble. I guess I should have been clearer with my instructions.” Thomas also apologized.
“Please call me Paul,” the Mayor told Thomas. “Let’s see what we can do about finding this star of yours.”
************
Jesse inserted her apartment key into the lock and opened the door. Both Jason and Jesse glanced up and down the hall before they entered the small one bedroom apartment. They both looked at each other and began to laugh.
“I feel like a secret agent or something.” Jesse smiled. She went to the sliding glass doors that lead out on to a tiny porch overlooking the pool and pulled the shades closed. She turned on a lamp by the couch. “Have a seat. Can I get you anything?”
“How about some iced tea?” Jason asked stretching out on the couch.
“Coming right up,” Jesse said going into the kitchen.
Jason looked around the room; there were many framed photos of Jesse and an older woman that he assumed was her mother. There were several houseplants sitting around and a bookcase stuffed full of books. The one odd thing that he noticed was that Jesse didn’t seem to own a television set. It could have been in the bedroom but he got the feeling that she didn’t have time to sit and watch shows. There were two doors leading off the room besides the kitchen, one was a small bedroom and the other a rather large bathroom considering the size of the rest of the apartment.
The day was beginning to catch up with Jason and the couch was so comfortable, he felt his eyes sliding closed. He tried to wake himself up but it was no use and he gave in to sleep.
“Lemon or sugar?” Jesse called from the kitchen. When she didn’t get an answer, she put both on a tray along with two glasses of tea. She backed out of the swinging kitchen doors. When she turned around, she saw Jason sound asleep on the couch. Jesse placed the tray on the coffee table and went into her bedroom. She returned with a quilt, which she covered the sleeping star with.
She went into the bathroom, took a long hot shower and put on a pair of shorts and an old T-shirt. Jesse went back into the living room and settled down in a well worn over stuffed easy chair. She picked up her favorite book, grabbed one of the iced teas and began to read.
She looked over at Jason several times he really was gorgeous. Jesse sighed as she wondered how many girls would die to be in her place right now. She went back to reading her book, soon the day took its toll on her also and Jesse fell asleep still holding her book.
The light from the curtain-covered doors woke Jason Scott from a dream he was having about being rescued by a beautiful woman. He sat up and looked around, he couldn’t remember where he was. Jason saw Jesse sitting in the chair next to him, her book had fallen to the floor, and she was curled up sound asleep.
Suddenly, he remembered the events of the day before and realized that a beautiful girl had saved him it hadn’t been a dream. He got up and placed the quilt that Jesse had covered him with the night before over her. His head ached and he was a little stiff but other than that he seemed fine.
Jason opened one of the doors off the living room; it was Jesse’s bedroom. The room was decorated in pale purple and white. A canopy bed sat in the middle of the room and as he had guessed the night before, there was no TV there either. Softly he shut that door and opened the next one, it was the bathroom, and just the room he was looking for. After relieving himself, Jason opened the medicine cabinet and found a bottle of aspirin. He took two then went back out into the living room as Jesse was just beginning to stir.
Jesse’s eyes fluttered open and she looked up to find a young man standing over her. It startled her for a moment until she got her bearings. “Mr. Scott,” she gasped.
Jason smiled at her. “Good morning, and I thought we dispensed with the Mr. Scott stuff yesterday.”
“Sorry, you just caught me off guard,” Jesse said sitting up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “Good morning, Jason.”
“That’s better,” he said as he bent down and placed a kiss on her forehead.
“What was that for?” she ask, blushing slightly.
“Just for being so kind,” Jason said squatting down next to the chair. Jesse smiled at him and took his hand. He squeezed then kissed her hand. “Most people that I come in contact with only want one thing and that’s me. You could really care less who I am.”
Not really knowing how to respond to what he said, Jesse asked, “How about some breakfast? I make great omelets.” Jason grinned at her and nodded. As she was getting up from the chair, Jesse said, “Don’t you think somebody must be looking for you by now?”
Jason’s mouth fell open in horror. “Thomas!” he exclaimed. “He must be worried sick, I was going to give him a call last night when we got here but I fell asleep.”
“I’ll go make breakfast, you give him a call,” Jesse said and disappeared into the kitchen.
As Jesse stood in the kitchen, she suddenly wondered what she looked like. She grabbed a pan, flipped it over, and stared at its shiny bottom. Her hair was a mess, no make-up and she was wearing the oldest clothes she owned. Jesse started to slip out of the kitchen and head for the bathroom, then she stopped. Why should she bother, he had already seen her like this and he didn’t care, so why should she? Jesse smiled at her reflection and shook her head; she wasn’t going to get caught up in this star stuff. Sitting the pan on the stove, she began the task of making breakfast.
Out in the living room, Jason Scott found a phone book and looked up the number for the hotel they were staying in. A man at the front desk answered the phone and put him through to Thomas’s room.
************
Thomas had finally fallen asleep. When no one had been able to locate Jason, the mayor had insisted that the older man get some rest. The mayor promised that someone would notify the manager the moment that the wayward star was found.
Reluctantly, Thomas agreed, he was much too old for this crap. He had a feeling that Jason was just fine but that didn’t stop him from worrying. After an hour of pacing his room, Thomas had finally lain down and almost instantly fell asleep.
Vaguely, Thomas heard the phone ringing through the haze of sleep. Reaching out blindly, he snagged the phone as he rolled over. At the sound of the voice on the other end, Thomas snapped wide-awake. “Where are you?” He demanded half-angry and half-relieved. The manager swung his legs over the edge of the bed and sat up. “The whole police force has been looking for you and I have been up most of the night.”
Jason smiled into the phone. “I didn’t know you cared,” he teased. He knew that Thomas cared very much about him and was the father he never had.
“Cut the crap, Jas,” Thomas hollered into the phone as he tugged on a robe. “Where are you?”
“I’m just fine, thank-you for asking,” Jason said with an edge to his voice.
Taking a deep breath, Thomas let it out slowly. “I’m sorry kid, I was just really worried. Are you OK?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jason said softly, “I’m sorry too, I didn’t mean to worry you. I meant to call but I fell asleep.” Jason told his manager the story of how he was rescued by Jesse.
“All right,” Thomas sighed, “Give me the address, I’ll grab a cab and be over there to pick you up. You are already an hour late for your appearance in Chicago.”
Jason was about ready to agree when he heard Jesse singing to herself from the kitchen. He just didn’t want to leave yet; she was the only girl he had ever met who didn’t care that he was famous. He really wanted to get to know her and he was tired.
It seemed like it never stopped, he thought he would get some time off when the filming of his movie was over. But then the talk show and public appearances began, and on and on and on. Jason just couldn’t take it any more. He had never had what you would call a normal childhood, he hadn’t minded his life up until now, but Jason really wanted to get to know this young woman, that is, if she was interested in getting to know him.
“Listen, Thomas, I need some time off,” Jason said slowly waiting for the reaction he knew would come.
“Time off!” Thomas sputtered; he was now pacing around the room once again. “Didn’t you hear me? We were due into Chicago an hour ago.”
“Screw Chicago,” Jason said sharply, and then he winced. He didn’t mean to sound so harsh with his friend. For the second time that morning, Jason apologized, “I’m sorry, I just need some time, I’m burning out. Do you realize how long it’s been since I have had any time to myself?”
Thomas Harding closed his eyes; he knew the boy was right. Jason did need some time off just not right now. “As soon as you finish this promo tour, the movie will be out at the end of next week.”
“Thomas, now,” Jason pleaded, he felt like he would explode if he had to get on another plane and confront another group of screaming girls.
“Fine,” the manager relented. “You take all the time you need. I’m going home, look me up when you get back and if you still have a career by then, we’ll talk.”
Thomas slammed the phone down, and then picked it up again. He called the front desk and asked them to book him on the first flight back to LA. If that was the way Jason wanted it, fine. He could retire, move away from Hollywood and have peace. The only reason the manager had stayed in the business was for his young star and now Jason was going to throw everything away. Thomas wondered if the woman that saved him realized what Jason was about to give up for her. Although Jason hadn’t come right out and said that he liked this girl, Thomas knew that was the reason for the decision to stay.
He slid his suitcase toward the door. Jason’s was sitting on the floor next to the bed. Thomas decided he would leave it at the front desk, in case his wayward star came looking for it. The old man flopped down in a chair next to the door and stared at nothing in particular. He was tired too. He did understand that Jason needed time off, just not right now. He started to pick up the phone book lying on the table next to him. Maybe he could find this girl’s address and she could talk some sense into Jason.
Thomas thought for a moment more then dropped the book back on the table, he got up grabbed the two suitcases and left the room. He knew that Jason would return to L.A. soon, he just hoped that he didn’t wait to long. It was a rough business and if you let up for one second, you were gone.
************
Jesse placed the omelets on two plates along with crisp bacon and toast. She poured two glasses of orange juice and put everything on the tray she had used last night. As she started out the kitchen door, she heard the last part of Jason’s conversation with his manager. She waited until he hung up the phone before she proceeded into the room.
Jason looked up at her and smiled. “Thomas is pretty upset.”
She nodded as she put the tray on coffee table. “He must have been very worried.”
“Yeah, and to make matters worse, I told him that I’m staying here.” Jason looked at her intently waiting for her reaction.
“I heard,” Jesse said. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but you were talking pretty loud.”
“It’s OK.” He grabbed her hand, pulling her down on the couch next to him. “I know this is crazy, but the reason I want to stay, is because of you.”
Jesse’s mouth dropped open. “Me?”
Jason reached up and touched her face. “I have never met anyone like you before. You don’t want anything from me. Do you mind if I stay for a few days?”
She stared at him; Jesse wasn’t sure how to answer. Here was this huge star asking her if he could spend time with her. She didn’t even date much, sure she had been asked out a lot, but she never seemed to have the time. Jesse spent most of her time at the store rarely taking time off. She was trying to save as much money as she could in hopes of still going to college someday. Finding her voice, she asked, “What about your manager?”
“I’m sure Thomas is on his was back to L.A.,” Jason said sadly. He hadn’t wanted to hurt the older man but this was something Jason just had to do. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Still stunned, Jesse just nodded her head. She picked up a glass of orange juice and handed it to her new friend. The phone began to ring, Jesse grabbed it quickly, and it was Sara Marlow on the other end.
“Jesse, are you all right?” Sara asked worriedly.
“Sure . . .. sure, I’m fine,” Jesse stammered. “Why?”
“You are an hour late to work and I was worried,” Sara said. She was standing in the still dark store. Jesse always opened the store promptly at ten and it was almost eleven. Sara had just come by to check out the store and make sure nothing was damaged. When she got there, the shop was dark and the front gate was still down. A couple of girls that helped Jesse out were sitting out in front of the store waiting.
“Oh, Sara, I’m so sorry,” Jesse apologized. “I over slept this morning. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” She looked over at Jason who was eating his omelet. Here he was taking a chance being with her and she was worried about getting to work. “Sara?”
“Yes, dear,” the older woman said softly.
“Would it be possible for me to have a few days off?” Jesse asked, holding her breath. Jason looked up at her and smiled.
“Why, sure,” Sara said surprised. Jesse had never asked for any time off the whole time she had worked there. In fact, Sara several times forced Jesse to take a day off now and then. “When?”
“Starting now?” Jesse said.
Sara frowned, then asked, “Are you sure you are OK, hon?”
“Oh, I’m wonderful.” Jesse grinned at Jason. “It’s just an old friend came into town unexpectedly and I would like to spend some time with him.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” Sara smiled into the phone. “Take as much time as you need, just let me know when you are coming back.”
Jesse hung up and looked at her partner in crime. “Now what?”
“Show me your town. I want to know what it feels like to live in a small town where everybody knows everybody,” Jason said draining his juice.
“And just how are you going to do that?” Jesse asked shaking her head at his expression. He looked like a little boy just caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “Like you said, everybody knows everybody and everybody knows who you are.”
Jason hadn’t thought of that. It was pretty easy to get lost in a big city like L.A. but in a small town in Illinois, it was different.
************
Jesse strolled down Main Street carrying a shopping bag on one arm and a sack of groceries in the other arm. She smiled as she hummed to herself. Now and then, she would nod a hello to people that spoke to her as she passed them. Finding the store she was looking for, Jesse opened the door. A small bell rang as the door struck it, the owner looked up and smiled as she entered.
The second hand store was full of just about everything you could think of. She passed by the used toasters, mixers and blenders, making her way to the back of the store where Jesse found what she was looking for, stacks and stacks of old jeans. They were clean but well worn, definitely not something that would come out of a fancy store in Hollywood. She pulled out a pair that was fairly nice looking and picked out a red plaid shirt to go with it. As she headed to check out, Jesse saw a box of old baseball hats, there was a red one that matched the color of the shirt so she snagged that as she went by. Jesse took all her purchases up to the front of the store; she only had one more stop to make.
Jesse got in her red Mustang and drove to the mall. There was a small sunglass store in the center of the Crescent City Mall. It was the only mall for miles around and many families made a trip there an all day event. Jesse mulled over the sunglasses, looking for just the right pair. Finally, she found the perfect ones. Just as she was about to buy them, she grabbed a second pair and added them to the first ones. Now she was ready to go home.
Jason was sitting in the over stuffed chair, his feet propped up on the coffee table reading a book when Jesse opened the front door. He was so engrossed in the book he didn’t even know she was there until she dropped a sack in his lap. Jason jumped and looked up at her startled. Then he smiled and opened the bag, he pulled out two pair of matching sunglasses.
“Are we going undercover?” He teased her.
She nodded, “At least you are.” Jesse dumped her treasures on the coffee table. Jason first pulled out the worn pair of jeans and the shirt. In another bag, he found a pair of cheap tennis shoes and, in still another bag; he pulled out a toothbrush, comb, deodorant, underwear and socks. He looked up at Jesse who blushed slightly at the sight of the underwear.
Jason shook his head. “You really got the works, didn’t you?”
Jesse nodded. “I hope everything fits. I had to guess at some of your sizes. Are you sure you don’t want to see if you manager left your stuff at the hotel?”
“Are you kidding? I might as well take out an ad in the paper saying that I’m still in town.” He smiled at her. “I’m sure everyone thinks I’m long gone by now.”
“Let’s hope so anyway.” Jesse laughed.
Jason got up and went into the bathroom to change into the clothing that she had brought him. First, he took a long hot shower, and then he took his time getting dressed. He hadn’t felt this free in forever. By the time Jason had finished dressing, Jesse had lunch on the table. They sat down to corned beef sandwiches and potato chips that Jesse had picked up at the deli down the street from her house. She had also picked up the fixings for a nice steak dinner for their evening meal while she had been at the grocery store that is if they got away with their planned outing.
After they finished eating and cleaned up their dishes, Jesse tossed Jason the hat she had picked up at the second hand store. He shoved it down on his head then turned to look at her, “Well, how do I look?”
“Like a big star trying to hide the fact that they are a big star.” She laughed. Jason gave her an exasperated look then grabbed Jesse and began tickling her. In trying to get away from him, they both almost fell into the over stuff chair. This time as Jason kissed her firmly on the lips, she turned, kissed him and then hugged him. “Well, are you ready for your big adventure?”
“Whenever you are,” he said as he grabbed her hand leading her out the front door.
Jesse grabbed her sunglasses from the table and put them on. “Do you think anyone will recognize me?” she asked modeling the glasses.
“Not a chance.”
************
Back in L.A., Thomas Harding milled around the empty apartment. He missed Jason something awful. He had sold the house that he had shared with Nora. Partly, he couldn’t stand being there without her and partly, he had decided that when he retired it wasn’t California where he wanted to stay. He and Jason had found a penthouse in one of the newest buildings in Los Angeles and had settled in. Thomas moved his office into the penthouse too. Since Jason was his only client, there wasn’t much coming and going unless they had a deal in the works.
Thomas opened the door to Jason’s bedroom; it was decorated with memorabilia from his commercials, TV show and movies. There were photos of the stars he had acted with on the walls, old props sat around on his bedside table and bookshelves. Jason had his canvas chair with his name on it from his TV show sitting in the corner. Thomas walked into the room, lying on the bed was a script to the third movie Jason would be doing in the fall. That was if he ever came back. Thomas sat down on the edge of the bed and picked up the script. It was a good story and the part was perfect for Jason. Thomas had fought long and hard for this part and they probably would be sued if Jason didn’t show up. But Thomas knew in his heart that Jason would show up, acting was in the young man’s blood and he wouldn’t just throw everything away, or would he?
The phone rang next to him; it was Jason’s private line. They had three lines into the apartment, one was Jason’s, one was Thomas’s and the other was the office. The manager grabbed the receiver. “Yeah?”
“Jason?” Said a female voice.
Thomas recognized the voice as belonging to a new and up coming star named Jennie Lynn. She was also Jason’s flavor of the month. “Hi, Jennie.”
“Oh, Thomas, I didn’t recognize your voice,” she said with a slight southern drawl that she was working desperately to get rid of. “Where is Jas?”
“He’s taking a few days off,” Thomas said without missing a beat. The last thing he needed was it to get around Hollywood that his star had bailed out on him even if it was for the time being. “He was a little shook up from the mishap at that mall and needed a few days.”
“Oh, I heard about that,” she cooed, “Is Jas OK?”
Thomas cringed at the sound of her voice. “Jas is just fine,” he said annoyed. No one called Jason Scott Jas, but him, and it made his skin crawl to here her say it. She had been after him for the last month to take her on as a client but he refused. Jason never asked him to do it either because he knew once he moved on to another starlet, it would be difficult to have the old girlfriend hanging around.
Thomas knew by the way that Jason was talking that he was tired of Jennie and he would send her packing soon. That was another thing that worried him about this relationship he was forming with this Jesse. She wasn’t some starlet looking for a leg up and he was afraid that Jason would hurt her badly. His star had a good heart but he had never had a real family relationship to base anything on so he just flitted from one girl to another. Thomas hoped that Jason was being careful, but he never tried to lecture him or tell him what to do. He guessed that maybe he should, but he didn’t think the kid would listen to him.
“Thomas, you there?” Jennie drawled in his ear.
“I’m here,” he sighed. “I’ll have Jason give you a call when he gets back into town.” Thomas hung up before she could say anything else. As he started to get up from the bed, the phone rang again. This time he picked up the whole phone, turned it over, and found the switch to cut off the ringer. The phone went silent in mid ring. The answering service could get it, and Thomas didn’t feel like making explanations to anyone else.
He made his way to his office and sat down behind his desk. Thomas spun his chair around so that he could look out over the city. He sighed. Maybe he should have stayed in Crescent City. He might have been able to talk Jason into coming back. The heck with it, he could use some time off too; maybe he would take off for Hawaii for a month. Let Jason wonder where he was. But Thomas knew he wouldn’t take off on Jason, he would stay in town and cover for the wayward star as along as he possibly could. Hopefully, he would come to his senses soon or maybe Thomas would fly back out there if he didn’t hear from Jason soon.
The phone sitting on his office desk rang. Thomas looked at it for a few minutes, and then grabbed it. “Thomas Harding.”
“Tommy boy, where is Jason?” Asked a voice on the other end. “He was suppose to be in Chicago hours and hours ago, then New York tomorrow.”
Thomas sighed. It was the promotion manager for the new movie. Bret Johnson was the typical California beach boy; he was tall, blond, blue eyed and had a perpetual tan. Bret was years younger than Thomas. In fact, he wasn’t much older than Jason. But unlike Jason he hadn’t earned his way to the top, he was born into it. His father owned the movie studio that made Jason’s last movie. Bret had tried his hand at movies but nothing clicked, much to his dismay, so he opted to work behind the scenes. He tried many different jobs around the studio until he settled down handling the promotion of all the movies that came through the studio. Bret had finally found something that he was good at.
But the respect he got was only the respect his father had earned over the years, and out of that respect for Michael Johnson, everyone grudgingly listened to Bret. Michael had started out years before with nothing and had worked his way up through Hollywood until he owned his own very successful studio. The studio had been responsible for making some of the top grossing movies of the last ten years.
No matter what people thought of Bret, they had to admit that he was good at his job although he was a pain most of the time. Bret had been the ultimate playboy, driving fast cars, a girl on each arm and throwing cash around like he had earned it. Michael seemed to look the other way until Bret was in a car crash that almost killed him and put the lovely young girl he was with in a wheel chair for the rest of her life. Michael had taken care of the girl and her family, giving them enough money so that they would be comfortable for the rest of their lives. As for Bret, he told his son that fun and games were over, he either had to get a job or go to college.
Bret sulked for a month then decided that a job at the studio would be just the ticket. Michael had balked at the idea at first, but then decided that if his son was working there, he would be able to keep an eye on him.
“Listen, Bret, I was just about to call you,” Thomas lied; he hadn’t planned on talking to Bret until he had to. “Jason took off a few days.”
“He did WHAT?” Bret sputtered, “We are right in the middle of a huge promo tour, he just can’t take a vacation whenever he wants. I covered Chicago, but you get Jason to New York tomorrow, or the studio will sue you for everything you own. You got that?”
“Bret be reasonable, Jason has been working in overdrive ever since this movie has started and. . . ..” Thomas began.
Bret cut him off, “I don’t want excuses, you get that movie star brat of yours back on tour or he’ll never work again.” The phone slammed down in the old man’s ear before he could finish his sentence or respond.
Thomas hung up the buzzing receiver, and then pounded his fist on his desk. How could Jason to this to him? He picked up the phone again and dialed the operator asking for the number of one Jesse Patterson.
************
Jesse and Jason drove down the main street of town it was a beautiful day. The sun was shinning, there was a light breeze to keep it from being too hot and the air was clean and fresh. Jason suddenly spied a hot dog vender standing on the corner next to the entrance of the park. He motioned Jesse to pull over. After making sure his hat was snugly on his head, Jason jumped out of the car. He went over to the vender, purchased two hot dogs, and then came back to the car. As he got in, Jason offered one to Jesse who shook her head no. She was still full from the lunch that they had just eaten. So Jason sat in the front seat of the car munching happily on the franks.
“See, he didn’t know who I was,” Jason said around a bite of hot dog.
Jesse laughed. “That was old Mr. Simpson, he doesn’t watch much TV and even if he did, he wouldn’t recognize you, he’s almost blind.”
“Oh,” Jason said looking disappointed.
“If you really want to tempt fate, let’s go for a walk through the park,” Jesse said pulling over the car. “Are you sure you want to do this? I know a lot of people who are going to want to stop and talk. And you know they will want to know who you are.”
Jason shrugged and hopped out of the car for the second time. He popped the last of the second hot dog into his mouth and grinned at her. “Well, are you coming?” he asked.
Jesse shook her head at her new friend as she got out of the car, depositing her keys into her purse. She put the strap of her bag over her shoulder and came around the car where Jason was waiting for her. They both looked into the park. It was teaming with small children, dogs, and kids roller-skating and riding bikes. Several girls that looked about Jesse’s age were sun bathing in a grassy area not far from where they were standing. They were all home from college for summer vacation and were taking advantage of the warm sunny day to work on their tans.
One of the girls sat up, she had long blond hair pulled up in a ponytail and a two-piece pink swimsuit on. She waved at Jesse, then called, “Hey, Jess, and come on over.”
Jesse took a deep breath and said to Jason, “Here we go.”
As they got closer to the sunbathers, the girl that called Jesse over asked, “And whom do we have here?”
“Oh, this is my cousin, Sam, he’s visiting me for a few days,” Jesse lied; she was surprised at how easy it was. “Sam, this is Sharon, and over there is Cathy, Shannon and Marcy.” The other three girls sat up and waved at him, Jason smiled and waved back.
Sharon gave Jesse a curious look. She had known Jesse since kindergarten and as far as she knew the girl didn’t have any family since her mother had died. Sharon reached for the brim of Jason’s hat and started to pull it up. He ducked away from her just before she could pull it off. “Don’t be shy, I won’t hurt you,” she teased.
“He’s allergic to the sun,” Jesse said quickly. She knew she had to get him away from Sharon and her friends quickly. Sharon had always been pushy and if she really wanted his hat off, nothing was going to stop her. Jesse was sure they would recognize Jason instantly.
“To bad you couldn’t come to college with us,” Marcy said, she had short brown hair and was very petite. She also had on a two-piece suit but hers was totally white which showed off the tan she had been working on since spring break. “It is really a blast.”
Jesse just shrugged as she kept on smiling but Jason saw sadness in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. “I’m keeping busy, why don’t you guys drop by the card store and we’ll go to lunch,” Jesse suggested. She was anxious to get away from them and she knew that they all lived for lunch.
“All right,” said Shannon. She also had blond hair, but not as long as Sharon’s. They looked almost like twins, but they weren’t, they had just been best friends forever. But they did try their hardest to look alike, and even told people that didn’t know them, that they were, in fact, twins.
Jesse grabbed Jason by the arm and pulled him down the sidewalk. “Let’s get going,” she hissed under her breath. “If they get wind of what we are doing, we’ll all end up on the next talk show.”
Jason grinned at her and Jesse thought for a moment he wasn’t going to come with her but then he waved at the girls and came with her willingly. When they had gotten a considerable distance from the girls, Jason asked, “Why didn’t you go to college with them?”
“It’s a long, not very interesting story,” Jesse said. It was clear that she didn’t want to talk about it but Jason wasn’t going to let her get away with that. He wanted more than anything to get to know Jesse better.
“I’ve got time.” Jason smiled at her. He led her to an empty park bench and sat down. When she didn’t join him, he reached up, grabbed her hand pulling her down next to him. “Please tell me.”
Jesse looked into those green eyes of his and began to tell him about how her mother had gotten sick and how her dreams of college had been buried with her mother. But she was quick to add that she wouldn’t have had it any other way. That she was glad that she had spent the remaining days of her mother's life with her instead of college, allowing strangers to care for her mother. Although Jason couldn’t remember his mother and he had never been close to his father when he was alive, he could feel Jesse’s pain.
Jason slowly told Jesse all of his secrets, things that were hidden from the press. Thomas hadn’t wanted stories of his alcoholic father gracing the covers of any magazines, or stories of how his mother had died in childbirth or even of his aunt that was really only out for herself. All that was said about Jason’s family was that he didn’t have any, end of story. For a while after Jason had gotten famous, the press pestered them for information but finally they gave up and let him be.
Jesse looked sadly at Jason, his story was even sadder than hers was. He had been though so much, he had never had a real childhood. At least Jesse had memories of the fun times she had shared with her mother. Jason had nothing to hold on to, it amazed her that he was as together as he was and she told him so.
“Thomas has been really good to me, him and Nora.” He said, but she was also dead. It seemed like everyone in his life had died leaving him alone except Thomas.
“Thomas sounds like he’s not only been a very good manager, but a good friend too,” Jesse said, wondering what the poor man was doing now.
Jason nodded slowly. “I have left him high and dry too. I should be on my way from Chicago to New York right now.” Jason glanced at his watch, it was almost five, and they had been sitting in the park talking for hours. “Bret Johnson is going to have Thomas’s head for breakfast.”
“Who?” Jesse asked, also looking at her watch, she was shocked to see the time.
“Bret Johnson, he’s the promotional manager for the studio, he is a real jerk,” Jason explained. “His father owns the studio so Bret thinks he can push everybody around.”
“He sounds like an awful person,” Jesse commented and Jason agreed with her. “What do you say we go back to the apartment and I make us those steaks?”
Jason smiled at her. “Sounds good to me.” He paused a moment then said, “I think I’ll call Thomas, see how things are going.”
“I think that would be a good idea.” Jesse got up from the park bench; she held her hand out to Jason. She pulled him to his feet, then he put his arm around her shoulders and they walked back through the park to the car. Thankfully, the sunbathers had long since left, leaving only their pop cans and candy wrappers behind. Jesse looked at the mess in disgust; she couldn’t believe she had ever been friends with them. They were worlds apart now. They were still young and carefree and sometimes Jesse felt that she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.
************
When the business line started ringing in the penthouse, Thomas almost didn’t answer it. He was tired; jet lag was catching up with him quickly. All he wanted to do was have a quick dinner and go to bed. The last thing he felt like doing was dealing with Bret Johnson a second time, he was sure that was who was on the phone. Finally after the tenth ring, Thomas reached out and snagged the receiver. “Yeah.”
“Now, is that anyway to be answering a business number? It makes you sound unprofessional,” Jason teased his friend good-naturedly.
When Thomas heard Jason’s voice, his feet that had been propped up on his desk hit the floor, and he sat up. “Jas, is that you?”
“Now, who else would be calling?” Jason said still teasing. Jesse was standing next to him in the living room grinning at him. She could tell that he felt much better just talking to his manager. Jason had started feeling really guilty about just ditching him like he had.
“Would you like a list?” Thomas asked a smile spreading across his face. He felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his chest. Jason was the only family that he had left and he didn’t like fighting with him, tour or no tour. Thomas had almost call Jesse’s apartment after he had gotten her phone number, then decided against it. Instead he knew what he would do, stand up to that spoiled punk, Bret, and tell him a thing or two. Then if Mr. Bret wanted to sue them, fine, he would pack it in and finally retire, he had lived on less once upon a time.
“Johnson?” Jason asked already knowing the answer.
“Him and Jennie,” Thomas told him. “They have both been on my case all day. She called your private number, and then when I turned that off, she started calling the office. Bret has been hounding and threatening me. He said if you didn’t show in New York, he would sue.”
“And he will too.” Jason shook his head in disgust. He hated Bret along with everyone else; he had had several run-ins with the movie owner’s son. Bret was just so sure that he had lost a part somewhere along the line to Jason. What he didn’t know was that nobody in Hollywood would hire him even if he had been good. Bret was too much of a troublemaker. The whole town was surprised that he had stuck out the promoting job and didn’t flit to something else. Bret enjoyed pushing people around and making them jump through hoops and this was the best way he had found to do it.
“I know he will,” Thomas sighed. “But I really don’t care anymore, you do what you want, Jas, no pressure.”
Thomas sounded so defeated it made Jason want to cry. Thomas had always been a fighter, he enjoyed playing the game and usually won but he always knew when he had been beat too. Jason looked up at Jesse and then said slowly into the phone. “I’ll meet you in New York in the morning. But I have one condition.”
Thomas immediately perked up. “What’s the condition?”
“That I can bring Jesse,” he said smiling up at her. Jesse’s mouth fell open and she began shaking her head. She had never been far from home and certainly never to a city as big as New York. The furthest away from home that she had ever been was when her mother had driven a hundred miles so that she could go to the state fair.
“That’s it?” Thomas said, he was relieved thinking that Jason was going to ask for something outrageous. He should have known the kid better than that, Jason was a good boy and never pushed too hard. Directors loved working with him because he was so easy going and did what ever he was asked to do, unless he felt it was just totally wrong for his character. The moviemakers respected that and listened to his ideas and more times than not, Jason was right about the scene and it was changed. He always studied his characters inside and out, so by the time it came around to filming, nobody knew the character better that the actor.
Jason put his heart and soul into every project he had ever done. Sometimes Thomas worried about him; afraid he was carrying realism a little too far. Once during his TV show, it called for Jason to be very sick. The young actor stayed up day and night for two days before the scene was shot so that he would look haggard and worn. After the finally wrap, he had to be rushed to the hospital for exhaustion and spent almost a week recovering. Thomas never again allowed him to do such a thing; they left the haggard look up to the make-up department.
Jesse was still shaking her head looking horrified; Jason slipped his hand in hers and squeezed it gently. “What time do you need me there?” he said into the phone.
Thomas flipped through some papers on his desk, finding the right one, he read it quickly, “One p.m., Central Park.”
“It’s going to be outside?” Jason asked, almost wishing he hadn’t called his manager. The memory of what had happened the day before was still all too clear in his mind, and the prospect of being in a place a huge as Central Park, didn’t appeal to him.
“Don’t worry, buddy, we’ll have the best security or you won’t be going on,” Thomas assured him. The manager was already going through his Rolodex looking for Bret’s number. He was planning to drop it in Bret’s lap, let the little playboy make sure the security was in place.
“Are we staying at the usual place?” Jason asked. He looked at Jesse, her face had grown pale and she looked like she needed to sit down.
“You bet, see you tomorrow,” Thomas said and hung up smiling, and then he picked up the phone and began dialing Bret’s number.
************
Bret Johnson was very involved with one Jennie Lynn when the call came from Thomas. Bret and Jennie had been seeing each other for the last month; he had met her at Jason’s penthouse. Jason didn’t know that they had been going out, or he would have dropped her so fast it would have made her pretty blond head spin. Jennie knew how Jason felt about Bret and kept her liaison with him quiet. She also knew that Jason was notorious for not keeping a girl around any longer that a few months and Jennie had already been with him four. She knew that her time was running out, and she wanted to hedge her bet, so she quickly latched on to Bret.
The only reason that Jason was still going out with Jennie was that it was easier than looking for someone new when he had to go out. Since she was an up and coming star, it looked good for them to be seen together, at least for her, and besides that, they made a good-looking pair. The press always hounded them wherever they went, wondering if the pair would get married. Jason always brushed the question away, but Jennie made it sound like he would ask her any day. Once when they got home from a movie premiere, they had a huge fight. He was sick of her giving everyone the impression that they were getting married. Jennie had sulked for a few days but she wasn’t ready to give up her ride to the top, so she made a big deal out of forgiving him. Jason had hoped that she would just go away, but no such luck.
Jennie had Bret down for the count when the phone rang. She made no move to get it or let him. Finally, he shoved her away and grabbed the receiver before it could ring any more. “Yeah.”
“Bret?” Thomas asked, the voice on the other end sounded slightly out of breath.
“Yeah?” he said again wishing that the party would get to the point so that he could get back to Jennie. She was in the process of gathering up her things, he grab her by the back of the shirt pulling her back down in his lap. Jennie smiled and cuddled up to him, but she was abruptly pushed away again when Bret heard the news.
“This is Thomas Harding. Jason will be in New York tomorrow morning,” Thomas informed Bret. “But there are a few things we need to get straight.”
Bret listened to what Thomas had to say about beefed up security, he had to agree with that. They didn’t want another incident like the one at the mall. But the next request surprised him. “He’s bringing a guest?” Bret said it loud enough for Jennie to hear, she was angrily picking up her things again and this time he wasn’t stopping her.
Jennie stopped what she was doing and looked at Bret, “Who?” She whispered.
Bret shrugged and repeated the question to Thomas. Bret nodded, agreeing to see if he could book another room at the hotel for ‘Jason’s ‘guest’. As he hung up the phone, Jennie leaped on him. “Are you going to tell me?” She asked.
“Seems like old Jas has himself a new girl friend,” he said delighted by the expression on Jennie’s face. “He picked her up in Podunk, USA.”
“Well, we’ll see about that, won’t we?” Jennie snapped as she gathered up the last of her belongings.
Bret reached out and grabbed her hand pulling her down on the couch next to him. “I think that maybe I’ll just make a trip to New York to make sure every thing goes OK,” he said as a nasty smile spread across his face. “Would you like to go?”
Jennie didn’t hesitate a moment and rushed home to her tiny apartment to pack. Bret would pick her up in an hour so that they would be in New York well before Thomas and Jason arrived. Jennie had been in Los Angeles just over a year and was just now starting to get parts on TV shows; she even had one small part in a movie. The film didn’t get good reviews, and her part was almost nonexistent, so it didn’t really matter to her. Jennie had been begging Thomas and Jason to get her a part in his next movie, but they just kept putting her off saying that it was up to the director, and she had to audition like everyone else. That was when Bret had stepped in saying he would get her a part in the movie if she would go out with him. At first, Jennie resisted, but the longer Jason put her off, the angrier she had gotten until she finally agreed to start seeing Bret as long as Jason didn’t know about it. She knew that there was no love loss between the two men, and she didn’t want to lose Jason just yet.
As soon as Jennie had turned eighteen, she had left her home in Mobile, Alabama, and using all of her money, bought a bus ticket to Los Angeles. She was tired of her dreary life in Mobile, taking care of her seven brothers and sisters, and had gotten the idea to go to Hollywood from her drama teacher in high school, who had said she did a good job in the school play. Jennie dropped her last name and used her middle name instead. She thought Jennie Lynn sounded like a star’s name. Her oldest brother, Jake, told her it sounded like a porn star, but Jennie like the name and kept it. Jake wasn’t surprised when he woke up one morning to find his sister had gone, leaving only a note behind. When he showed his mother the note, she only shrugged; it was one less mouth to feed. Her husband was on the road most of the time driving a truck, which left her home to scrape by with her job as a waitress. Often, he would spend the money drinking, instead of sending it home to her and the kids.
Jennie Lynn ended up with a waitress job herself because that was all she could find when she first arrived in L.A. She met up with a bunch of other want-to-be actresses and they all got an apartment together, but as soon as she began getting jobs, she moved out on her own. Meeting Jason Scott had just been a stroke of luck; he had been making a commercial for a soft drink company. The girl that was supposed to be in it with him hadn’t shown up and Jennie just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
She was auditioning for another commercial when a little man with a balding head came running into the office waiting room she was sitting in studying her script. With out even asking her name, he grabbed her by the hand pulling her out the door and down the hall.
He quickly explained the situation, and before she knew it, she was face to face with the famous Jason Scott. The taping went smoothly, and that commercial not only launched Jennie’s career, but also got her a boy friend to boot.
Just as she finished throwing her things into her suitcase, Bret pulled up out front in a limo and had the driver honk the horn; he didn’t even bother to come up. Jennie knew he was a jerk but she hoped that he could help her to the top. Bret promised her all kinds of things; little did she know that he could never deliver.
************
Jesse sat down next to Jason after he had hung up the phone, she didn’t want to disappoint him, but she couldn’t go to New York or any other place with him. Her life was here; in as much as it was, it was safe and Jesse knew what was going to happen from one day to the next. She also didn’t want to have to worry about losing anyone else because she wouldn’t allow anyone to become too close
“It will be fun, Jess, it’s only for a few days,” Jason begged when Jesse turned him down. Jesse shook her head again. “Then I won’t go either, I’ll just call Thomas back up and tell him that I can’t do it.”
“But, Jason, you can’t do that,” Jesse exclaimed her eyes filling with tears. “I just can’t come to New York, I have my job.”
“You got time off remember?” He said smiling at her. Jesse was running out of excuses and she didn’t want to tell him the truth. She didn’t want to fall in love with him but she had a sinking feeling it was already too late.
“But I can’t afford to take off very long.” Jesse used her final excuse.
“Don’t worry about money, I have plenty.” Jason smiled and touched her hair.
Jesse frowned and pulled away. “I pay my own way.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that I’ll help you out if you are short this month because of coming with me,” he explained. “And, of course, I’ll pay for New York because I invited you.”
Jesse was still shaking her head no, but she was beginning to weaken. It was so hard to say no to those green eyes and she didn’t want him staying there with her after he had told Thomas that he was coming. Finally, very slowly, she nodded her head yes with a big sigh. “All right you win, but I can’t stay longer than the weekend. Sara really does need me at the store.”
There was a light tap at the door. Both Jesse and Jason jumped, and then looked at each other. Jesse got up, she went to the door and looked out her peephole, it was Sara. Without hesitation, she opened the door before Jason could get out of sight. Sara smiled at Jesse as she came into the apartment, then she saw Jason. The older woman stopped for a moment and studied the young man sitting on Jesse’s couch; she turned to her young friend. “I just came over to make sure you were all right.”
“I’m just fine, see?” Jesse said and spun around. All of a sudden, the excitement of going to New York hit her. “Sara, this is . . . Jason Scott, Jason this is Sara Marlow, my boss and good friend.”
Jason gave Jesse a surprised look then stood up to shake the older woman’s hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
“She won’t tell anyone, so don’t look so worried,” Jesse assured her escaped star. “Besides, we are getting ready to leave anyway so it doesn’t really matter.”
“Leave?” Sara said, it was her turn to look surprised. “And just where are you going, Miss Jesse?”
“Jason has invited me to New York for the weekend, that is, if you’ll let me have the time off,” Jesse said blushing.
Sara looked Jason up and down then beamed at Jesse. “I hope it’s respectable,” she said half teasing and half wanting to protect Jesse.
“Oh yes, ma’am, Jesse will have her own room,” Jason said quickly.
Jesse rolled her eyes but smiled at both of her friends. Sara stayed for a while longer. As she was about to leave, she whispered to Jesse at the door, “The Jason Scott?” Jesse blushed then nodded. “Was he the one in your car the other day?”
Again Jesse nodded. “He’s really a great guy,” she whispered back.
After Sara was gone, Jason followed Jesse into her bedroom and perched on the edge of her bed while she packed. She wasn’t sure what to pack or if she even had the right clothes, but Jason assured her that everything she was taking was just fine. He hadn’t told her that he was planning on buying her an evening dress so that he could take her to the 21 Club. It was one of the fanciest restaurants in New York and he wanted to show her off.
Once Jesse was packed, she changed clothes. Although Jason had told her she looked beautiful in her blue jeans, she felt better in the light cotton dress she had picked out. Jesse didn’t want to look like she was from Sticksville, she was sure people in New York didn’t wear jeans and plaid shirts. Jason just laughed at her as he went into the living room to call a cab to take them to the airport.
As the plane landed at La Guardia Airport in New York, Jesse held her breath. It was the first time she had ever flown and she was just a little scared, but Jason held her hand the whole way reassuring her as they flew. Luckily, it was a smooth flight with no turbulence, the food was wonderful and the movie that they showed just happened to be Jason’s first endeavor. He was mortified when the movie came on and he pulled the red baseball cap Jesse had given him over his eyes, but nobody seem to notice him anyway. Jesse loved the movie and teased Jason about it the rest of the way to New York.
Thomas was in the waiting room of the airport when they entered the terminal. He hugged his wayward star tightly as he smiled at Jesse. She didn’t know what to do, so she just smiled back at him. When Thomas finally let go, Jason grabbed Jesse’s hand and pulled her up next to him. “Thomas, this is Jesse Patterson,” Jason said proudly.
“Well, I can see why you ditched me,” Thomas said holding out his hand to Jesse. “Nice to meet you, Miss Patterson, you must be one special girl.”
Jesse blushed a deep red; she seemed to be doing that a lot lately. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Harding.”
“Please call me Thomas, you make me feel old and I’m already old enough,” the gray-headed man joked.
Jesse smiled at him and leaned up to kiss his cheek. A sudden scream startled the trio; they looked around to see a young girl rushing at Jason, throwing herself into his arms. Jason caught her, just as her embarrassed parents rushed up behind her. The girl's father pulled the sobbing teen off Jason and giving him an apologetic look, said, “I’m really sorry, sir, I don’t know what came over my daughter.”
As the girl's mother led the girl away, they could hear her say, “But, Mom, that’s Jason Scott.”
Jesse giggled once the girl was out of sight. “Well, my, my, aren’t I lucky to be in the company of such a famous star?”
Jason swatted at her but missed, Jesse stuck her tongue out at him. Thomas shook his head. “Hey kids, if you are done playing around, I think it would be a real good idea to get out of here before someone else discovers that Jason Scott is in town.”
They headed for the front of the terminal; Jason pulled his fateful baseball cap down over his eyes and slipped his arm through Jesse’s. Out front, a white stretch limo was waiting for them. The driver jumped out to collect Jesse’s luggage and open the door for them. The small town girl was completely in awe of the big city. Jason pointed out all the sights like the World Trade Center, Rockefeller Center, and the Chrysler Building. They drove through Times Square, a place Jesse had only seen on TV on New Year’s Eve. There were all the fancy department stores, Bloomindales, Macy’s, Saks and Jesse’s favorite F.A.O. Schwarz, where Jason promised to take her.
Finally, after their whirlwind tour of New York, the limo pulled up in front of The Carlyle. Jesse’s mouth dropped open as she stepped from the car; the doorman gave her a helping hand. The Carlyle was elegant, the most beautiful place she had ever seen. Jason was delighted by her expression and didn’t take his eyes off her until they reach the front desk. As they were checking in, Jesse stared at the antique furnishings and the well-dressed people all around her. Suddenly, feeling poor, very under dressed and like a tourist Jesse dropped her eyes to the floor, the smile slipping from her face.
Jason noticed the change in her but he had his own problems at the desk. “What do you mean you have no more rooms?”
The man at the desk shook his head. “I’m very sorry, Mr. Scott, but every available room is taken.” The desk clerk knew very well whom he was talking to but there was nothing that could be done. “Your suite will more than accommodate the three of you. It has two bedrooms, that is, unless you are expecting more guests?”
“No more guests,” Jason said clearly annoyed. He turned to Jesse who was still looking at the floor and trying to make herself very small, hoping no one would notice her. “I’m sorry, Jess, we’ll have to share a suite.”
Jesse just nodded; she didn’t care if she was sleeping in a bathroom just as long as they could leave the lobby. She felt like everyone was staring at her wondering what in the world somebody like Jason Scott would be doing with her. Jesse was right about one thing, people were staring at her but they were wondering what famous actress she was. One of the appealing things about Jesse was that she was so unaware of her beauty, it made her all that much more beautiful.
“I’m really sorry about this,” Thomas said, “Bret said he would take care of everything.”
Jason rolled his eyes. “Well, that explains it, Bret can’t even order his own breakfast, let alone reserve a room.” He grabbed Jesse’s arm, pulling her along with him, a bellman followed carrying her small beat-up suitcase. Jason noticed how uncomfortable Jesse had suddenly become. He turned to the bellman, slipped the man a twenty-dollar bill and said, “Thanks, I’ll take the suitcase.”
“Are you sure, Mr. Scott?” The bellman asked, looking from the star to the young woman he was with, she looked like she was about to cry. Jason nodded and the man handed over the case. He took the money offered him. “Thank you, sir.”
Jesse smiled gratefully at Jason; she began to relax a little as the elevator doors slid open. The operator held open the door smiling at them. “Mr. Scott, it’s nice to see you again.”
Jason nodded cordially at the young man in the stiff uncomfortable looking uniform. Once they stepped in, the doors slid shut and the elevator began to rise to the top floor where their suite was waiting for them. Jesse was still looking at the floor, Jason tried to get her attention but she wouldn’t look at him. Finally, they arrived at their destination and the doors opened once again allowing them to leave. Jason bent over picking up Jesse’s suitcase that he had place on the floor of the elevator. Thomas had a small plastic card in his hand that looked like a credit card; he slipped it into a slot on the door of their suite. Jesse watch him fascinated, the older man pushed the door open making a grand motion for Jesse to enter. She smiled at him and went into the room. Jason followed as Thomas shut and locked the door.
The room was huge; there were couches and chairs. In one corner was a TV, and along one wall was a bar with every imaginable drink available. One whole side of the room was glass with sliding doors that lead out onto a balcony. The view was breathtaking Jesse couldn’t believe her eyes. There were two doors leading off the room, both were bedrooms with their own bathrooms. Jesse turned and looked at Jason in amazement. “This is bigger than my whole apartment.”
“But not near as nice,” Jason said with all seriousness as he smiled at her.
“Oh, please.” Jesse laughed at him. “Are you kidding me, my place is a dump compared to this.”
Thomas took her suitcase from Jason and opened one of the bed room doors. “This can be your bedroom, Miss Patterson.”
Jesse blushed. “Call me Jesse, but I can sleep on the couch, it’s bigger than my bed.”
Thomas smiled at her. “Jesse, this won’t be the first time Jason and I have shared a room and probably won’t be the last, so please take the room.”
Jesse turned to look at Jason who smiled and nodded at her. “OK, if you insist.”
“I insist,” the older man said. He laid her suitcase on the bed then closing the door left the young couple together.
Jesse spun around the room then plopped down on the bed. “I have never seen anything like this in my whole life.”
“You should live like this all the time,” Jason said softly as he sat on the bed next to her.
“To be perfectly honest with you, I wouldn’t want to,” Jesse said as she got up to look out the window. The view was breathtaking, the hotel beautiful and the city was stunning, but Jesse already missed home where she knew everyone. She loved the tiny drugstore on the corner where Miss Parks always knew what soda you wanted without asking. She loved the park where you could walk through at night without being afraid and she loved being where she was somebody, not just another face in a crowd.
Jason looked at Jesse to see if she was joking, but he could tell by the far away look on her face, that she meant what she said. He had grown up in a big city; he couldn’t imagine living in a small town where you could do everything the place had to offer in fifteen minutes. He was suddenly afraid that maybe after this weekend their blooming friendship would end, maybe they were just too different. Jason was about to say something to Jesse when there was a knock on the door.
“Yeah?” he called out. Jesse turned from the window as Thomas opened the door slowly.
“You guys about ready to leave?” Thomas asked. “Your appearance in Central Park is in an hour.”
“I’m coming,” sighed Jason. He looked at Jesse. “Are you coming with me?”
“Of course, who will rescue you when the stage falls?” She teased him.
“We won’t have any more stages falling, I can assure you of that,” Thomas said. “The stage you will be on has been there for years and Bret is beefing up security.”
“Well my goose is cooked,” Jason said frowning. “He couldn’t even get a hotel room right and I’m suppose to trust him with my life?”
“You know I’ll check everything out right behind him, don’t worry,” Thomas said as he picked up the telephone.
Jason turned to Jesse. “You will be meeting Bret Johnson today, don’t take any crap from him. All he is, is a spoiled little rich kid that daddy didn’t know what to do with, so he gave him a job to get him out of his hair.”
Central Park was beautiful. Jesse was amazed that such a giant park could be in the center of such a busy city. There was a huge merry-go-round and a children’s zoo in the park along with many other things to do. Jason was due to make his appearance at the Delacorte Theater; it was where the Shakespeare Theater Company performed, there were also concerts held at the theater.
When the trio arrived at the theater, there were already hundreds of girls waiting to catch a glimpse of their favorite star. Jesse had thought the crowd at the mall back home was something, but this was unbelievable. The limo pulled up to the back of the theater to let them out, a few girls had escaped the security guards and were wondering around back, let out screams of delight at the sight of Jason. A couple of huge men dressed in uniforms showed up immediately and escorted the girls back to where they were supposed to be.
Jason sighed and smiled at Jesse, “Are you ready for this?”
She gave him a doubtful look. “Are you sure you are ready for this?”
Laughing he said “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”
They entered the theater; Thomas left them to see if he could find Bret. Jason paced around waiting for his manager to come back, the screams from the girls out side was almost deafening. Apparently, the girls that had seen the star come in had spread the word.
In a few minutes, Thomas returned, he shrugged his shoulders as he got close to Jason and Jesse. “I can’t seem to find Bret anywhere,” the old man fumed. “His father is going to hear about this when we get back. These situations can turn nasty as we well know and it’s no time for playing around. I’m going to tell Michael that if that idiot son ever has anything to do with you again, we will never make another movie for him.”
“It’s all right, Thomas,” Jason said trying to soothe his manager. “It looks like everything is in hand.”
“For now, anyway,” Thomas snapped. “If this starts going bad, you head for the limo Jason, I’ll see to Jesse.”
For the first time, Jesse really felt afraid, what if something happen here? There were many more kids here than at the mall back home and those girls trashed the mall. A lot of the stores had to close a few days for clean up. She looked at Jason, then she grabbed his hand, they stood like that for a few moments until somebody from the stage announced his name. Giving her hand a squeeze, he disappeared. Jesse could tell when he arrived on the stage, the screaming became even louder.
Luckily, everything went smoothly, that is, until it came time for Jason to leave. He talked to the crowd for about thirty minutes, and then signed autographs for a couple of hours. That was what was supposed to happen at the mall but never came off. It was impossible for him to sign an autograph for every girl there and some of them were none too thrilled at being left out.
“Hey,” one girl with stringy blonde hair yelled. “I’ve been waiting here since six o’clock this morning.”
“Yeah, me too,” another girl piped in. A plastic soda bottle whizzed past Jason’s head narrowly missing him. An orange came flying up on the stage lobbed from somewhere near the back of the crowd. It hit near his feet, broke open and splattered juice everywhere.
Jason stood up as he grabbed the microphone. “Listen,” he tried to yell over the angry screams of the girls.
Back stage, Jesse looked desperately at Thomas. “Do something,” she pleaded with the manager. “He’s going to get hurt.”
Thomas approached one of the guards standing behind the stage curtain. “Get your ass out there,” he hissed almost under his breath. “This is turning nasty.”
The guard gave him a bored look. “Yeah, sure,” the guard sighed, he signaled to the other guards.
Back out on stage, Jason was trying to talk to the enraged crowd but they were too far gone to listen to anything he had to say. Jason looked around helplessly; he knew if he tried to get off the stage, he would be mobbed. Several of the girls had already tried to jump up on the stage. There were only three guards standing in front of the stage, not nearly enough to stop the sea of girls. It was all they could do to keep them off the stage and luckily the girls were listening, at least for now. Finally, a line of guards ran from behind the stage curtain and surrounded Jason, then hustled him off to the waiting limo. Jesse and Thomas were already inside waiting for Jason, they could hear the angry screams from inside the car.
Jesse looked a little pale and shaken when Jason slid in next to her, he put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her. Thomas smiled at his star then patted Jesse on the knee. “See, I told you he would be fine.” Then to Jason he said, “That was it, no more promo tours, you have just gotten too popular, it’s getting too dangerous.” Jason nodded in agreement.
Jason looked at Jesse. “Are you OK?” She nodded but there were tears standing in her eyes, one escaped and rolled down her cheek. Jason reached over and brushed it away. “Everything is fine, I wasn’t hurt.”
Suddenly, Jesse reached over and hugged Jason tightly. “I was so scared, there were so many girls.”
Thomas was almost angry beyond words, he rapped on the glass separating them from the driver of the limo, the driver slid down the glass. “Get this crate moving,” Thomas snapped, then he sighed. “Sorry, it’s not your fault, just get us out of here.”
“Just a sec,” Jason said as the driver started to put up the window. “Could you take us to F.A.O. Schwarz?” The driver nodded, pulling out of the parking spot behind the theater.
Thomas looked at Jason with his head cocked in question. “I told Jesse that I would take her there and I can’t think of a better time,” Jason told his manager.
The limo pulled in front of the toy store, Jason and Jesse got out, but Thomas opted to stay in the car, he thought the young couple could use some time alone. As they entered the store, the first thing that caught Jesse’s attention was that the staff were dressed in costumes, there was a donkey, a cave woman, a clown and a mad scientist, among a few. There was a huge piano keyboard lying on the floor and several kids were hopping up and down making the keys give off sounds. There were hundreds and hundreds of every stuffed animal you could think of and a train big enough to ride on running around the room.
Jesse walked around the whole store in awe of everything, she felt silly staring at things with her mouth hanging open, but she couldn’t help herself. Jason just followed behind her smiling; he was enjoying watching the happiness on her face. There was also a clerk following a discreet distance behind them and once, when Jesse admired a fuzzy chocolate colored teddy bear with a blue bow around it’s neck, Jason motioned for the clerk to get it.
They were in the store for almost an hour when Jason finally suggested that they go, he had another surprise in store for Jesse. They went out and got in the limo, the clerk came out and handed the driver a bag, which he put in the trunk. Their next stop was Saks, Jesse just looked at Jason as he got out and held the limo door for her.
“You have to have a dress for dinner tonight,” he explained, delighted with the expression on her face.
“But I don’t have this kind of money,” Jesse said as she got out of the car and looked up at the front of the store.
“Silly girl,” Jason said affectionately as he ruffled her hair. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the store, Jesse stopped dead once they were inside. She had never seen such a store in her life, the big store back home was Sears and this certainly was no Sears.
Once they were in the dress department, a sales clerk sat them down on a couch in front of a bunch of mirrors with a little platform in the middle. Seconds later, models began coming out wearing different evening dresses. Jesse looked at Jason stunned.
“Well, don’t look at me, pick one out,” he ordered as the parade of girls continued.
“They are all so beautiful,” Jesse said looking at the girls standing in front of her but she didn’t see a dress that she felt looked like her.
“How about that one?” Jason asked as the last girl came out. She was wearing a simple black velvet dress with puff sheer sleeves, little pearls adorned the neckline and the hem fell just above her knee.
Instantly, Jesse fell in love with the dress. “It’s gorgeous,” she breathed. It amazed her that Jason picked out the one dress that she really liked.
“That one it is then.” He smiled at her. The sales clerk dismissed the models and went to get Jesse’s size so that she could try on the dress. While Jesse was in the dressing room, Jason had a pair of black velvet shoes and black hose brought to him.
When Jesse stepped out of the dressing room, and modeled the dress for Jason, he was impressed, she looked like a young starlet. He handed her the shoes, which she slipped on her feet, Jesse stood in front of the mirrors on the platform and admired the dress. “I feel like Cinderella,” she laughed.
“You’re much prettier,” Jason said. Jesse turned to see if he was teasing her but the look on his face told her he really meant want he said. He turned to the clerk. “Wrap it up.”
Jesse went into the dressing room to take the dress off as she was putting it on the hanger she saw the price tag, it was twenty-five hundred dollars. She gasped, quickly put on her own clothes and carefully carried the dress out to the clerk. After handing over the dress, she went to Jason and whispered, “Do you know how much the dress costs?”
“Don’t worry about it,” he smiled at her.
“But, Jason, it’s way too much,” Jesse protested.
The clerk came over and handed Jason the dress in a cloth garment bag and a shopping bag holding the shoes and hose. He thanked the sales girl and motioned Jesse to follow him; she didn’t say anything until they were out of earshot of the clerk. “Jason,” she balked, “I can’t accept such an expensive dress.”
“Sure, you can, now be a good girl and go sit in the limo for a minute,” he said handing her the dress and shoes.
Jesse sighed, realizing there was no use fighting with him. As she appeared at the limo, the driver jumped out, took her purchases and opened the door for her. Thomas smiled at her as she sat down in the seat across from him.
“Having fun?” The manager asked. Jesse frowned at him. “Didn’t you find anything you liked?”
“A dress that cost a small fortune and shoes that who knows how much they cost,” she said softly.
“Honey, listen to me,” Thomas said leaning toward her. “Jason can afford this, if that’s what’s worrying you. He’s not trying to buy you either, I think you can tell from the girls that Jason doesn’t have to do anything but be Jason to get a girl. He really respects you and he doesn’t expect any favors in return, if you get my drift.”
Jesse blushed and nodded. “But it’s so much money.”
“He’s enjoying himself, Jason wants to show you a good time in New York,” Thomas said kindly. “It’s not often he gets to give a little back, I think that’s what he’s doing with you.”
Jesse smiled and relaxed a little. “I don’t want a car,” she joked.
Thomas laughed. “I’ll tell Jason no car.”
They were both laughing when the limo driver opened the door and Jason climbed in carrying a long jewelry box wrapped in silver paper with a gold bow. “What’s so funny?” He asked as he sat down next to Jesse. Jesse and Thomas looked at each other and burst out laughing again. “I guess you had to be there,” Jason said as the car started to move through traffic.
The limo driver let them off around back. When they got to The Carlyle, there was a group of about fifty girls hanging around outside. Word must have gotten out as to where the famous Jason Scott was staying. The limo driver cruised around the block and pulled into the alley behind the hotel where hotel security was waiting for them. Once they reached the safety of their suite, Jason handed Jesse the gift-wrapped box.
“What’s this?” Jesse asked as she took the box.
“Well, open it and see,” Jason said as he sat down on the couch. Jesse sat next to him but didn’t open the package.
“Jason, you have already given me too much, the trip here was plenty,” Jesse said smiling at him. Thomas walked quietly to the bedroom he was sharing with Jason and closed the door. “And the dress and shoes.” She pointed to the garment bag that was lying across one of the chairs.
“Will you just open it?” Jason said exasperated.
Slowly, Jesse began unwrapping the box being careful not to rip the paper. By the time she got the wrapping off, Jason was ready to open the box for her. He couldn't wait to see her expression when she opened the box. Finally, Jesse opened the box. Inside lay a beautiful diamond tennis bracelet. She gasped and looked at Jason but she didn’t take it out of the box.
Jason took the box from her and pulled the bracelet out, as he started to put it on her arm Jesse pulled away from him. “Jason, it is just too much.”
“You don’t like it?” He pouted, looking at the sparkling bracelet.
“I love it, but it cost too much, I can’t accept it,” Jesse said and got up going to look out the patio doors. Jason followed her. “I don’t even really know you.”
“What do you want to know?” he asked standing directly behind her. He was watching her face in the reflection of the glass door.
She turned around to face him. “That’s not what I meant. How many days have we known each other? Three?”
“Think of it as a friendship bracelet,” Jason said looking into her eyes. “I’m not asking for anything from you.”
“That’s good, because I don’t have anything to give,” Jesse said sadly looking down at her hands.
“That’s not true, you have yourself,” he said. Jesse snapped up her head and looked at him. “I didn’t mean it the way you are thinking. All I want from you is your friendship because I have never had that. Everyone always wants something from me but you . . .you don’t want anything from me.”
“There is one thing I want from you,” she said her look softening. “Your friendship, you have mine, you don’t need to buy it.”
“That’s not what I’m trying to do.” Jason was trying very hard to explain how he was feeling, but he couldn’t find the words. “Please except the bracelet, please?”
Signing Jesse relented, “OK, under one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“You don’t buy me anything else,” she exclaimed.
“Does dinner count?” He asked smiling as he attached the bracelet to her wrist.
“No, and that’s only because I’m starving.”
Jason hugged her, then said, “You better get dressed, we have reservations at 21 in about a hour.”
Jesse grabbed her dress and shoes disappearing into the bedroom. Jason started toward his room but stopped when he heard Jesse’s scream. She reappeared in the bedroom door clutching the teddy bear. Jason had Thomas sneak it into her bedroom and place it on the bed. “Jason!” she exclaimed. He just shrugged and ducked into his bedroom before she could start in again.
When Jesse emerged from the bedroom she was dressed in her new dress, with the black hose and shoes, she looked like a princess. Thomas gave her a wide grin as he twirled his finger in the air so that Jesse would spin around for him. He gave a low whistle. “Jason had better keep an eye on you tonight,” Thomas said. “All the young men and some of the old ones too will be after you.”
Jesse blushed red, then noticing that Thomas was wearing a robe and slippers she asked, “Aren’t you coming with us, Thomas?”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he smiled, just then Jason entered the room. He was dressed in a black tux and looked so handsome it took Jesse’s breath away. “You kids have a good time.” But neither of them heard what he had said, they were too busy admiring each other.
*************
Jesse sat in her beautiful velvet dress staring at all the famous people that were also eating dinner at the 21 Club. Several stopped by the table to chat with Jason; he would introduce them to her leaving Jesse speechless. She couldn’t remember what she had to eat that night; she was so mesmerized by the restaurant and its customers. Jason kept smiling at her and holding Jesse’s hand across the table. Once he excused himself and returned carrying a single red rose, which he presented to her.
“You will accept this, won’t you?” he teased as he handed her the rose.
At first, Jesse acted like she wasn’t going to take it, then she laughed. “I would be honored.” She took the rose offered her; Jesse put it to her nose taking a deep breath. “It smells wonderful.”
Jason beamed at her, he was so proud to be there with her. When he had been purchasing the rose, he had overheard several people talking about him and Jesse, wondering who she was. One woman commented on how beautiful Jesse was and it was all that Jason could do to keep from agreeing with the woman. He watched Jesse as she drank from her water glass; it was like seeing everything for the first time. Jason had been to 21 hundreds of times but had never really seen the place before.
He offered to take Jesse dancing after they finished dinner, but she declined saying that she was tired, which she was. Jesse wasn’t use to all this excitement; her normal evening was eating dinner and falling asleep on the couch while reading or taking in an occasional movie. On their way home, Jason had the limo driver stop at a small all night market.
As the driver opened the car door, he said, “Mr. Scott, I’ll be glad to go in for you.”
“Thanks, Mike, but I’ll be fine,” Jason said, and then he nodded toward the car. “You keep an eye on her.”
“Yes, sir,” Mike said but he didn’t like the star going in the market alone. In only a few minutes, Jason was back out carrying a brown paper bag, he jumped into the car. The driver went around, got back behind the wheel and pointed the limo in the direction of the hotel.
“What did you get?” Jesse questioned him as she eyed the paper bag, then tried to reach for it.
“A surprise for you,” he said holding the bag just out of her reach.
“Jason,” she said sternly. “I thought we agreed, no more buying me things. Besides, what could you have possibly bought in a grocery store?”
He laughed and finally handed her the bag, Jesse took it and looked inside. There was a box of microwave popcorn and a two-liter bottle of pop. Jesse gave him a surprised looked Jason shrugged. “I thought we could make some pop corn and watch an old movie on TV.”
Jesse threw her arms around his neck. “You always seem to know what will make me the happiest.”
“You are easy to make happy, I don’t know any other date I ever had that would be happy over a box of popcorn,” he said as they pulled up in front of the hotel. The herd of girls that had been there earlier apparently had gotten tired and went home. The couple was able to walk right through the lobby and up to their suite.
Just as Jason was about to open their room door, there was a loud scream from down the hall. Their first thought was that they had been spotted. A petite young woman with long blonde hair was rushing toward them. She almost leaped into Jason’s arms and planted a kiss on his lips. “I’ve missed you so much,” she gushed.
Jesse looked at the girl and then at the man that was coming down the hall after her. He was tall and blond with a deep tan, they were both dressed as if they had just come in from dancing. Jason was trying to peel the girl off of him as the man reached them. “For heaven’s sake, Jennie let Jason breathe.” He gave Jesse a toothy smile.
“This is Jennie Lynn, and Bret Johnson,” Jason said, but that was all he could get out because Jennie was trying to kiss him again.
“I’m Jesse Patterson,” Jesse said holding her hand out to the girl.
“How nice for you,” Jennie said in a snotty tone and went back to trying to maul Jason, who was still trying to pry her off himself.
Bret stepped up and took Jesse’s hand. “Nice to meet you, you’ll have to forgive Jennie. You see it’s been a while since she’s seen Jas.”
“That’s right,” she added, giving Jesse a smug look. She said to Jason, “Next time you are gone this long, I’m coming. I’m not going to be the little wifey sitting home waiting and missing all the fun.”
“You are married?” Jesse gasped as she looked from Jennie to Jason.
“NO, we are not married!” Jason stormed. “Jennie, get off me!”
“But Jasy,” she pouted. “We will be soon.”
Jason was so angry his face was turning red; he gave Bret a killer look because he knew it was him that brought Jennie to New York. It was the only way she would have known he would be there. But before he could speak, the room door flew open and Thomas was standing there. “What in the world is going on out here?” he demanded.
Jesse squeezed in between the door and Thomas, disappearing into the room. Jason tried to go after her but Bret stepped in the way. “You did real good this afternoon Jas,” he commented out of nowhere.
“And how would you know?” Thomas snapped, he was as angry as Jason was. “You were nowhere to be found and Jason was almost hurt.”
“A few plastic bottles, big deal,” Bret scoffed. It was apparent that he had been there or at least had heard what had happened. “You didn’t get hurt did ya, Jas?” Bret slapped Jason on the back.
“Don’t you ever touch me again,” Jason seethed. “And stop calling me Jas.”
Bret started to slap Jason on the back again but Thomas caught his arm. “Listen, you spoiled brat, you stay away from Jason. You don’t handle this movie promotion any more,” Thomas said in a deadly voice. “When I get back to L.A., your father and I are going to have a long talk and you’ll be lucky if anybody lets you promote a cartoon.”
Jennie had been silently watching the exchange between the three men. Finally, she said, “Bret told me to come, he said you were expecting me.”
“Oh, shut up,” Bret told her.
“You believe me don’t you, Jas . . .Jason?” She whined. Big tears were welling up in her eyes and beginning to roll down her face.
Jason looked at Jennie Lynn. “You wouldn’t know the truth if it jumped up and bit you. Do you really think that I didn’t know you were going out with this creep?”
“Why didn’t you say something?” She whined again as she tried to take Jason’s hand, but he wouldn’t let her.
“Because I didn’t care, I was hoping you would latch onto him and leave me alone,” Jason spit out. He was glad that Jesse couldn’t hear what he was saying, it sounded awful to his own ears. But it was the truth after all, he had found the girl that he wanted and every other girl paled next to her. Jesse made him realize how fake the others really were and how much they use him. To be fair, he had used them too, but it was a game to see who could get whom on top.
Suddenly, Jennie dropped the wounded act and yelled back, “Who cares, I was about ready to drop you anyway.” She went over and put her arm around Bret’s waist. “He’s getting me in your next movie,” she bragged.
Thomas pushed Bret out of the doorway; he grabbed Jason by the arm hauling him into the room. As he was about to shut the door, he calmly said, “If she is in, then Jason is out, deal with it.” Thomas slammed the door in their faces.
Jason and Thomas stood on the other side of the door for a few minutes; they could hear Bret and Jennie fighting as they went back down the hallway. They just looked at each other and shook their heads. Jesse appeared in the living room carrying her battered suitcase, she was no longer wearing the dress but a pair of old blue jeans and a white tee shirt. She looked calm but determined.
“Where are you going?” Jason asked approaching her. Jesse took a step backward.
“Home, where I belong,” Jesse said giving both men a sad smile. “I don’t belong here.”
“Don’t listen to Jennie, she and I were never engaged,” Jason explained, hoping he could make her understand. “We were dating, but she’s been going out with Bret for the last month or so. He only brought her here to make trouble.”
“Jason, I don’t care about her or Bret. I just don’t belong in your life, I don’t fit,” Jesse said tears were beginning to form in her eyes. She had promised herself as she had packed her things that she would not cry. “Our lives are just too different, I couldn’t handle all this craziness. Those girls today scared me to death, you could have been killed.”
“But Jesse . . .” Jason began.
She shook her head, and then turned to Thomas. “Could you call me a cab to the airport?”
“Sure, hon, but why don’t you take the limo?” He said. Thomas went over to his briefcase, took out her return ticket and handed it to her. “I’m sorry the way things turned out.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Jesse said as she hugged the old man tightly. “I had a wonderful time and I’ll never forget either of you.”
Jason stood listening to them talk stunned; he couldn’t believe that Thomas was going to let Jesse just walk out of their lives. He thought that his manager had liked her; he had even said that he thought Jesse was good for him.
“Mike will make sure you get on the plane safely,” Thomas said gruffly trying to hold back his emotions. In just the few hours he had known Jesse, he had come to love her as much as Jason. But he also knew it was better to let her go, at least for now.
Jesse picked up her suitcase. “Bye Jason,” she mumbled and fled out the door.
The moment she was gone, Jason turned on Thomas. “How could you just let her leave like that?” He almost screamed. He started to go after his Jesse but Thomas stopped him, Jason jerked his arm from his manager's grasp.
“Let her go, Jason, you know where she is,” Thomas advised. “Give her some time.”
Jason nodded woodenly, then he went to her bedroom, slowly he pushed the door open. On the bed laid the dress and shoes, on top of the dress laid the bracelet that he had given her. The only thing that was missing was the teddy bear that he had bought for her at the toy store. Jesse couldn’t part with it, the dress and jewelry didn’t mean nearly as much as the bear. At first, she had left the chocolate colored bear propped up on the pillow where she had found him, but at the last moment, stuffed him in her suitcase, so she could remember.
The yellow cab pulled up in front of Jesse’s apartment, it was a bright sunny Sunday morning. But Jesse didn’t feel bright and sunny she hadn’t had much sleep. They had left early Saturday morning and here it was early Sunday morning just about twenty-four hours later. She couldn’t believe how much had happened in the last day. The cabby offered to carry her small suitcase upstairs for her, but she declined, taking it herself.
Jesse opened the door to her apartment, it was just as she had left it, and the sun was streaming in through the sliding glass doors. She pulled the curtains shut then laid down on the couch instantly falling asleep. When she woke up, it was almost dark. Jesse got up and made herself a light dinner, then went into the bedroom to unpack. As she opened the suitcase, the first thing that greeted her was the stuffed bear. Jesse picked up the bear and hugged it to herself as she sat down on the edge of the bed.
Suddenly, the tears started falling, and this time, Jesse didn’t even try to stop them. She clutched the bear and sobbed into his furry stomach. It wasn’t so much that she had lost a romance; it was the friendship that she would miss. They had gotten so close in just a few days; they had so many things in common when you left out his star status. When the sobs let up, Jesse looked at the bear, smiled and brushed the tears from his fur.
The phone began to ring; Jesse started to reach for it but stopped herself. What if it was Jason? She couldn’t talk to him right now. Jesse just let the phone ring as she got out of her clothes and climbed into the shower.
After the tenth ring, Jason hung up the phone. “Calling Jesse?” Said a voice from behind him. Jason turned to see Thomas standing behind him; he was dressed carrying a briefcase in one hand and his suitcase in the other. Jason nodded sadly. “You about ready to get out of here?” Asked Thomas. “I have a few things to take care of back in L.A., starting with Bret.”
Jason got up slowly, not really caring where he went. There was a knock at the door he went to answer it. A bellhop was standing there. “You had a package to be mailed, Mr. Scott?”
“Just a sec,” Jason said and went to retrieve a large box from the couch. It was the dress, shoes and bracelet that he had bought for Jesse. Thomas tried to discourage him from mailing the things especially the diamond bracelet. He told Jason to wait and give them to her in person. But Jason wouldn’t listen, he wasn’t sure that he would ever see Jesse again, and he wanted her to have the things he had bought her.
Jason handed the package to the bellhop along with a large tip. “Thank-you, sir!”
Jason closed the door and went to get his suitcase that Thomas had so kindly brought with him from L. A.
“Things will work out, you’ll see,” Thomas said putting a fatherly arm around his young star.
************
When the doorbell rang early Monday morning, Jesse was in the bathroom getting ready for work. She had just put on the finishing touches to her make-up; she closed her make-up case and went to answer the door. A young man was standing there holding a large package. Jesse took it and told him to wait so she could tip him but he said it had already been taken care of.
Jesse took the box to the couch and sat down. There was no return address, just her name and address printed on the front. Slowly she opened the box, there lay her beautiful velvet dress and shoes. She pulled out the dress to look at it, she couldn’t believe that she had sat in the 21 Club wearing this dress and hobnobbing with famous stars. Jesse had long ago stopped thinking of Jason as a star; to her he was just a regular guy.
Something dropped to the floor; she bent over to look what fell. The sunlight caught the diamonds, which sparkled almost blindingly. Jesse reluctantly picked up the bracelet and looked at it. She wanted to send everything back to Jason but she had no idea where to send it, she didn’t even have his phone number. It was then she realized that he was out of her life for good, unless he called her. After she ran out on him, she thought that the chances for that were slim.
Jesse laid the dress aside and left for work, she would deal with it when she got home that night. When she got to work, the back door was standing open, which frightened her; she was always the first to work. She was hoping that no one had broken in. Jesse got out of her car and crept toward the door just as Sara came out. Both women jumped and screamed at the sight of each other then, began to laugh.
“What are you doing here?” They both said at once, then laughed again.
“I work here, don’t I?” Jesse said.
“Sure you do.” Sara laughed. She stepped forward and hugged Jesse. “But when I didn’t hear from you, I just thought you ran off and married that star of yours.”
Jesse gave a bitter laugh. “That will never happen.”
Sara could see the pain in her friend’s eyes; she put her arm around Jesse’s shoulders. “Come in and tell me what happened.”
It was well after ten when Jesse finished her story, there were several customers waiting outside the steel gate to be let in. Sara handed Jesse a tissue, it didn’t matter that the young girl had promised herself that she wouldn’t cry over him, she just couldn’t help herself. Sara ordered Jesse to stay put and went to open the store herself. As soon as things were in order, Sara returned and tried to get Jesse to go home.
“I don’t want to go home,” Jesse protested. “I’ll just sit around thinking of him, and feeling sorry for myself. The sooner things get back to normal, the better off I’ll be. I got to play Cinderella for a day, now it’s over.” She suddenly remembered what Jason had said about her being prettier than Cinderella and she felt even worse. “This is nuts,” Jesse stormed at herself. “We only knew each other a few days, and I never thought anything would ever become of it anyway. I’m sure Mr. Scott has forgotten all about me by now.”
Jesse would never know how wrong she was. Thomas stood in the doorway of Jason’s bedroom watching the young man lying on his bed with his eyes closed, he was wearing the red baseball cap that Jesse had given him. He had been lying on the bed since they had returned home yesterday. Jason wouldn’t answer any calls, or eat and refused to look over the new script for the movie that he would be starting on in just a month. It was as if he had just given up on life. Thomas was at his wit’s end, he had tried everything to snap Jason out of it but it was no use. Jason Scott was finally in love and there was nothing Thomas could do about it, not that he wanted to. Except maybe to change what had happened in New York.
Thomas had just come in from a meeting with Michael Johnson, where he laid down the law about Bret. He told Michael that if Bret ever came close to Jason again, that was it. Michael was horrified at what his son had done, and then promised Thomas that Bret would be given another job. Thomas suggested the mailroom where he couldn’t hurt anyone. The manager also told the studio owner that if Jennie Lynn was in the movie, Jason was out.
Michael looked at Thomas perplexed, “Who?”
“Jennie Lynn,” Thomas told him. “She was dating Jason but has moved on to Bret, she thinks that he can get her to the top.”
Michael snorted with laughter. “Bret doesn’t have the clout to order donuts.” He knew it was an awful thing to say about his only son, but it was true. Michael had had it with Bret, he was afraid to just cut his son loose for fear of the damage he might do. So once again, he would cover for him and find something else for him, maybe the mailroom was just the ticket. “Please apologize to Jason for me and assure him that Bret won’t be bothering him anymore.”
“Thanks, Michael.” Thomas smiled sadly; unfortunately the damage had already been done.
As Thomas stood there watching Jason, he opened his eyes and look at his manager, he knew where Thomas had been. “Well?”
“I think Bret is getting sent to the mail room.” Thomas grinned coming in to sit on the edge of the bed.
Jason almost smiled at him. “I feel sorry for them. If there is a way he can screw that up, he will.”
Thomas agreed with him and was about to ask Jason if he wanted to go and get something to eat but Jason had already rolled over. Thomas sighed as he got up, he knew there was no sense in trying to even talk to him. The manager went into his own bedroom and sat down on the bed. There was a scrap of paper lying there next to the phone; it was Jesse’s phone number. He had written it down when Jason had been staying with her. Suddenly making up his mind, Thomas picked up the phone and dialed the number written on the paper.
The phone rang several times before it was picked up. “Hello?”
“Jesse?” Thomas said into the phone, he just hoped that she wouldn’t hang up on him.
“Thomas?” She said, surprised to hear his voice. “Is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me, how are you?” Thomas asked, he wasn’t really sure what to say to her. He didn’t want to just blurt out how miserable Jason was. “I was worried about you, what have you been up to?”
“Just work.” Jesse smiled shaking her head; she knew he didn’t call her to see how many greeting cards she had sold today. This had been her second day back to work even though Sara had wanted her to take some time off. Just being at work made her feel better, even her teddy bear was making her feel better now. Jesse made up her mind that she wasn’t going to mope around, she had a chance of a lifetime, she took it and now it was over. She would pack it away carefully with the memoirs of her mother. She also promised herself that she would never get sucked into anything like that again.
“You sound really good,” Thomas said for the lack of anything else to say.
Jesse sighed. “Thomas, I don’t want to be rude, I really like you, but what do you want?”
“I like that. Right to the point,” he joked into the phone, and then turned sober. “It’s Jason, he’s really taking this hard. I can’t get him to eat or even get out of bed, for that matter.”
“What do you want me to do about it?” Jesse asked, she had had a hard day, several shipments of cards had arrived and she had spent the day checking the orders and putting out the cards.
“I don’t know.” Thomas was desperate. “I guess I just wanted to tell you how sorry I’m about what happened, Jason too. I talked to Bret’s dad, I think he’s getting sent to the mail room.”
Jesse laughed. “Good place for him.” Then she turned serious. “Please tell Jason that my leaving has nothing really to do with Bret or Jennie. All they did was made me see that things just wouldn’t work out; our worlds are just too different. Could you please give me a mailing address; I want to send back the clothes and bracelet. I just don’t feel right keeping them.”
“Please don’t do that, Jesse. It would break Jason’s heart,” Thomas said sadly. Reluctantly, Jesse agreed to keep the things, and then said that she had to go. She didn’t ask for a phone number, it was apparent that she was moving on.
“Thanks for calling,” Jesse said into the phone and hung up with shaking fingers.
Thomas sat there holding the receiver in his hand, wishing there was some way to convince Jesse to give Jason another chance. Maybe they could work something out.
“Who were you talking to?” Asked a voice from the door. Thomas looked up, surprised to see Jason standing there.
“Nobody, wrong number,” Thomas lied as he hung up the phone hoping to spare Jason’s feelings.
“You were talking to Jesse, weren’t you?” Jason asked his eyes boring into his manager. “What did she say?”
“Nothing much,” Thomas answered, which was almost the truth. At least, nothing that Jason would want to hear.
Jason just nodded; he pulled his new script from behind his back. “I guess I had better get busy with this.”
Thomas was stunned at Jason’s sudden turn around and a little worried, but Jason put his heart and soul into learning his new script, making notes in the margins, doing research like always. The movie went smoothly and finished filming ahead of schedule. The film that he had been doing the promo tour for when he met Jesse was a huge hit, she had even gone to see it three times. The movie had even won several awards. Jesse was secretly very proud of Jason but she never mentioned him again, not even to Sara.
His newest movie was due out sometime during the summer, but this time Jason would just make the rounds of the talk and morning news shows. There would be no public appearances.
Thomas still worried about Jason. Although it had been months since they had seen Jesse, he would catch Jason staring out into space but he would never tell his manager what he was thinking about, but Thomas knew. There was a spark missing in Jason that had been there before, he still did an outstanding job at whatever he did. Once he was off camera, he just faded into the background.
Finally, one day Jason came to Thomas who was sitting at his desk in the penthouse trying to get him another movie deal. When Thomas hung up the phone, he looked up at his star. “You need to see me?”
Jason nodded and sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk. “Thomas,” he said so quietly that the old man had to lean forward in his chair to hear him. “I want to quit.”
Thomas sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers pressing them to his lips, this news didn’t surprise him at all. In fact, he thought it would come sooner. “What took you so long?”
Jason gave his friend a shocked look. “What do you mean, what took me so long?”
“You made your choice a long time ago. You want Jesse more that you want an acting career.” Thomas was smiling at him. He was more that ready to retire and he knew that Jason’s heart just wasn’t into acting any more. Thomas had managed Jason’s money very well and the young man could live very comfortably for the rest of his life even if he chose not to work again.
“You knew this was coming, didn’t you?” Jason asked smiling. Feeling like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders.
The old man nodded. “Go after her, son,” he advised.
Jason got up and went around the desk to hug Thomas. “Do you think she’ll have me?”
Thomas shrugged. “There is only one way to find out.” He picked up the phone and called the airline.
************
After six months it seemed like meeting Jason had just been a dream, a wonderful dream, but still just a dream. Jesse packed away the dress and shoes along with the bracelet, the only thing she had to remember him by was the chocolate colored teddy bear with the blue ribbon around its neck, which still sat on her bed.
She kept busy at the store and almost had enough money saved to go to college. Sara said that she would help her out if she needed it. But Jesse wanted to do it all on her own, she hoped to register for the fall term. She had the rest of the spring and all of the summer to earn more money and she was even thinking of getting a second job.
Jesse was standing behind the counter mulling over a college catalog trying to decide what courses to take when a young man walked into the store. She was so engrossed in the catalog that she didn’t notice anyone was there until a greeting card was dropped on the counter next to her. Startled, Jesse just stared at the card, it was all black and in silver letters it said ‘I Love You’. She looked up into the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen.
“Hi.”
“Jason,” she whispered, stunned. “What are you doing here?” She looked around to see if Thomas was anywhere to be seen.
“I quit,” he said simply.
“What do you mean, you quit?” She said, her blue eyes flashing. If this was his idea of a joke, it wasn’t funny. “You just can’t quit.”
“Sure I can, and I did. I finished the movie I was under contract to do and I’m not looking at any more scripts, ever.” He smiled at her. He loved the way she was looking at him. “Thomas is probably in Hawaii right this very minute soaking up the sun. Oh, by the way, he sends his regards.”
“But, why? You have everything,” Jesse exclaimed watching him very closely, sure that he was joking.
“I didn’t have you, Jesse.” He came around the counter and took her hand. “You are all that matters. I have spent the last months thinking about my career, about you, about what is really important in life.”
Jesse pulled away from him and started down one of the aisles straightening cards as she went. Jason followed closely behind her; she didn’t know what to do. “Jason, I don’t want you giving up anything for me.”
“Don’t you get it, silly girl,” Jason said as he grabbed her and spun her around to face him. “I’m not giving up anything. I’m getting something that I have always wanted.”
“What’s that?” She asked looking into his eyes.
“A family. I want you to marry me,” he blurted out, and then kissed her. “I love you.”
Jesse pushed him away. “And what happens when you decided that you have had enough of me and want to go back to Hollywood?”
“That will never happen. Besides, I don’t have a manager any more,” he joked. “I told you Thomas went to Hawaii.”
Jesse looked at him closely. “You are serious, aren’t you?”
“Yes, yes, please trust me,” he pleaded.
Finally, Jesse let down her defenses, she just couldn’t hold out any longer. She knew in her heart that she would never be happy with anyone else but Jason. Even if it meant moving to Hollywood, she would go. Jesse smiled at him. “I trust you.”
************
A man dressed in faded blue jeans and a plaid shirt, with a red baseball cap on his head, sat on the top step of the general store. It was old and rustic looking, like it was straight out of the 1800’s, which probably it was. The Montana mountain air was fresh and clean, a soft breeze blew back the man’s sandy colored hair, which was shoulder length, much longer that he used to wear it. An Irish setter flopped down next to him and stuffed its head in his lap to be patted, which the man gladly did.
On the wooden porch, an old rocking chair began moving as the breeze picked up, the dog pricked up his ears as the chair squeaked the floorboards. An old man came out of the store and sat down in the chair. He was wearing overalls with a plaid shirt much like the shirt the young man was wearing. He began to rock in the chair making it squeak even louder, the Setter went over to him to be petted. The dog laid his head in the old man’s lap and rolled his brown eyes toward the man’s face waiting expectantly. After a few minutes, the man began petting the dog but only after pulling a dog treat from his pocket.
The dog munched happily on the treat, enjoying the ear rubbing he was getting until the screen door banged opened. A little girl about two years old with bare feet came running out. She had two long brown braids hanging down her back, she had on a bright yellow sundress and was holding a sucker in each hand. The dog came over to inspect the candy but the girl held it high over her head until the old man called the dog back to where he was sitting.
The little girl went over to where the younger man sat on the steps, she held out one of the suckers to him. “This is for you, Daddy,” she said smiling and promptly stuck the other one in her mouth.
“Thanks, Pumpkin,” he said looking into the same green eyes he had. “Is Mommy almost ready?”
“I think so,” she said giving him a sticky grin.
About that time, the Setter came over to stand at the top of the stairs, he was staring down the road with his ears pricked up. Only moments later, a car appeared around the bend in the road. It slowly made its way up the road and stopped in front of the store. There was a man driving, a woman sitting in the passenger's seat holding open a map and a teenage girl looking completely bored in the back seat.
The trio on the porch looked up without much interest, the dog went out to inspect the car. The little girl was busily sucking on her candy; the man also had a stick coming out of his mouth. “Daddy, can I have a ride home?” She asked, tapping him on the shoulder.
“Sure,” he said and boosted her up on his shoulders. The screen door to the store opened for a third time, a very pregnant woman came out carrying a paper sack. “Are you ready?” He asked her as he got up from the step and took the sack from her.
“I think so.” She smiled at her husband and daughter. “You hang on tight, honey.”
“I will, Mommy,” the little girl said around the sucker.
“Come on, dog,” the young man called to the animal still sniffing the car. The setter left the car and dashed off down the dirt road barking at nothing.
The man in the car leaned out the driver's side window. “Excuse me, but could you tell me how to get to the Sunnyside Camp Ground?”
“Ask Joe inside, he’s got a map to the camp,” the man with the little girl on his shoulders said and started down the road.
“Are you coming, Grandpa Thomas?” The little girl called to the old man rocking on the porch.
“You bet, Mary,” Thomas said stiffly getting up from the rocker.
The teenage girl in the back seat had been watching her dad speak to the man with the sandy hair. He looked familiar to her, and then suddenly she realized whom he looked like. “Mom, Mom,” she said excitedly. “Look, it’s Jason Scott!”
Her mother looked out the dirty windshield. “Way out here?”
“I guess you’re right.” The girl shrugged and slumped back into the seat.
Jason upon hearing the girl's remark smiled at Jesse. He adjusted Mary on his shoulders then took Jesse’s hand. Jesse smiled back at him; she turned to see if Thomas was coming. He waved them on as he slowly followed his family, the dog ran circles around them as the group headed for home.
The end